The Chinese Meat Research Centre has compiled 1,817 reports of fraud and adulteration in the meat and meat products sector recorded by the national and imported food inspection services, as well as media reports between 2012 and 2021. The study covered fresh and frozen livestock, poultry, and various processed meat products. The 1,817 reports of fraud/adulteration can be broken down by 670(33.72%) cases from domestic information of official sampling inspections, 773(38.90%) cases were from imported meat and meat products rejection notifications, and 544(27.38%) cases were reported by the media. The study breaks down the cases into the individual types of fraud including artifical enhacement (adding unapproved additives to enhance the quality of meat/meat products), substitution (substituting original or labelled meat with spoiled meat or by-products, or other meat species), mislabelling (including missing information, changing durability dates), counterfeiting branded products, dilution (adding water usually by injection), illegal imports (no health or origin certification), and certification fraud (health certificate forgery or alteration). The study revealed that the highest number of fraud cases was by artifical enhancement, followed by illegal imports, and then substitution, the total of which accounted for 97% of fraud cases.
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