Sale of 40-year-old meat stars in China’s latest food scandal

seattletimes.com ^ | June 24, 2015 | DAN LEVIN, CRYSTAL TSE

[Berlin_Freeper]

From rat meat masquerading as lamb to tainted milk to exploding watermelons, Chinese consumers have become inured to stomach-churning food scandals. But this week, people were forced to ponder the benefits of vegetarianism after news reports emerged that unscrupulous meat traders had been peddling tons of beef, pork and chicken wings that in some cases had been frozen for 40 years.

The Chinese news media announced that the authorities had seized nearly $500 million worth of smuggled frozen meat this month across China, some of it dating to the 1970s. The caches of beef, pork and chicken wings, worth up to 3 billion renminbi, or $483 million, were discovered in a nationwide crackdown that spanned 14 provinces and regions, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

[Gene Eric]

If I’m not mistaken, meat imports from China will be subject to less scrutiny.

[Dad was my hero]

Maybe the feds can make a deal to buy some of that stuff for Moochel’s school lunch program?

[Pontiac]

Where do you find meat that has been frozen for forty years?

Who would keep meat frozen for forty years?

[Cowboy Bob]

Speculators?

[a fool in paradise]

“Aged meat”.

[RginTN]

The EPA will make it so hard to farm within the US, this is what we will be able to eat!

[PCPOET7]

my guess is that this meat was in a military nuclear fall out shelter and that it had been forgotten about till at some point the place it was being stored was retasked for something else. when it was discovered how ever it was discovered the meat was meant to be destroyed but some one tasked to destroying the meat saw this as a opportunity to make a great deal of money and it was diverted from being incinerated.

I bet that this is the tip of something bigger and a great deal of meat got through to the consumers in china befor it was discovered.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

iPhones are made by the same people.

[American in Israel]

Somehow it was not s food scandal when in the US Mavy we were given world war II steaks in a ship replenishment. They did not taste too bad either.

So much pussification these days.

[Flick Lives]

House votes to repeal country of origin on meat labeling

Our government at work.

[redfreedom]

Seriously, if meat or any other food has been frozen, and remained frozen, and properly packaged to prevent dehydration for several years, what is wrong with it?

Is there any rational, dietary, or scientific reason not to eat it if it has been properly preserved by being kept frozen? Or is this emotional hype?

Will it make people sick, kill them, turn them into democrats?

Same goes with canned food, in Vietnam we ate C rations dated the late 40’s. They were 20 years old, no one got sick, no one whined and cried like little boo hoo wha wha babies.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Thanks, I’ll be sure to not eat my iPhone.

[null and void]

This meat had been through several freeze/thaw cycles, and the smell nearly caused the inspectors to vomit when the container was opened.

Still, if the Chinese inspectors passed it, it could be legally imported into the USofA with no Country Of Origin Label or further FDA oversight....

[Buckeye McFrog]

Where do you find meat that has been frozen for forty years?

My grandmother's freezer. She was a child of the Depression and was literally terrified to ever throw food away. She had a large chest freezer which, at the time of her death in 1994, was like a food museum. It really DID contain meats from the 70's, a fish my uncle had caught in Chesapeake Bay in 1982, and a large frozen pizza that was price-tagged 79 cents.

[KosmicKitty]

Weren’t we just told that food is good well past the “Best Used By” date?

[MeshugeMikey]

AGED MEAT 2016!

[going hot]

and a large frozen pizza that was price-tagged 79 cents.

Well?

How did it taste?