Month-long operation
Including the June 1 seizure, this month Chinese customs officials have seized more than 100,000 tonnes of smuggled frozen meat worth almost $500 million in crackdowns across 14 provinces and detained 21 smuggling groups, Xinhua reported.
The China Daily report quoted unnamed experts as saying that, as long as frozen meat shows no signs of thawing, customers can't tell fresh meat from meat that is decades old.
Smuggled meat products are not inspected and may contain viruses that can cause serious illnesses, Yang Bo, the director of the anti-smuggling arm of Changsha Administration of Customs, was quoted by the China Daily as saying.
"To save costs, smugglers often hire ordinary vehicles instead of refrigerated ones. So the meat has often thawed out several times before reaching customers," Yang added.
The China Daily said smugglers buy meat cheaply overseas and ship it to China via Hong Kong and Vietnam.
Latest in line of food scandals
China has experienced a string of stomach-churning food scandals in recent years.
The most high-profile recent case involved a U.S.-owned meat factory operating in China that was accused of selling out-of-date and tainted meat to clients including McDonald's, Starbucks, KFC and Pizza Hut chains.
CNN's Shen Lu contributed to this report.
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