Fox meat found at Jinan Walmart — it was supposed to be donkey

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-12-25

Hot pot meat cuts. (Photo/CFP)

Fox meat was found in a product that supposedly contained only donkey meat and beef at a Walmart in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong province, reports the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News.

A customer surnamed Wang said he felt something was wrong with the taste and color of the meat he had purchased. He sent the product for examination and the result showed it contained fox meat instead of donkey meat as labeled. Wang said his rights as a consumer had been infringed upon and demanded compensation of ten times the retail price of the product.

Walmart reportedly refused Wang's request and said they felt it was suspicious that Wang bought 1,600 packages of the product. They suspect that he intentionally bought up the product in order to extort money from the chain. The company that manufactures the product refuted Wang's accusations and said that they would accept an independent inspection.

The store later responded on Dec. 23 saying that they had removed the product from shelves and will send it for testing. A representative of the store said they can only review certificates of manufacture of the products sold in their store, adding that they sell more than 10,000 products in store, and are not able to examine the ingredients of every product.

A reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News asked at several testing centers and found it usually costs more than 2,000 yuan (US$329) to test the genetic ingredients of animal products. There are few centers that provide this kind of service as the cost is high.

Fox meat is cheap due to its odor, said a fox farmer surnamed Xue. "A piece of fox skin is worth more than 1,000 yuan (US$165), while a kilo of fox meat is worth only 4-6 yuan (US$0.65-$1)," Xue stated.

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