Animal aid workers allege several restaurants are serving cat meat
6/1/2006 8:36
Shanghai Daily news Restaurant diners may want to skip
the lamb.
Animal aid workers alleged some restaurants in the city were
serving cat meat that was listed on menus as mutton.
The Shanghai Small
Animal Association, one of the earliest and most renowned NGOs in the city, said
it has gathered enough evidence to make the charge after a one-year
investigation.
The claim has not been confirmed by police or other
authorities.
The association said stray cats were being sold to vendors who
produced goods with the fur and sold the meat to restaurants.
Li Ruohai, the
director of the association, said they launched the investigation a year ago
after they repeatedly noticed stray cats were disappearing.
The association
received frequent tips from its members or animal lovers that they saw people
catching stray cats and selling them to food vendors.
Li said a team of
volunteers from the association launched an undercover
investigation.
Progress was slow at first. But recently, one of the
investigators managed to get several pieces of "mutton" from a food
vendor.
The meat was taken to a lab where one of the association's volunteers
works. A DNA test found cat meat in two of the 12 samples, Li said.
Li showed
Shanghai Daily the written report from the lab. He claimed it was strong
evidence that stray cats were being eaten.
"The thieves are killing our
efforts to save the stray animals," Li said.
The association also said some
of the animals were used for cat fur products.
Shanghai Daily searched
auction Website eBay.com.cn for cat fur items. Many goods including cat fur bags
and clothes were available on the Website.
The Shanghai Food and Drug
Administration didn't comment on the the Shanghai Small Animal Association's DNA
report, but said it is illegal to sell cat meat.
"In China, animals such as
sheep, cows, pigs and even dogs are listed as legal food materials, but never
cats," said Gu Zhenhua, an official with the FDA.
"We have no food safety
standards for cat meat because it's not supposed to be on the menu," Gu said.
"Without food safety and quarantine checks, it's unsafe to serve cat
meat."
Gu said those who sell cat meat will be punished according to the
law.
Gu also said there was no common procedure to distinguish cat meat from
other types of meat.
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