[Anchor]
In China, massive amounts of antibiotics exceeding safety limits and even carcinogenic substances have been detected in bullfrogs used for frog dishes. Farmers reportedly abused antibiotics to prevent mass mortality among the frogs, falsifying inspection reports or bypassing testing altogether.
Reporter Choi Go-un has the details.
[Reporter]
This is a bullfrog dish I ordered for delivery just a moment ago.
It is a relatively accessible ingredient in China.
It is estimated that there are more than 40,000 restaurants specializing in bullfrog dishes nationwide.
How are bullfrogs supplied to these restaurants raised?
An investigative journalism 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 Chinese authorities.
In severe cases, the levels surpassed five times the legal limit, and even veterinary drugs banned due to risks of causing cancer or birth defects were detected.
This occurred because farmers poured antibiotics into crowded breeding farms to prevent the frogs from dying off.
[Bullfrog Processing Company Official: If three or four frogs get sick? If you do not remove them that very evening, they all die within two to three days. The population density of bullfrogs is just too high, so disease spreads rapidly.]
Regulations requiring inspections for antibiotic residues prior to distribution proved useless.
To deceive authorities, farmers submitted samples free of antibiotics or forged factory reports.
Young frogs were distributed to restaurants nationwide without undergoing testing at all.
[Food Company Official: Even if you buy (cheap) bullfrogs, you just have to ask me for a release report. Then, I will make you a document that says 'passed inspection'.]
China's bullfrog industry has grown by 317% over the past 10 years, producing approximately 600,000 tons last year alone.
Following the uproar caused by the reports, Chinese authorities have launched investigations by halting product sales and commissioning sample tests, but eradicating the reckless use of antibiotics in the short term appears difficult.
(Video Reporter: Choi Deok-hyun | Video Editor: Lee Seung-yeol | Design: Hwang Se-yeon)
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