More than 40 tons of fake mutton and beef rolls – made from duck and laced with banned additives that are highly carcinogenic – have been seized in a police raid on a factory in northeastern Liaoning Province.
Police nabbed 34 suspects, shut three production lines and confiscated more than 40 tons of fake products and 250 kilograms of illegal additives worth 30 million yuan (US$4.82 million). It was the biggest such case uncovered in the province in recent years, today's Beijing Times reported.
Police found the factory, owned by a man surnamed Li, processed duck meat with binding and water-retaining agents, dyes and suet to make fake mutton and beef rolls.
The tainted meat was tested to contain excessive levels of nitrite, over 2,000 times the national standard. The additives made the meat look fresh and smell like the real thing, but they can cause cancer.
Police have retrieved all the fake products the factory had sold to local markets and restaurants, the paper reported.
No hospital cases have been reported yet in connection with the factory's fake mutton and beef.
Police nabbed 34 suspects, shut three production lines and confiscated more than 40 tons of fake products and 250 kilograms of illegal additives worth 30 million yuan (US$4.82 million). It was the biggest such case uncovered in the province in recent years, today's Beijing Times reported.
Police found the factory, owned by a man surnamed Li, processed duck meat with binding and water-retaining agents, dyes and suet to make fake mutton and beef rolls.
The tainted meat was tested to contain excessive levels of nitrite, over 2,000 times the national standard. The additives made the meat look fresh and smell like the real thing, but they can cause cancer.
Police have retrieved all the fake products the factory had sold to local markets and restaurants, the paper reported.
No hospital cases have been reported yet in connection with the factory's fake mutton and beef.
