Chinese actor Zheng Kai, 35, who’s best known for being a fixed cast member of Chinese variety show Keep Running, has found himself in hot soup after his hotpot restaurant chain was exposed for serving rotten ingredients to its customers.

On August 13, it was reported that an outlet of the chain restaurant had been exposed for not following food safety regulations.

According to the news, which came with video evidence, the outlet was serving spoilt ingredients to customers. They were also reusing the uncooked vegetables that customers had left uneaten, and serving up meat and soup bases that had gone sour.

The report immediately went viral, with netizens condemning the actor and his hotpot chain.

The next day, Zheng Kai issued an apology using the chain's Weibo account to express his “deepest apologies”.

Additionally, he revealed that chain's management had taken action four hours after the report was published, working through the night to set up an inspection team for all outlets.

The offending outlet will be closed immediately and all workers who are found to be involved in the controversy will also be sacked.

The actor went on to state that the hotpot chain has zero tolerance for employees who flout food safety and hygiene regulations, and that the management will eke out harsh punishment to everyone involved.

Moving forward, the chain will also relook their regulations, and make the necessary improvements to avoid such controversies again.

He then ended his post by apologising again to all customers, as well as his business partners and the public, before adding that everyone was welcome to drop by and “inspect the chain’s outlets at any time.

A couple of netizens were sympathetic towards the actor, writing that Zheng Kai couldn’t possibly have known of these infractions, and that it was the fault of “the outlet managers and suppliers”.

However, other netizens were less forgiving, with one commenting that this is “not the first time” the hotpot chain has had to apologise for their poor hygiene standards.

Photos: Zheng Kai/Weibo, Sin Chew Daily