Rat Meat Sold as Lamb in Latest China Food Scandal......now updated:

[dixiegrrrrl]

Last edited Fri May 3, 2013, 11:03 PM - Edit history (1)

Chinese police have broken up a criminal ring accused of taking meat from rats and foxes and selling it as lamb in the country's latest food safety scandal.

The Ministry of Public Security released results of a three-month crackdown on food safety violators, saying in a statement that authorities investigated more than 380 cases and arrested 904 suspects.

Among those arrested were 63 people who allegedly ran an operation in Shanghai and the coastal city of Wuxi that bought fox, mink, rat and other meat that had not been tested for quality and safety, processed it with additives like gelatin and passed it off as lamb.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100705606?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Note: the article says the meat was sold only in local farmer markets.
Let's hope so.

UPDATE:
China arrests 900 in fake meat scandal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014473101

( can you imagine arresting 900 people ????)

[loli phabay]

1. shocked no one noticed, the meat tastes different and has different texture

Its like confusing lamb with rabbit.

[Hekate]

34. I'm sure it does, but how do you know this?

Inquiring minds want to know about your culinary adventure.

[loli phabay]

35. growing up our parents called rats track rabbit so we wouldnt be freaked out

Very seldom did we get it but sometimes especially in winter times were lean.

[Coyotl]

39. The 10 pound rodents in the Amazon are really tasty, a favorite meat.

We hunted them on moonless nights by floating down river in a canoe and listening for their water-lapping drinking sounds along the banks. Once you hear them you silently approach, a not-so-easy trick requiring a very capable paddler. Once near, you turn on a bright flashlight held under the front hold of a rifle and blind them. The rest is easy and they provide quite the big meal. They're really good with fried bananas for breakfast.

[loli phabay]

40. when in belize the guides who went with us into the ulu would bring lots of wierd stuff

I do remember a biggish animal that looked like a beaver but bigger and tasted well okay, really enjoyed my twelve months there even with taking a whole day to go five miles and the creepy crawlies. Best jungle though is Borneo, its like being back in the primordial swamp.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Mini teacup lamb. Very rare! nt

[loli phabay]

4. omg. for the win

[itsrobert]

3. I hope that is real Panda in Panda Express

You never know nowadays. It all taste the same with sweet n sour sauce.

[NightWatcher]

5. we had lamb chops last night and if those were from a rat, I dont wanna meet that mutha

that rat would be freakin huge.

[Happyhippychick]

6. This is one of those days that I'm happy I'm a vegetarian

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. I am 80% vegetarian, I find.

I should say 80% non-meat.... grains and vegies and fruits and dairy make up most of what we eat.

[loli phabay]

9. for me it depends on the season and what i have put up and whether we have been fishing

Or hunting or mushroom etc foraging. Fav time is raspberry season though as i just eat bushels of them. Yummy

[reformist2]

14. A few more stories like this and I'm going to have to make the switch!

[RebelOne]

21. Vegetarian also. Reading stories like this makes me happy to be vegetarian. n/t

[BlueJazz]

8. I would have been a little suspicious when they advertised it as "Mickey Lamb"

[Buns_of_Fire]

10. Ummmm... Ratatouille...

But don't follow the Chinese recipe. It suffers a bit in the translation from French.

[russspeakeasy]

11. "King Rat"...great movie.

[MADem]

36. Great book, too--disturbing, but a fine read. nt

[russspeakeasy]

38. +1

[Lasher]

12. China doesn't have a monopoly on this kind of fraud.

Think that's snapper? Rampant seafood mislabeling in U.S., study says

February 21, 2013

The most commonly mislabeled fish were snapper and tuna.

Of the samples labeled as snapper, 87% were mislabeled. More than 30 different species of fish were found to be substituted for snapper, but the most common were rockfish and tilapia.

Oceana said the most egregious substitution for red snapper was tilefish, one of four fish the federal government warns has high mercury levels.

Tuna was mislabeled 59% of the time and most commonly swapped with escolar, a type of mackerel that contains gempylotoxin, a toxin that can cause gastrointestinal problems.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/21/business/la-fi-mo-seafood-mislabeling-united-states-20130221

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. Food fraud goes back to before turn of the century in recent history.

There were consumers back then trying to get laws passed to have bread made of 100% flour instead of chalk, various forms of white powder,etc.
Same with milk and meat and other foods.
Which is truly amazing, to see how far we have not come.

[Lasher]

28. I agree, Dixie.

I am often astonished to see the perpetual pontification of libertarian-Republicans, who pretend any government oversight is inappropriate in every respect.

[BainsBane]

30. talapia tastes like nothing

I'd be really mad if I paid for snapper and got talapia.

[Blaukraut]

15. Rack of Rat - the newest delicacy n/t

[boston bean]

16. how the hell big were those rats??

I only read your headline.

[MineralMan]

17. The only real issue is the mislabeling.

I have eaten rodents. They are fine, Rabbit, squirrel, guinea pig. It was not lamb, but good to eat. I do not see an issue, except the mislabeling.

[HereSince1628]

18. Been a while since I did mammalian systematics, aren't rabbits still in Lagomorpha?

[MineralMan]

19. Could be. Does it matter?

[HereSince1628]

20. It would mean that bunnies aren't rodents.

[MineralMan]

22. OK. I checked and you are correct.

My post stands. Lambs are neither rodents nor lagomorphs, so it is still mislabeling that is the problem, as I said.

[HereSince1628]

23. Never ate a rat, but I have eaten squirrel...fox squirrel actually...in stew.

Last edited Sat May 4, 2013, 08:11 AM - Edit history (1)

Not much there, if you know what I mean. One domestic rabbit can be a real meal.

[MineralMan]

25. Rabbit is a favorite of mine.

Hard to get these days, though. I used to buy mine from 4H kids. Now iI live in the big city, and I have real problems finding it. Bummer...

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. Used to love rabbit.

Mr. Dixie would not put up with us raising them for the skillet, tho.
But when I was growing up, they were an occasional meal, I had no problems eating them.

[loli phabay]

41. i have hundreds of the buggers in the hollow below my pasture, nothing like free range.

[BainsBane]

31. the Chinese don't eat rats though

so my sister-in-law insists. They eat squirrels, but then so do Arkansans. Ever see the Idiot Abroad episode for China?

[dembotoz]

24. if it were like stew meat, if it were ground up

I remember getting gyros from a street vendor
cut the meat of a big skewer like thing-what was that?

[MineralMan]

26. Where? If in the US, it was amixture of lamb

and beef. In the rest of the world, all lamb or mutton, probably.

[MADem]

37. Beef or lamb, if long slices...most frequently lamb in Middle East/SW Asia, occasionally beef

elsewhere.

[FarPoint]

27. My grandfather ate a lot of rats.

He was a WW II POW in Germany. He often joked about there not being any rats left in Germany as he ate them all.

[HiPointDem]

32. the global neoliberal economy is so innovative!

[jsr]

33. Telling your rat from your mutton:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/03/china-fake-meat-rat-mutton


Real mutton, left, and fake mutton in a picture taken from Chinese public safety blog


The thawed meat on the left separates more easily, suggesting it is not mutton


Real and fake mutton after boiling

[loli phabay]

42. boiling lamb is so wrong, rat you should boil then roast then feed to your dog.

[smirkymonkey]

43. I am physically ill.