[Anchor]

Excessive levels of antibiotics and carcinogens have been detected in bullfrogs used as ingredients in Chinese cuisine. Excessive use 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 I had delivered just a moment ago.

It is an ingredient that is relatively easy to find in China.

It is estimated that there are over 40,000 restaurants specializing in bullfrogs nationwide.

How are bullfrogs supplied to restaurants raised?

An in-depth reporting team from a Chinese media outlet commissioned tests on edible bullfrogs purchased from several online shopping malls.

As a result, antibiotics exceeding the limits set by China were detected in a number of samples.

In severe cases, levels exceeded five times the standard limit, and even veterinary drugs whose use is banned due to concerns over causing cancer or birth defects were found.

This is because farmers poured in antibiotics to prevent frogs from dying off in crowded breeding farms.

[Bullfrog Processing Company Official: If three or four of them get sick? If you don't clear them out that very evening, they all die within two or three days. The density of bullfrogs is just too high, so they spread infections quickly.]

Systems requiring tests for residual antibiotics before distribution were practically useless.

To deceive authorities, samples free of antibiotics were submitted or factory reports were forged.

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'll make you a document that says 'test passed'.]

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 report, Chinese authorities have launched an investigation by halting product sales and commissioning sample tests, but it seems difficult to eradicate the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in a short period.

(Camera: Choi Deok-hyun | Video Editing: Lee Seung-yeol | Design: Hwang Se-yeon)