Beef from “Mad Cow” Affected Area Found in Jiangsu

Jiangsu Province authorities held a press conference on November 30th to address the issue of crimes relating to food, drugs and the environment The conference publicized the joint efforts by Jiangsu police and other departments against such crimes; in particular regarding the “January 18th” incident, which involved the production and sale of beef that failed to comply with safety standards in Lianyungang during March. The Food Safety Committee of Guanyun County in Lianyungang, Jiangsu received a report in January about sale of “fake beef” at a farm produce fair. This beef was sold at extraordinarily cheap prices of 10.5-11 yuan per kilogram of raw meat. Meanwhile similar cuts of meat are sold in markets from 15 to 20 yuan. Instigations exposed that this beef was sourced from areas in Brazil hit by the mad cow disease and were in fact prohibited from being sold in China. Lianyungang police found a large source of beefs sourced by Brazil in Xuzhou. The forbidden beef has been sold to the whole province and even other surrounding provinces and the sales amount involved was huge. It reached more than 100 million yuan in Lianyungang alone. At present, 27 people involved have been arrested, and nearly 300 tons of problematic meat has been both checked and detained. The case is under further investigation.