Buzz
China is renowned for a multitude of things, but one of its most notorious attributes is its counterfeit goods. From fashion to gadgets to entire fake towns—China’s got it all. But now, they’ve pushed the limits further, venturing into the unsettling world of fake food.
10. Fake Plastic Rice
Rice is one of those foods you’d think would be impossible to counterfeit, but China managed to do it. Known as plastic rice, this counterfeit version is crafted from a blend of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and synthetic resin, all molded to resemble genuine rice grains. It was commonly sold in Chinese markets, particularly in Taiyuan, Shaanxi Province. Even after cooking, the rice remained as hard as rock and was difficult to digest. It posed serious health risks, as consuming three bowls was equivalent to eating a vinyl bag or a plastic sack.
Dishonest rice vendors in China not only produce fake rice but also artificially flavor ordinary rice, passing it off as the premium 'Wuchang rice.' This brand is well-regarded and costly, yet only 800,000 tons of true Wuchang rice are produced annually, while around 10 million tons are sold. This means that over 9 million tons are counterfeit.
9. Rat Mutton
In addition to manipulating rice, some Chinese sellers are deceiving consumers by adding chemicals to meat from animals such as rats, minks, and foxes, selling it as mutton. This illicit trade became so widespread that authorities arrested over 900 individuals and confiscated 20,000 tons of this fake meat in just three months. One seller, Wei, profited over £1 million by blending fox, rat, and mink meat with nitrates, gelatin, and carmine before distributing it to unsuspecting buyers.
Chinese authorities took to Sina Weibo, the nation's largest microblogging platform, to post a guide for distinguishing real mutton from fake. Although it can be challenging to tell at first, real mutton's white and red fibers remain intact even after thawing, tearing by hand, or boiling. In contrast, fake mutton tends to separate under these conditions.
8. Chemical Tofu
Tofu, a cheese-like product made from soy milk and a coagulant, recently became the subject of a food scandal in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Authorities shut down two factories caught producing counterfeit tofu by mixing chemicals, including soy protein, flour, monosodium glutamate, pigment, and ice. The fake tofu was packaged and sold under a legitimate company's brand.
While using soy protein to make tofu might seem harmless, some criminals took the process further by adding rongalite, a bleaching agent linked to cancer. This chemical made the tofu chewier and more visually appealing. The gang behind the operation, led by three cousins, sold around 100 tons of tainted tofu to unsuspecting customers. When police raided their factory, they discovered filthy equipment used in the production of the fake product.
7. The Dangers of Formaldehyde and Duck Blood
Duck blood tofu is a traditional dish in China. It is made by collecting blood from slaughtered ducks, which is then heated until it thickens. This mixture is cut into squares and sold as a local delicacy. The strangeness doesn’t end there, as reports have surfaced of sellers mixing dangerous substances like formaldehyde into the blood, along with cheaper alternatives such as pig or buffalo blood, then passing it off as authentic duck blood.
In one notorious case in Jiangsu Province, Chinese authorities uncovered a fake duck blood operation run by a couple. Rather than using pig or buffalo blood, they substituted it with chicken blood, artificially colored with dyes and chemicals typically used in printing. Authorities seized one ton of counterfeit duck blood, a situation that highlights the widespread issue of fake duck blood in China. As a result, consumers have become quite skilled at distinguishing the real product from the counterfeit.
6. The Issue of Adulterated Honey
There are two main types of fake honey: adulterated honey, which is a blend of genuine honey and sugar syrup, beetroot syrup, or rice syrup, and counterfeit honey, which closely mimics real honey. It's made from a mix of water, sugar, alum, and colorants.
Producing one kilogram (2.2 lbs) of fake honey costs as little as 10 yuan (around $1.60), but it can be sold for up to 60 yuan ($9.50). Around 70% of the honey sold in Jinan Province, China, is counterfeit, and local newspapers have published guides on how to spot real honey from fake.
Police have raided several fake honey production sites, confiscating 38 buckets of honey. China is the world's largest honey producer and exports it globally. Studies show that 10% of honey sold in France is counterfeit, often traced back to Eastern Europe or China. U.S. Customs even uncovered a honey-smuggling ring involving U.S. producers importing fake honey from China via Australia.
5. Contaminated Bottled Water
Selling fake honey is one thing, but tampering with people's water supplies is an entirely different level of crime. Recently, police have exposed a scam where counterfeit bottled water is made by filling plastic bottles with tap water or poorly filtered water, then sealing them with official quality seals, similar to those used by legitimate bottled water companies. These fake bottles have been found to contain E. coli and harmful fungi. Over 100 million bottles of this contaminated water are sold each year, bringing in over 1 billion yuan (approximately $120 million). To put it in perspective, around 200 million bottles of water—both real and fake—are produced annually in Beijing.
