While a horsemeat scandal is rocking parts of Europe, in parts of China it is considered a delicacy which fetches top dollar.Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan has added fuel to the controversy locally, suggesting horsemeat could be camouflaged in Chinese packaged meat products being sold locally, in mainly Chinese-run supermarkets.However, a Chinese manufacturing company spokesman has denied horsemeat is used in its products.
In responding to Europe's meat scandal, in which traces of horse DNA were discovered in beef products, Khan was quoted as saying that tainted horsemeat could be contained in Chinese products which do not have proper labelling."I see no correlation between the horsemeat in Europe and Chinese products," said Helen Lee, of Sincere Chinese grocery.
Sincere does not carry meat products and Lee said as far as she knew most Chinese supermarkets opted for local products.Dried and canned products were the biggest sellers in Chinese supermarkets, she said."The stuff imported from China are basically dry products or sauces, not really meat products. Very few I am aware of sell meat products," she added.
Lee, who lived in China for 12 years, said: "In certain provinces horsemeat is a delicacy but it is a very expensive and high-priced meat. It would not be cost-effective for any factory to put it in regular food. The probability of that is very low." Since the 2011 milk scandal in China in which Mengniu Dairy Group found high levels of cancer-causing toxin in its product, she said extremely stringent measures in terms of food safety had been enforced there.
"And there are stringent repercussions for people who break those rules. I don't know if anybody will be willing to take that chance again to be another national disgrace again," she said.When T&T Guardian visited China Supermarket at Cross Crossing, San Fernando, the majority of meats being sold, including corned beef, patties and sausages, carried popular brand names.
There was a Chinese-style sausage named Kam Yen Jah, which carried English labelling, also indicating it was a product of the USA.The supermarket manager was said to be out and the cashier indicated she could not understand English.Contacted at another one of its branches, a man with a Chinese accent who identified himself as the manager, was very short."I don't agree with that (Khan's statement). I busy," he said before the telephone line went dead.
Ivan Chin, owner of Chin's Supermarket, Couva, said he did not import meat from China. Agreeing with the minister, he said people complained to him about the Chinese labelling on products."Consumers are always complaining that they cannot read these labels," he said.Vernon Persad, president of the Supermarkets Association, said it was the responsibility of the Food and Drug Division to ensure all imported products were properly labelled.
Persad said he understood Khan's concern but assured that the majority of meats imported by supermarkets came from the US.