China Exclusive: Zombie chicken feet strike fear into Chinese snackers

Chinese people generally love munching on chicken feet -- fengzhao, as they are known -- but Beijing-based editor Han Jing recently found the delicacy a little bit nauseating.

Han had been a huge fan of the tasty snack until chicken feet became the center of a food scare. In China's latest stomach-churning scandal, central China's Hunan Province busted two smuggling gangs with chicken feet among 800 tonnes of frozen meat seized in a case worth about 10 million yuan (1.6 million U.S. dollars). A total of 20 people were detained.

"I almost vomited when I opened the compartment containing the smuggled feet. The putrid smell was disgusting," said Zhang Tao, customs officer in Hunan's capital Changsha.

Customs told Xinhua that the smuggled meat never went through quarantine procedures and that some of the chicken feet had long expired.

Chicken feet, often served as a cold dish with a beer, enjoy wild popularity in the country. Packaged chicken feet can be found in supermarket and convenience store.

Supply can hardly keep pace with demand, chicken feet are being illegally imported from abroad, processed in local workshops or small factories before being sold to vendors across China.

In the Hunan case, one of the suspects known only as Li said he and his family had smuggled at least 100 tonnes of pig trotters and chicken feet in the past year.

Yang Bo, deputy head of Changsha customs, said smuggled products contain much bacteria and blood. Importers soak them in hydrogen peroxide, a banned food addictive, to make them look healthy and fresh, and to extend their shelf life.

Staff at Guangxi entry-exit bureau on the Vietnam border told Xinhua that disease is easily transmitted in uninspected frozen food, even H7N9 bird flu. Bacteria can live at low temperatures for a long period of time. Guangxi witnesses numerous similar cases every year.

The topic is the subject of much discussion online with more than 112,000 comments on web portal 163.com. A new term "Jiangshi Fengzhao" (zombie chicken feet) has been coined and others sarcastically suggest that the infected talons might have a "flavor of history."

Only through more strict border supervision can the disgusting trade be ended.

"Any clamp-down on smuggled products requires cross-provincial cooperation," Yang Bo said.

It is not the first time chicken feet have been a center of public clamor. In 2013, police in Guangxi confiscated more than 20 tonnes of chicken feet from a frozen meat warehouse, some of which were more than 40 years old.

China's food safety credentials took many hit when one high-profile food scandal after another shook the confidence of consumers. In April and June the General Administration of Customs launched two campaigns against smuggled frozen meat. Authorities at the local level have also focused on the issue.

But Han Jing, like many Chinese consumers, remains suspicious. "I don't think I will ever try chicken feet again," she said. "They make me want to throw up." Endi