Online food delivery app to stop selling dog, cat and other meat because food safety

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Ben Chapman

I’m a fan of apps and the Internet disrupting business models – like Uber and airbnb have – but when it comes to food I like to have folks playing by the same rules. Online food sales can be a bit dicey.

This article from gbtimes has it all: meat of unknown origin. Questionable slaughter practices. Online food sales. Dog meat, cat meat, shark fins and bear pile (something may be lost in translation or is it pie? I can’t find anything on what this is).

Chinese food delivery app Ele.me has decided to remove foods containing dog meat and shark fins from its menu options, saying that the move was based on food safety and animal protection considerations.

The Alibaba-backed startup announced on Wednesday that it has removed 294 merchants selling dog meat products and deleted 7,733 meals containing dog meat from its mobile app platform during the last three days.

Ele.me said in a statement published on its Weibo account that it was not taking sides in the debate over whether dog meat was morally acceptable but was concerned about the food safety issues it poses to consumers.

“There are currently no regulations concerning dog meat slaughter and quarantine system in China, so most of the dog meat in the market comes from unknown origins,” the Shanghai-based company said.

“In the absence of quarantine, dog meat can carry parasites, rabies, viruses and other deadly pests, so there is a large food safety risk. This prompted us to make the final decision.”

Ele.me added that following the same logic, the company plans to remove foods containing shark fins, bear paws, bear pile, cat meat, snake meat and other potentially unsafe foods from its platform too.

22 sentenced for selling 5,000 kg poisoned dog meat in China

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Douglas Powell

The Indian Express reports that 22 people were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for making and selling more than 5,000 kilograms of tainted dog meat in China’s Jiangsu Province.

Prosecutors in Rugao city have investigated 14 cases regarding tainted food, which involved over 5,000 kilograms of poisoned dog meat, 11,000 poisoned birds and 500 kilograms of hazardous chemicals.

Police detained Lao Gan (pseudonym) who purchased 7,000 kilogrammes of poisoned dog meat before tracking down another five people.

They also bought half of the meat and sold it to restaurants in the outskirts of cities in Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, state-run Global Times reported.

Local police also caught eight men for killing and selling over 11,000 ‘poisoned birds’, most of which were sold to restaurants in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces.

The sentences came as China faced criticism both at home and abroad for not banning the annual dog meat festival in Yulin last week where 10,000 dogs were reported to have been slaughtered.

China’s Yulin dog meat festival begins for 2016 despite protests

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Douglas Powell

China’s southern city of Yulin began its annual dog meat festival on Tuesday despite opposition from millions of animal rights activists.

Residents of the city have complained of new government measures to keep the festival, during which thousands of dogs are expected to be killed and eaten, low key.

Animal rights activists this month handed Beijing authorities a petition with 11 million signatures protesting against the festival, which they say is cruel.

An online petition on Change.org has attracted a further 2.5 million signatures, with a crowdfunding effort raising more than $110,000 to buy the dogs for sale and provide them medical care and new homes.

Yang Yuhua, an animal rights activist, flew to Yulin from the southwestern city of Chongqing to buy dogs sold at the festival.

“Dogs are man’s best, the most loyal friend. How could we eat our friends?” the activist asked.

Yang spent 1,000 yuan ($150) to buy two caged dogs at the market from the vendor.

Several others also dug deep, with the small number of dogs on sale at the city’s central market all bought by activists rather than locals.

Vendors said they hoped for good business this year, with “a lot of people” enjoying eating dog meat.

“It’s your habit, it’s my habit,” said a vendor surnamed Zhou.

Dog meat fades in S. Korea

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Douglas Powell

The USA Today today reports that for more than 30 years, chef and restaurant owner Oh Keum-il built her expertise in cooking one traditional South Korean delicacy: dog meat.

In her twenties, Oh traveled around South Korea to learn dog meat recipes from each region. During a period of South Korean reconciliation with North Korea early last decade, she went to Pyongyang as part of a business delegation and tasted a dozen different dog dishes, from dog stew to dog taffy, all served lavishly at the Koryo, one of the North’s best hotels.

She adapted famous dishes to include dog meat, replacing beef with dog in South Korea’s signature meat and rice dish bibimbap. But the 58-year-old’s lifelong experience with a food eaten for centuries in Korea is about to become history.

Daegyo, the famous dog meat restaurant she opened in a Seoul alley in 1981, will serve its last bowl of boshintang, or dog stew, on Friday, a reflection of the challenges facing a trade that is neither legal nor explicitly banned under South Korean laws governing livestock and food processing.

Food safety in China: hunting dogs with poisonous arrows, then selling the meat

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Amy has crazy crossbow skills, growing up in Minnesota and Montana. If we had to go off the grid, she’d be the providerer. Like Chapman’s mom, camping to me is a hotel room without air conditioning.

A court in central China sentenced 11 members of a gang to jail for selling meat from dogs they had hunted with crossbows using bolts dipped in poison, state media said on Wednesday.

The gang killed around 1,000 dogs last year using bolts dipped in a highly poisonous chemical, called succinylcholine chloride, and stored their meat in a freezer, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing a court in Hunan province.

Police busted the ring last December, and seized 12 tonnes of frozen dog meat, but the meat from about ten dogs had already been sold.

The eleven defendants were convicted for the sale of toxic and hazardous food, and received prison sentences of one to seven years, along with fines ranging from 3,000 to 350,000 yuan ($480 to $56,200), according to an article in a court newspaper.

Senator wants dog meat investigation in Philippines

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Douglas Powell

Dog meat has entered into Philippine mainstream consciousness and has spawned a dish called asocena which is meant to be eaten as a side dish during drinking sessions.

So, according to Bikyamasr, Philippines Senator Manuel Villar Jr. is hoping to open an inquiry into the reported prevalence of the illegal dog meat trade to tighten existing animal protection laws.

However, local animal rights activists say it is not enough, arguing that the senator wants to maintain the practice “and not do the right thing by ending dog slaughter altogether.”

Dog meat eating has existed as a long-standing cultural phenomenon in the Northern provinces of the Philippines, traditionally associated with celebratory events and rituals of mourning.

Maria Pillar told Bikyamasr.com that “the use of dogs for food is wrong and backward. Just because it was traditional in the country doesn’t mean we should keep it. It was part of our culture to keep women at home, but that has changed.”

Villar said.some 500,000 dogs are slaughtered for sale every year.

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