China seizes smuggled foreign meat

Chinese authorities have seized almost $500m worth of smuggled frozen  meat, some of it rotting and more than 40 years old. Concern over food safety has driven up demand for foreign meat, encouraging smugglers
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HOW ILLEGAL MEAT IS BROUGHT TO CHINA

EUROPE

Atlantic Ocean

CHINA INDIA Hong Kong

Pacific Ocean

U.S. BRAZIL

Hong Kong: Imported meat subject to surveillance but not usually tested if destined for re-export

MONGOLIA CHINA INDIA

Beijing Changsha Hong Kong

Hanoi

VIETNAM

1,000km 620 miles
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1 Smugglers ship cheap foreign meat to Hong Kong in refrigerated containers

2 Meat moved to mainland via Vietnam, where local residents are hired to drive it across border

3 From Changsha, meat is distributed to sites around China – often in unrefrigerated vehicles, causing it to thaw

June: Authorities bust 14 gangs, leading to seizures of more than 100,000 tonnes of smuggled meat, including frozen chicken wings, beef and pork
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Sources: China Daily, wire agencies

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