Rats

Rat Meat and Adorable Woodland Creatures Passed Off As Mutton in China

Sheepish.
Sheepish.

In eastern China, some unscrupulous souls developed a way to turn rat, mink, and fox meat into something resembling mutton — which probably shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise in a world where there’s also a well-documented technique of chemically burning rotting pork to make it look just like prime beef. Fake lamb is all about the creative deployment of “gelatin, red pigment, and nitrates,” the Times reports. Also, thousands and thousands and thousands of small animal carcasses. The most recent arrest of 63 lamb counterfeiters was announced by China’s Ministry of Public Security, who note they’ve busted 904 others since January for things like possession of 23 tons of fecal-bacteria-spiked jerky that was making its way through Mongolia, and also 8.8 tons of “toxic chicken feet.” [NYT, Earlier]

Rat Meat and Adorable Woodland Creatures Passed Off As Mutton in China