Chinese state television was cited as reporting today that chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and made yummy with pork flavoring, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood.

The  story says that the report, aired late Wednesday on China Central Television, highlights the country’s problems with food safety despite government efforts to improve the situation.

The story says that China Central Television’s undercover investigation features the shirtless, shorts-clad maker of the buns, called baozi, explaining the contents of the product sold in Beijing’s sprawling Chaoyang district.

One maker was quoted as saying, "Most people can’t. It fools the average person. I don’t eat them myself."

UPDATE: Media reported 19.jul.07 that:

Beijing police have detained a television reporter for fabricating an investigative story about steamed buns stuffed with cardboard at a time when China’s food safety is under intense international scrutiny.