Results tagged “beef”

Shanghai inspectors checking for waterlogged beef

Shanghai food safety officials are looking into beef products after shoppers complained that meat on sale at a local market had been injected with water to up its weight. The widespread practice of waterlogging beef helps sellers earn more money per actual product, but exposes the meat to contamination from spoilage, chemicals or industrial waste. Authorities have only confiscated about 5kg so far and strongly suspect there is much more of the suspect beef on the market. The majority of the beef came from suppliers in Jiashan. While China has been trying to improve its food safety standards, the vastly unregulated market is proving to be incredibly challenging to control. Source: International Herald Tribune

Reuters reports that the use of melamine is "rampant among farmers and feed-ingredient manufacturers". The words of Sun Erwu,a feedmill owner in Hebei province, which is at the centre of the milk powder scandal, are enough to send tingles down our spine, and raise questions over what is happening to the entire food chain in China:

"It is like a chain... If cows are fed with poor feed and produce lower-protein milk, dairy plants will not accept the milk, so many add melamine," Sun told Reuters on the sidelines of a grains conference.

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