Food Scandals

by Aiden Xia
June 2015: Chinese authorities seized decades old frozen meat in Changsha, Hunan province Photo: youtube.com

June 2015: Chinese authorities seized decades old frozen meat in Changsha, Hunan province
Photo: youtube.com

In a national crackdown on dangerous foods in June 2015, authorities seized over 100,000 tonnes of frozen chicken wings, beef, and pork worth up to AU$264 million in Hunan province that were were nearly forty years old—packed and stored when Mao Zedong was still alive. That particularly foul haul reportedly came from the border area with Vietnam: officials explained that smugglers bought cheap meat abroad, and smuggled it in via Hong Kong and Vietnam in unrefrigerated vehicles.

Since 2008 alone, China has experienced scandals including the addition of industrial chemical melamine to dairy products including infant formula (killing at least six babies and making 300,000 people ill); watermelons exploding due to the injection of growth accelerator chemicals; and carcinogenic additives in pork.