-- BEIJING, July 17 (Reuters) -- Chinese officials have denied media reports that truckloads of live rats rounded up near a flooded lake in eastern China were ending up in local markets and on restaurant menus in the south.Of course, the Chinese government, that bastion of consumer protection, advocacy and above all openness... is obviously deeply committed to protecting the interests of the citizenry.
Wang Fan, a Guangzhou food safety official, also denied the report and said an inspection of a local market had found no evidence of rats for sale.In a show of socialist solidarity, the local population, environmentalists every one of them, were resolutely doing their part.
"The city government of Guangzhou has not lifted the ban against the trading and eating of wild animals, including rats," the paper quoted Wang as saying.
Rats are considered a delicacy in Guangzhou, where people are reputed to eat anything that moves, but their sale was banned in 2003 as part of a general prohibition on wild animal consumption in the wake of the SARS epidemic.
Farmers had bought black-market pesticides to complement government-issued poisons to kill rats on their plots, the paper said, which had alarmed local officials and experts who feared environmental pollution and the development of a "super rat race".We obviously have a lot to learn from China.
**********
RELATED: Never mind the tasty snacks...
Let's do something about that devil barbarian beverage.
A Starbucks coffee shop operating on the historic site of Beijing's Forbidden City has closed down after huge protests.
An online campaign arguing that the shop was trampling on Chinese culture had drawn more than 500,000 signatures.
Technorati Tags: Guangzhou, super rat race, Chinese food