Dive Summary:
- China's Ministry of Public Safety arrested 63 meat traders suspected of selling over $1.6 million of rat meat as lamb.
- The suspects allegedly used gelatin, red pigment and nitrates to alter the rat meat in the latest case of Chinese food adulteration, and Shanghai police have posted an explanation of how to tell the difference between lamb and rat meat.
- Food safety is an ongoing issue in China, with recent incidents including 20,000 dead pigs floating in Shanghai's main water source, the Huangpu River, and the reported death of a consumer in Shaanxi province who ate lamb doused in pesticide.
From the article:
... As Mao Shaolong, a professor at Remnin University in Beijing, told The New York Times, ”Chinese food production has become larger scale and more technological, but the problems emerging also involve using more sophisticated technology to beat regulators and cheat customers.” ...