[Hobbslefthand]

From The Financial Times:


Europeans who still harbour concerns about the horsey flavour of their hamburgers should spare a thought for Walmart customers in China, who are dealing with a food safety scandal that reads like an Aesop fable.
The world’s largest retailer has promised to compensate Chinese customers who bought its spicy donkey meat after a supplier adulterated the popular delicacy with fox meat.

Walmart has recalled the “five spice” donkey meat sold in its stores in Jinan city in eastern China after it said tests found the product contained the DNA of “other animals”.
The embarrassing revelations came after earlier reports from government officials said the donkey products were actually made from fox.
Fox meat sells for around $1 per kilo in Jinan and is cheaper than donkey, a popular snack in some parts of China.
“We have been deeply shocked by this incident,” said Walmart China chief executive Greg Foran. “It has provided a deep lesson and shown that we need to continue to increase investment in supplier management.”
The company said it was considering legal action against the supplier of fake donkey meat and pointed out that under Chinese law, retailers are not required to conduct DNA tests on all products sold in their stores to prove they are genuine.
The problem came to light when a customer bought 1,600 packages of meat and then demanded compensation when tests he commissioned showed the donkey product contained fox meat, according to Chinese media reports.
These reports quoted Walmart initially saying it thought the customer was trying to extort money.
Food and product safety scandals remain rampant in China, despite years of government attempts to tackle the problem.
There have been countless cases in recent years of rodent meat being passed off as that of more expensive animals.

Walmart has faced several scandals before in China’s $1tn food and grocery market, now the biggest in the world.
In 2011 the company was fined in China for allegedly manipulating prices and was also accused of mislabelling ordinary pork as organic in its stores in the southwest city of Chongqing. That incident led to the temporary closure of 13 stores, the detention of dozens of employees and further fines.
Walmart is China’s third biggest hypermarket retailer by market share, according to Euromonitor International, and it plans to open 110 new stores in the country in the next few years.
Even when products are not intentionally tampered with by unscrupulous suppliers seeking higher profits, Chinese consumers still have to worry about the quality and safety of their food.
Nearly 50m acres, or about one-sixth of China’s arable land, is affected by soil pollution from heavy metals, pesticides and industrial effluent. About 8m acres are so polluted that the government has said planting crops there should be banned.
The issue is so sensitive that the government has designated official national surveys of soil pollution as “state secrets” and refused to say which areas are worst affected. This makes it impossible for farmers or the public to know whether or not their produce or food is poisoned.

[ninjachef]

Walmart and China... Both suck in my opinion.

[invertigo]

I don't know how anyone could say they were 'shocked' by this. Businesses selling tampered meat products is a common occurrence in China
Pass the rat-kabob please

[bigjoe]

Its safe to say that Chinese people like eating Ass.

[Brometheus]

smh I'm slow.. just realized that they're complaining about their donkey meat. didn't know that was even on the human food chain. apparently it is for china.

[Rfneimad]

And he's just mad at overpaying since fox meat is sold cheaper.

[253bumper]

Chinese will eat nething them sick fucks..why they complainin..those lil bitches

[WonderMomma]

China is fucking evil. They kill numerous endangered species for "medicinal purposes" that should have died out hundreds of years ago. Thanks to them, there are less than 500 tigers left in the wild due to them thinking tiger nuts will act as viagra!

Fuck the chinese! They will be the reason tigers go exstinct and that really pisses me the fuck off!

[Kelseecat65]

WTF why would anyone eat a donkey???

[Jere]

weird cock suckers and i bet thats the first thing they eat the big donkey dick.