Diseased Meat Shop Closed in Tongzhou

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Latest Pig Industry News

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

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Diseased Meat Shop Closed in Tongzhou

CHINA - A butcher shop selling diseased meat in Daxingzhuang village, Tongzhou district was shut down by local government on Monday following a public tip-off.

The Tongzhou administration for industry and commerce shut the meat shop in response to a call from the public that claimed nearby pig farms were selling animals that had died from illness to the butchery, the Beijing News reported yesterday.

A press officer surnamed Shen from the administration told METRO yesterday that the case is being investigated by the Tongzhou district inspection and quarantine bureau.

The paper also revealed that the butcher was selling diseased meat to shops at a local wholesale market.

"Some citizens from rural Tongzhou brought meat from the wholesale market. And some products, especially the meat, are not fresh," a 55-year-old housewife surnamed Zhou who lives in an urbanized area of Tongzhou district said yesterday.

"I suggest residents go to a supermarket or other large stores to buy meat," Ms Zhou said.

As much as one ton of pork and processed meats were sold daily from the butchery - made up of three private residences in the south part of the village - to the wholesale market, according to the paper.

The paper reported more than 20 dead pigs lay on the ground in front of the butchery, with some animals carrying strange spots or green marks on their skin.

"All the dead pigs will be skinned so our customers don't notice the unusual marks," a butcher told undercover reporters from the Beijing News.

Another employee of the shop said they brought the pigs at 1 yuan per kg and sold them at four times more.

However, when questioned as to the location of the pig farms, the employee refused to comment.

The manager of the butcher told the Beijing News that he sold meat in Beijing and also in other cities. He admitted that some pigs had died from disease while others died during the cold weather.