The bottled water fraud isn't a recent development; it has been happening since at least 2002. It costs producers only about three yuan to create counterfeit water, which can then be sold for nearly 10 yuan. In contrast, real bottled water costs around six yuan to produce.
4. Rotten Rice Noodles
China's counterfeit rice noodles are made from stale, rotten, and moldy grains, often intended for animal feed. These are then blended with harmful additives like sulfur dioxide to produce the final product. This isn't a small-scale operation—nearly 50 factories in Dongguan city were found to be involved, producing 500,000 kilograms (1.1 million lbs) of fake rice noodles every day. An inspection of 35 additional factories revealed that 30 were also making subpar noodles. These producers bleached spoiled rice and mixed it with additives to double their output.
In addition to using old rice, some manufacturers substitute flour, starch, and corn powder in their noodles. These noodles tend to have very low protein content—only 1 percent compared to 7 percent for pure rice noodles and 4.5 percent for mixed rice noodles. Some pigs fed these fake noodles experienced weakness in their limbs and several other health issues.
3. Yangcheng Hairy Crabs
Yangcheng hairy crabs are the priciest crabs in China, so it's no surprise that people try to pass off regular crabs as the coveted breed. The authentic Yangcheng hairy crabs come solely from Yangcheng Lake, but there are a few clever ways to fake them. For instance, some sellers place regular crabs in water from Yangcheng Lake for several hours before selling them as genuine Yangcheng crabs. Others use chemicals to give the crabs the appearance of the authentic variety.
Only 1 in every 300 Yangcheng hairy crabs sold is genuine. While the total amount of crabs produced from Yangcheng Lake is less than 3,000 tons per year, over 100,000 tons of crabs are sold. To combat the fake crabs, the Suzhou Crab Business Association required that a plastic ring with a special numerical code be placed on one of the claws of each original Yangcheng hairy crab. Unfortunately, this effort failed when sellers of authentic crabs began selling their tags to those peddling fake crabs.
2. Fake Wine
Fake wine is a significant issue in China. China Central Television (CTV) reported that half of the wine sold in the country is counterfeit. Many people in China's wine industry also believe that about 90 percent of high-end wines sold are fake. To combat this problem, the Guangdong Provincial Wine Testing Center was established to authenticate wines. In response, wine producers have partnered with the government to develop an app that tracks wine bottles and cartons to verify their authenticity.
The scam was straightforward: Counterfeit winemakers would use the original names, labels, and designs of expensive wine bottles, but alter the names and logos slightly to distinguish their products. Others would simply collect empty bottles from luxury wines and refill them with cheap wine.
To prevent the reuse of counterfeit bottles, large hotels, restaurants, and auction houses now break wine bottles after consumption. During a raid on a fake wine-making operation in China, police seized more than 40,000 bottles of counterfeit wine, valued at over $32 million. The syndicate had been purchasing inexpensive wine and refilling expensive wine bottles with it. In 2012, authorities also confiscated over 350 cases of fake wine in Shanghai, worth around $1.6 million.
1. Clenbuterol-Laced Pork
Clenbuterol, also known as 'lean meat powder,' is a substance added to animal feed to burn fat in animals. While it makes meat leaner, it can cause health issues in humans, including sickness, heart problems, excessive sweating, and dizziness. Although its use in animal feed was banned in 2002 due to these risks, some meat-processing companies still administer it to pigs because leaner pork brings a higher price in the market.
To make matters worse, one of the companies involved is China's largest meat processor, a subsidiary of Henan Shuanghui Investment and Development Company. The company issued a public apology and recalled over 2,000 tons of pork. Twenty-four employees were either fired or suspended.
In a bid to limit financial damage, the company suspended its shares to prevent the scandal from impacting its stock value. The China Meat Association also worked to downplay the incident, hoping to avoid any significant harm to the domestic meat industry. Between 1998 and 2007, China experienced 18 outbreaks involving banned clenbuterol, which resulted in one death and more than 1,700 illnesses.
+Cardboard Buns
Cardboard buns are made by mixing cut-up cardboard with chemicals and pork flavoring. An investigation by CTV showed a video of a seller preparing the buns, commonly known as baozi. The cardboard is first treated with caustic soda, which is used in soap and paper production, then cut and combined with pork and seasoning to complete the fake buns.
The video quickly went viral and was reported by several international news outlets. In response, the Chinese government claimed that foreign media had exaggerated the story, stating that the cardboard buns were actually a hoax. The reporter who filmed the video was also arrested, with the government alleging that he had staged it to boost the station's audience ratings.
