The ethics of the Chinese food industry are again in the spotlight with news that most of the shark fins used in one of the nation’s most famous dishes are in fact fake, and poisonous as well.
According to reports from Xinhua, authorities in Zhejiang province conducted tests on shark fins circulating there.
They announced that of 82 sampled “shark fins,” 79 were actually just hardened lumps of gelatin.
Even industry sources were quoted as admitting that “40% of the shark fins being sold in China are fake.”
Scientific tests easily reveal fake fins, which contain no shark DNA, lack the structure of real shark fins, and dissolve to nothing rapidly in hot water.
Most are apparently made domestically in Guangzhou and have been found to contain carcinogenic chemicals as well.
Shark fins are a popular and expensive ingredient in Chinese cuisine, but it is not hard to see why there are so many fakes circulating – one paper reported that fake fins were being supplied to restaurants for a few tens of yuan for a kilo, whilst patrons were paying 500-1000 yuan a serving.
Japanese were also quick to notice many of the fins even go so far as to masquerade as being Japanese, bearing the “Asahi” brand:
The findings may yet be welcomed by some – with China the main market for shark fins, the propensity of Chinese merchants to ruthlessly dupe their countrymen in a variety of deadly and disgusting ways may be the only thing protecting sharks from losing their fins in even greater numbers.
Given the options between these cancer fins and the Chinese killing sharks for their fins, I actually support them for selling these. People who eat genuine shark fin soup deserve to both get scammed and get cancer.
I don’t mind a fin that came from a shark that was made into steaks and whatnot, but I’ve learned that’s rarely the case.
I actually prefer the fake stuff with the noodles they sell here in Hong Kong. It’s tasty. They even have it at KFC.
The real stuff is kinda fatty and coats your mouth in slime.
When China starts to imitate brand names of the country they very much dislike, that’s when you know it sucks to be there. I mean just a few months ago there was a few stories of a guy who died due to the fact that he had a Japanese car.
I once crave for the dish taste after reading The cooking master manga set in China. This is sad, really sad.
Sounds like karma to me for wanting to eat shark fin soup.
it’s SHALK FIN not SHARK FIN.Don’t tell me that their Chinese noodles are fake too,made in North Korea.
Original shark fin has no taste they just add broyh to add flavor to it.
Why didn’t the militant environmental orgs think of this? China is ahead of us in more and more aspects each day. :/
Welcome to Whose China is it Anyway! Where all the food is fake and the taste does not matter!
We must protest at once then the finning of hardened lumps of gelatin. Quick call peta or jello gelatin at once to get imediate action to protect the unpacked jello from an early harvest.
You know what they make gelatin out of, don’t you? :3
gelatin: an irreversibly hydrolysed form of collagen, and is classified as a foodstuff. It is found in most gummy candies as well as other products such as marshmallows, gelatin dessert, and some ice cream, dip and yogurt.
And it’s made of bones
Shark fin offers no health benefits and it has no taste anyway. It just endanger shark populations.
This is better to be replaced by fake products, need some quality control though.
Eating shark is bad – from the high mercury content to the cruel was these creatures are ‘finned’ to the environmental impact decreasing shark numbers has.
Hope you like swimming with tons of jelly fish, cause without ghost sharks to keep numbers down, the numbers of jellies have risen faster than trolls on the internet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4v7u2kExe0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdFRLMeUGGY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrjdo-3ZZps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTpo3q-ibaw
Wish it were 100%, slicing off a shark’s fins & throwing the still living carcass back into the water is a crime against nature and any who support this appalling act should die of cancer.
Sharks are the ‘American Buffalo’ of the ocean.
China fails again
I wonder what Cancer tastes like… mmmmm…
Have any of you guys eaten at McDonalds before? I could almost swear that it’s ran by the Chinese. It may taste good but you don’t want to know what’s made of.
@13:44
It can’t be run by the Chinese. I’ve eaten there several times and I haven’t exploded yet
Like crab.
as much as i love anime ecchi and hentai i missed some good china stories
90% of SankakuComplex Article about China are misleading, copypasta’d, and racist.
Only a matter of time before SC post about the illegal WoW themepark in China
the real thing is not good for you anyway…..but then it’s worse for the shark
Unabomber at his best!
Looks like it’s no longer an “ancient Chinese secret”
As a Chinese, these types of articles always make me laugh…
Is it wrong to laugh at my own country? I guess I’ll wait for the really patriotic executioner to behead me lol… or force toilet shards down my throat to make me explode
Nah. Laughing at idiot people is fine, no matter where they are from.
Chinese are killing Chinese, to laugh at them, you would be considered a patriot.
it’s not that bad, in return they can sing :))
“I wanna kiss you but your lips are venomous poison
you’re poison running through my veins
you’re poison..”
Wow something from china that isnt completely destroying the environment…. that is sort of a win.
I know… And not only are they substituting an ingredient for one that doesn’t directly harm sharks, but they are slowly killing off the people who support such acts, while making money on the side.
real shark fins don’t taste that great anyways. Shark fins are also an environmental travesty imo.
Shark fin is actually bland, the flavor comes from the soup. For the most part, once you get down to it, Fen Si is a great substitute that has more consistency as well which means you are paying more for something you can replace with a cheaper and tastier alternative.
So when does it explode?
The real ones are not too humane either. If they are going to take the shark’s fins, at least be kind enough to put it out of its misery. Plopping them back into the water after their fins are removed is outright cruelty.
And wasteful. Plenty of good eating on a shark but all they want is one part then dump the rest.
Seriously? Have you ever SMELLED shark meat before?
