SHENZHEN’S market supervision administration recently closed down a factory, which was found to have illegally used hydrogen peroxide to bleach beef tripe.

A total of 2.1 tons of beef tripe were seized and three suspects were caught.

The case is the largest seizure involving poisonous beef tripe in Shenzhen.

A street food stand in Luohu District selling bleached beef tripe this March led the market supervision inspection officers to investigate the source of the tripe.

After a nearly two-week investigation, market supervision officers and police found the factory, which was hidden in a remote and deserted industrial park in Shangxue Village in Bantian, Longgang District, the market supervision authority said Tuesday.

In the unfrequented factory, which is surrounded by wild grass, market supervision officers and police officers found workers soaking beef tripe in dirty, plastic barrels, which contained hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydroxide. The black beef tripe was turned grayish and later bleached white. Law enforcement officers found 11.226 tons of materials in the warehouse of the factory including 1.257 tons of beef tripe ready for sale.

The products were sold at some stalls in Buji Farm Produce Wholesale Market in Luohu District. At the Cuiyuan market of the wholesale market, police seized a truck carrying 277.38 kg of beef tripe and four stall owners admitted they purchased the beef tripe and sold it to restaurants, eateries and snack shops. Police caught nine people including stall owners and deliverymen at the market and seized 568.55 kg of the products.

Investigations showed that the smuggled beef tripe was provided by a supplier in Guangzhou. The factory bleached around 350 kg of beef tripe a day. The suspects had accumulatively sold about 100 tons of beef tripe in the past year since the factory started illegal production.

(Han Ximin)