安全無底線:中國警方破獲鼠肉冒充羊肉案
European consumers concerned about horsemeat in their sausages should spare a thought for their Chinese counterparts who now have to worry about swallowing rat meat dressed up as mutton.
擔心自己吃的臘腸含有馬肉的歐洲消費者，應當想一想中國消費者的處境，後者現在要擔心嚥下冒充羊肉的老鼠肉。Chinese police have busted a criminal ring selling meat from rats, foxes and mink by passing it off as mutton, the public security ministry said.
中國公安部宣佈，中國警方破獲一個用老鼠、狐狸和水貂肉製售假羊肉的犯罪團伙。In a raid involving more than 200 officers, police in Shanghai and Jiangsu province arrested 63 people from a gang that allegedly sold more than $1.6m worth of fake mutton over a three-year period.
在最近的一次突擊行動中，警方出動200餘名警力，在上海和江蘇省抓獲上述犯罪團伙的63人，該團伙被指在3年期間銷售1000餘萬元人民幣（逾160萬美元）的假羊肉。
The latest food scandal to hit China comes as citizens grapple with a looming bird flu epidemic and a steady stream of food and safety scandals that the Chinese authorities seem unable to curtail.
這起最新的食品醜聞曝光之際，中國公民正在艱難應對一場撲面而來的禽流感疫情，以及一連串當局似乎無法遏制的食品和安全醜聞。“China has many laws [related to food safety] but the problem is in enforcement,” said Zheng Fengtian, a professor at the school of agricultural economics and rural development at Renmin University in Beijing. “If nobody is checking, then there are no consequences for people who break the law.”
“中國有很多（涉及食品安全的）法律，但問題在於執法。”中國人民大學農業與農村發展學院教授鄭風田表示，“如果沒有人檢查，那麼違法的人就不用面對後果。”Continuous food safety scandals and chronic environmental pollution have become hot topics in China and officials have begun to worry that these issues are undermining Communist party legitimacy.
不斷髮生的食品安全醜聞和曠日持久的環境污染已成爲中國的熱門話題。官員們開始擔心，這些問題正在削弱中共的合法性。In just the latest example, demonstrators in the city of Chengdu in western China plan to march through the city to protest against a proposed chemical plant near the city, according to online organisers.
僅舉一個最新的例子，據網上組織者表示，成都市的示威者計劃在該市遊行，抗議該市附近一個擬建的化工廠項目。In an apparent response to rising discontent over food safety, China’s public security ministry has issued several statements in recent days lauding the results of a police crackdown on fake meat vendors and suppliers.
中國公安部近日發佈多份聲明，稱讚警方在打擊製售假劣肉製品行動中取得的成果。此舉顯然意在迴應民衆在食品安全問題上日益升溫的不滿。The ministry said 904 suspects had been arrested since the end of January for selling and producing fake or tainted meat products, which in some cases caused sickness or even killed people who ate them.
公安部稱，自1月底以來已抓獲犯罪嫌疑人904名，這些人涉嫌製售假劣或有毒有害的肉製品，在某些情況下導致食用者患病、甚至死亡。Police have also confiscated more than 20,000 tonnes of fake or adulterated meat products during the nationwide campaign.
在這場全國範圍的行動中，警方還現場查扣各類假劣肉製品2萬餘噸。The rat meat ring in Jiangsu and Shanghai used gelatin, food colouring and industrial chemicals to make rat, fox and mink meat look and taste more like mutton, police said.
警方稱，在江蘇和上海活動的鼠肉犯罪團伙用明膠、色素（胭脂紅）和工業用化學品（硝鹽）使老鼠肉、狐狸肉和水貂肉在外觀和味道上更像羊肉。The list of food products that Chinese consumers have to avoid seems to be growing by the week.
中國消費者要避開的食品的清單似乎越來越長。Many restaurants have taken poultry off their menus after the H7N9 bird flu virus was found in humans for the first time in late March and poultry sales have fallen 80 per cent in some parts.
自3月下旬首例人感染H7N9禽流感病毒得到確診以來，許多餐館已停止供應禽類菜餚，禽類銷售在某些地區暴跌80%。According to the latest official figures, nearly 130 cases of the new disease have been identified and 26 people have died from it.
根據最新的官方數據，迄今已確診近130例人感染H7N9病毒，其中26人已死亡。In March, more than 16,000 rotten pig carcases were found floating down the main river that flows through the commercial metropolis of Shanghai.
3月份，流經上海市區的主要河流——黃浦江上發現逾1.6萬頭腐爛的死豬。“After pigs were found in the Huangpu river we don’t dare to eat pork, because of bird flu we don’t dare to eat chickens or ducks and now we can’t eat beef or mutton [because it might be rat meat],” wrote one person on the Twitter-like Weibo service. “The vegetarian diet plan will definitely be a massive hit across all of China.”
有人在新浪微博(Weibo)上寫道，黃浦江上發現死豬後，我們不敢吃豬肉，禽流感使我們不敢吃雞鴨，現在我們不能吃牛羊肉（因爲它們可能是老鼠肉），素食主義肯定會在全國盛行起來。
