HUNDREDS of tons of beef from a mad cow disease-hit area of Brazil were found on the Chinese market before the country lifted its import ban in July.

    After an 11-month investigation and manhunt, police in East China’s Jiangsu Province nabbed 27 people for their involvement in the sale of beef smuggled from Brazil, and some 300 tons of beef were confiscated, the provincial public security bureau told Xinhua last week.

    According to the bureau, police clamped down on eight illegal beef-trafficking chains and caught four beef suppliers allegedly engaged in illegal deals thanks to a tip-off earlier this year in Guanyun County of Lianyungang City.

    China was one of 17 countries that banned Brazilian beef imports in 2012, but the ban was lifted in July.

    Back in January, food safety officials were alerted to cheap beef on sale at a market in Guanyun County.

    Investigators found packaging that indicated the beef was from Brazil.

    As their investigation continued, more outlets selling Brazilian beef were uncovered, and the trail led to suppliers in Jiangsu and South China’s Guangdong Province.

    On March 5, police busted four suppliers in Jiangsu’s Xuzhou City, nabbing seven suspects and seizing nearly 300 tons of beef.

    At a weekend press conference, Jiangsu police said they were seeking more suspects in other provinces in connection with the illegal trade in addition to the 27 already in custody.

    Dai Leyu, deputy head of the county’s public security bureau, said the beef suppliers adopted a secret sales mechanism: selling local beef in markets while hiding most of the cheap meat from Brazil in remote frozen warehouses. If any butcher needed smuggled meat, the deals were done via bank cards, with the vendors offering home delivery services.

    “Although tests show the smuggled beef was not contaminated with foot-and-mouth disease or mad cow disease, and China lifted the ban in July, consumers wonder, how can risky beef be smuggled into the market?” a netizen identified as Jiuduanqiao asked on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

    Smuggled beef attracts many Chinese consumers because of its low price. Local raw beef costs 60 yuan (US$9.8) to 80 yuan per kilogram while Brazilian beef only costs half that.

    “Many butchers purchase cheap beef to make more money,” said Zhou Tongbin, a police officer from Guanyuan County.

    The beef was labeled with the English words “Manufactured in Brazil” and “Produced in 2013” to show its origin and production date. Some consumers bought the beef because of its price and did not notice the country of origin, and others may not have understood the English.

    Police said some of the meat was smuggled into the Chinese mainland via Hong Kong and distributed to various provinces and regions in the country, highlighting loopholes within China’s supervision system, the anonymous official told Xinhua.

    “Whether the meat can enter farm produce markets or supermarkets depends on how much kickback you want to pay rather than the meat’s quality,” said a meat producer who declined to be named, adding that nobody cares where it comes from.

    “During the investigation, we were surprised that no department wanted to help confiscate the beef in the county. Neither the health department nor the food and drug regulatory agency thought it was their responsibly,” an anonymous investigator said.

    Most suppliers and dealers are uneducated, police said. They knew the beef wasn’t declared at customs, but didn’t know the potential risks and the penalties they could face.

    China’s current leadership made a promise at the third plenary session of the 18th Communist Party of the China Central Committee in November to establish a mechanism to trace the origins of food and safeguard food quality.

    But several shocking scandals, including injecting clenbuterol into pork, recycling cooking oil from restaurant kitchen leftovers and selling pork from sick pigs, have made headlines in China.

    In the latest stomach-churning food scandal, police in East China’s Zhejiang Province reported in August that 30,000 tons of chicken feet contaminated with hydrogen peroxide had been seized after police busted nine factories in the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Guangdong.

    “The general public cares the most about food safety issues, since it is related to their health. Fortunately, that beef is safe, but we hope someone can really help ensure the safety of all food on our table,” Olive Li, a Chinese citizen, wrote on Sina Weibo.

    (SD-Agencies)