[Anchor]
Excessive levels of antibiotics and carcinogens have been detected in bullfrogs used as ingredients in Chinese cuisine. Overuse of antibiotics during the aquaculture process has been pointed out as the cause.
Here is a report from Beijing correspondent Choi Go-un.
[Reporter]
This is a bullfrog dish that I had delivered just a moment ago.
It is an ingredient that is relatively easy to obtain in China.
It is estimated that there are over 40,000 restaurants specializing in bullfrogs nationwide.
How are bullfrogs raised before being supplied to restaurants?
An in-depth reporting team from a Chinese media outlet commissioned tests on edible bullfrogs purchased from various online shopping malls.
As a result, multiple samples were found to contain antibiotics exceeding the limits set by China.
In severe cases, the levels exceeded the standard by more than five times, and even veterinary drugs banned due to concerns of causing cancer or birth defects were detected.
This is because excessive amounts of antibiotics are poured into narrow fish farms to prevent the frogs from dying off.
[Bullfrog Processing Company Official: Three or four frogs get sick? If you don't clear them out that very evening, they all die within two or three days. The density of the bullfrogs is so high that it spreads quickly.]
Regulations requiring tests for residual antibiotics before distribution proved useless.
To deceive authorities, samples free of antibiotics were submitted, or factory reports were falsified.
Young frogs were distributed to restaurants nationwide without undergoing testing at all.
[Food Company Official: Even if you buy (cheap) bullfrogs, you just need to ask me for a release report. Then, I will create a document marked 'inspection passed'.]
China's bullfrog industry has grown by 317% over the past 10 years, producing about 600,000 tons last year alone.
Following the scandal caused by the report, Chinese authorities suspended product sales and launched an investigation by requesting sample tests, but it seems difficult to eradicate the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in the short term.
(Photo courtesy of Choi Deok-hyun | Video edited by Lee Seung-yeol | Design by Hwang Se-yeon)
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