Smuggled beef products without quality certificates from Chinese authorities are on sale in Beijing. (Photo/Beijing Youth Daily)
(ECNS) – Frozen beef from the United States is still for sale online and offline in China despite public outcry over smuggled "zombie meat," the Beijing Youth Daily reported on Monday.
China imposed a ban on U.S. beef following the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S. in 2003, and the ban has remained in place since then.
However, smuggled beef products without quality certificates from Chinese authorities are still popular with consumers here, reporters from the newspaper found.
A source from the online store Hujiawan Sea Food said their boneless Angus beef short ribs were bought from a wholesaler for 25 yuan ($4.03) per 150g.
The source said the beef ribs were mainly supplied to Western restaurants at high-end hotels, but refused to reveal any information about the wholesaler.
A vendor at a food market near Beijing's East 2nd Ring Road also sold beef short ribs smuggled from the U.S.. He said the beef products were kept in a cold storage warehouse near a similar state-owned one in Yuquanying in Fengtai district.
A wholesaler surnamed Li told reporters that his frozen beef short ribs sold for 200 yuan a kilogram. But he did not show up near the Yuquanying warehouse on the appointed day as promised. The beef was delivered instead by tricycle to a store on the eastern side of the warehouse.
According to the newspaper, the labels on the boxes of beef are all in English, such as "BONELESS BEEF SHORT RIBS", "PACK DATE 12/30/14", "USDA CERTIFICATE NO.058562 APPROVED FOR EXPORT", and "ibp".
The imported beef had no certificates from Chinese quarantine and customs authorities, according to a worker at the store, so it had to be kept at a private cold storage warehouse located near a similar state-run facility.
The paper said the reporters logged onto the website printed on the package and found that "ibp" is owned by Tyson Foods in the US. The company has joint ventures in Shandong and other parts of China, which are mainly engaged in chicken products.
