Smuggled Chinese meat ‘was 40 years old’

Chinese customs have seized around €432m worth of smuggled meat, some more than 40 years old and rotting, the official China Daily said, the latest in a grim series of food safety scares.

Beijing toughened food safety rules in April to shake off a reputation for safety scandals that range from donkey meat tainted with fox DNA to milk contaminated with industrial chemical melamine that killed at least six infants in 2008.

Chinese authorities have launched a crackdown on beef and frozen meat smuggling, in addition to a campaign last year to stamp out the smuggling of farm products.