Concerns about the quality of some eco-friendly utensils were prompted by a post to a Facebook group on Thursday showing an out-of-shape spoon from Café de Coral.
The images showed a patron trying to eat a bowl of noodle soup with the spoon labelled “home compostable”.
The utensil appeared to bend from the neck down as the customer finished half of their bowl, eventually reaching a point where it became useless.
Sam Leung, who published the Facebook post, wrote: “And this is called a reinforced paper spoon?”
Environmental authorities will introduce a two-part throwaway plastic ban on April 22, which will cover styrofoam products and utensils such as cutlery and straws offered in takeaway services.
Under the policy, dine-in patrons can no longer use single-use plastic cups and boxes.
The launch date for the second phase, covering single-use plastic cups and boxes for takeaway services, has yet to be announced.
Authorities earlier said the ban did not target individual users, but local businesses including restaurants and hotels.
Thursday’s pictures garnered more than 1,400 reactions and nearly 200 comments by Friday evening, including some users who questioned whether the spoon’s fragility had been exaggerated or left in the soup for too long.
“How long have you left it here? The noodles have also soaked up the soup,” one wrote in the comment section.
Another user said: “It seems you have to bring your own tableware when you eat out from now on.”
Café de Coral did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.
A Post reporter tested the utensils’ durability on Friday by placing them in the bowls of congee, soup cavatappi and soup silver pin noodles, also known as bi tai bak or loh see fun in Singapore and Malaysia, from the fast-food chain.
Another was placed in a glass of room-temperature distilled water as a controlled test.
Is Hong Kong ready for ban on throwaway plastics starting next month?
Is Hong Kong ready for ban on throwaway plastics starting next month?
All four spoons started to soften after an hour, with the two in the soup cavatappi and silver pin noodles remaining slightly firmer than those in the water and congee.
The spoons placed in the water and congee became completely unusable after four hours. The two other utensils retained some degree of functionality.
Food science expert Fong said she believed distilled water and congee could have dampened the spoons quicker because they had more direct contact with the moisture.
“In noodle soup, we can’t rule out that the noodle could have blocked a little of the direct contact between the moisture and the spoon,” she said.
The academic said the utensils, typically made from cellulose or starch, used various chemical additives as binding agents to keep their form, meaning they had varying temperature tolerances.
‘Hong Kong restaurants ready for disposable plastics ban, but worried over cost’
‘Hong Kong restaurants ready for disposable plastics ban, but worried over cost’
“If its temperature resistance is above 75 degrees Celsius [167 Fahrenheit], it will be safe when the food is at a low temperature,” she said.
“But if it starts to soften at 40 or 50 degrees, the material used in making the utensil will be able to get loose. What will be released depends on what was added during production, such as curing agents or adhesives.”
Fong advised manufacturers to label products with their tolerable temperatures to help reassure the public about their safety.
“I don’t think we need to worry too much. Since we have to replace these plastic tableware anyway, can we optimise the level of the entire industry? I think having the labels can make everyone feel at ease,” she said.