Off the wire
• Orlando Magic fire coach Jacque Vaughn  • Australian citizen receives compensation for racial discrimination  • TransAsia death toll rises to 35  • Commentary: 7 pct or less, no nightmare for Chinese economy or the world  • Construction expo in U.S. indicates rebound of sector  • Abbott, Bishop to fight together to defeat leadership spill  • Australia's central bank cuts 2015 growth forecast  • Brazil's Chamber of Deputies sets up committee to probe Petrobras  • One killed in bomb blast at India-Myanmar border  • Australian Black Saturday bushfire victims win 225 mln USD settlement  
You are here: 　 Home

China food watchdog warns against eating "novelty" animals

Xinhua, February 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday advised against eating wild animals and "novelty" food during the upcoming Spring Festival.

People from some parts of China, such as Guangdong Province, eat animals such as snakes and rats.

The administration suggested that the public -- especially the elderly, children, pregnant women and people with food allergies -- consume "normal" food and avoid anything "uncommon".

In light of this, it has stepped up a nationwide food safety inspection ahead of the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 19.

A species of Chinese bat was confirmed to be the source of the deadly SARS virus that broke out in 2002, the Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed in 2013.

A recent study on SARS confirmed findings from 2005 that identified bats as the natural hosts of coronaviruses closely related to SARS.

The virus killed about 800 people during 2002 and 2003. Palm civets sold at live animal markets were previously believed to be the direct source of the virus. Endit