Most of shark meat is inedible due to it’s urine flowing through it’s “meat”…
Once you chop off the fins, it kind of drowns. Not much reproducing after that.
So…is it still a waste or not? I mean if one part is edible but you don’t kill it, which means it still has a chance to reproduce therefore not outright killing the population.
Wouldn’t releasing it back into waters be a good thing?
Now that we’re on topic of food. Scientists have now discovered crabs and lobsters do feel pain. Somehow I still doubt that will stop us from boiling them alive since such seafood pretty much becomes near inedible once they’ve been dead a few minutes to few hours.
So all those anime/manga where characters are eating nicely sizzled Shark is a lie?!
The hide on shark is tough stuff too, I a lot to bit through.
Nothing wrong with urine in your food. I drink my own urine all the time and i feel fine. I like to wear pink satin panties and lay in the bath, feet over head, so i can piss through them and onto my face and mouth. Think “tubgirl” but with urine instead of liquid faeces. Don’t know why, but poo has never appealed to me, although wee is seemingly no problem at all. Any other boys in here like wearing thier younger sister’s panties ?
most of the chinese know that that brand is fake old stuff
Shark fin is overrated anyway. And I don’t like the way they’re obtained either.
How does one mistake shark taste with plastic in the first place?
How could people mistook bleach as sake? How could people mistake sex toy for mushroom? Well… how indeed
They learned out how to do it by the old cardboard box rice cakes they sell, was 100 percent flavored cardboard.
good that it isn’t real shark fins :/
but really shit that its poisonous -_-
I expect those hardened lumps of gelatin to contain Caesium-137. It reacts violently upon contact with water. In other words, it explodes if you eat it.
Ahhh caesium the sweetest of the alkali metals.
Oh ho, Sealab reference. :3
“Ah, mercury, sweetest of the transition metals.” :3
What about francium?
tastes like unwashed hairy armpit
From the creators of WOW theme park.
At least they don’t explode.
Give it a few minutes.
Real shark fin also is not exactly all that healthy with it’s high mercury content so this for once isn’t too bad of a dupe.
It’ll still slowly make you sick just like the real thing.
I’m starting to see similarities between American Crack business and everyday food consumption in China.
You don’t know if they’ve thrown garbage in there or not. If it’s the real deal, it’s the stuff that makes you go “Fuck Yeah!”.
The moral is not to eat shark fins. It’s bad for the shark species and it absolutely is bad for you too.
dont be silly, it explodes in your belly long before it can make you sick.
the low quality ones give you cancer first, then the cancer explodes. Its all ancient chinese wisdom
@Pantsu~kudasai
Indeed !
Chinese invented cancer long before The West too !
And they invented explosives as well
plastics explosive fake shark fins gel? Hmm that would thin the population out a bit wouldnt it?
That which does not kill you, makes you stronger?
That which does not kill you will explode to finish the job.
That which does not kill you, causes massive damage.
Fuck it was never funny, it’s not funny now either.
The circle of wisdom. Examining philosophy from the earliest existence: Big Bang.
Chinese (but not all) have this believes that eating certain parts of animals, particularly animals that portrayed as “big”, “powerful”, “energetic”, they’ll eat.
Eating tiger’s dick is normal for some of these who are complex about their own schlong.
Tiger’s dick isn’t actually very sizable. Don’t ask why I know. Real men go for the horse schlongs.
That belief is not really limited to just chinese… Many cultures believe eating certain parts of animals(or even human parts, as in enemies) makes you stronger. Although in most places such beliefs are already disappearing….
That is not actually that shocking.
It is hard to get real shark fin anywhere. Way to often it is (while not deadly) still fake aka other fish or flavoured pollock..
Shark fin’s about to be banned in China anyway.
Good riddance and slowpoke on part of Shitakucomplex again.
Far from it.
The communist party intends to banned it from government banquets. Thats a long way from an outright ban on shark fins. Even that is a long from being approved.
Typical chinese believing is CCTV fake news as always. They are worst than FOX news viewers.
chink ass butthurt!!!!
eat some tigers dick so youll be happy
The girlfriend is born and raised in hong kong and she cant stand chinese herself. Selfish & greedy culture that eats anything… very superstitious also
Chinese in my country is not any better. A Chinese handphone seller compete with a non Chinese one in rural area.
First, the Chinese drop the price of his product into half with the support from his other Chinese friend. People keep coming to his shop until the non Chinese cant stay any longer for lacks of customer. After the non Chinese gone, the Chinese guy raise his price, triple from the product original price.
Costumer complain, but have no choice but to get phone from him as he is the only dealer left around.
So I wonder how do they react to the same stunt pulled into them?
Sounds like a good time to arb the shit out of the rural market.
Let me in on details?
Sounds like Canal Street.
Shark Fin is one of the tastiest things out there. If the one you ate didn’t taste so good, you probably got the wrong stuff.
Shark fin is cartilage; it’s entirely flavorless. Flavor is introduced by the spices it is cooked with, meaning that shark fin soup is just trick to dupe idiots out of their money.
eat shark fin without the broth then say that again
Try eating spaghetti without the sauce and tell me about it.
shark fin is treated as a savory yet it has no flavor. Spaghetti is not a savory therefore your comparison is invalid
It’s nice too.
Also, Spaghetti with bacon and garlics is very tasty.
just what I was about to say 😛
>>Do you eat hamburgers without the bread?
Yup. With rice and gravy instead. Yum yum.
Atkins approved shark; no bread filling
I do bread is bad for you.
Do you eat hamburgers without the bread?