January 12, 2009
China busts unethical pork operation in Guangdong province
Six people have been detained in China's Guangdong province for processing and selling meat from diseased dead pigs.
Some of the meat seized by law enforcement officials had been soaked in an unidentified chemical that smells similar to the pesticide DDT, according to a report by the New Express Daily.
The meat was from pigs that mostly died from foot-and-mouth disease, blue ear or ractopamine poisoning.
The local police and officials from the Guangzhou Industry and Commerce Administration raided the shop in question on December 30. Eight suspects were arrested, 4,000kg of meat and 6,000 pieces of pig skin were seized in the operation. It was the largest illegal butcher shop found in Guangzhou in the recent five years.
The shop is believed to have opened for more than six months, and had paid between RMB50-200 for each dead pig. The parts and organs were then sold to small restaurants, street vendors, canteens and meat plants, fetching a profit of up to RMB2,500 for each pig.
The shop, which was ran by two brothers, sold about 1-3 tonnes of the pork per day, according to a source.
The brothers were reported to the local authorities by their father, but they escaped punishment due to a lack of evidence.
Some restaurants in Guangzhou were reported to have bought the meat at RMB6 per kg, while meat plants used the meat for sausages.
US$1 = RMB6.83552 (Jan 12)
