Each cow gains nearly a hundred pounds in weight! Journalist's undercover investigation: Beef flowing to wholesale markets, etc., cruel! Inject water to live cows

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A citizen reported that

On the Seven sisters Mountain, Houjie Town, Dongguan City

There is a water buffalo den

Bull traders make huge profits

Bring cows here daily for water injection

To increase the weight of cattle

Based on this clue

Southern+journalists conducted a secret investigation into the hideout

Each cow is filled with approximately 50 liters of water

Following the clue provided by the reporter, the reporter from Nanfang+found this water buffalo dens on the Seven sisters Mountain in Houjie Town, Dongguan City.

In late August, for several consecutive days at noon, two red trucks filled with cows were delivering them to the shelter for water injection.

The location of the water buffalo lair here is concealed, with a small area surrounded by trees or iron sheets, making it difficult for passersby to see the interior.

Next to the hideout is a cemetery, with only a simple shed inside. The roof of the shed is woven fabric, and below it is an iron frame used to tie the cows.

After the cow was pulled here, 2-3 workers were responsible for injecting water into the cow.

Southern+reporters saw at the scene that after tying the cow to an iron frame, workers directly inserted a black hard pipe about two meters long into the cow's mouth, and then connected another hose to fill it with water. Each cow needs to be filled with water for about 2 minutes.

The production area is damp, and the workers are shirtless, wearing only one pair of underwear, injecting water into each cow one by one, with rough and skilled movements.

A man inserted a long tube into the stomach of a live cow to inject water into a water filled cow lair in Houjie Town, Dongguan City.

According to estimates, the amount of water injected per cow is nearly 50 liters, which can add nearly a hundred pounds to the cow's weight.

When workers inject water into cows, they struggle back and forth, their faces look unsightly, and their mouths keep foaming. Some cows do not cooperate and spit out the water pipe, and workers will forcibly insert the pipe into the cow's mouth to continue the watering operation.

A few hours later, after all the cows have been watered, two trucks will pull them away.

Southern+reporters saw that when the same batch of cows left the water injection pit, their body size had undergone a significant change, their whole bodies had become swollen, and their stomachs were bulging.

Sent to a slaughterhouse that never accepts water buffalo

In order to clarify the source and flow of beef, on August 25th, Southern+reporters followed up on two trucks with license plates Guangdong BDE988 and Guangdong SW9989 at the water buffalo shelter.

At 8:00 am that day, two trucks appeared at the Hengli Cattle Shop in Dongguan City, where cattle dealers purchased more than 20 cows.

Hengli Bull Market is one of the four well-known cattle markets in China and the largest live cattle trading market in South China. The cattle here come from all over the country.

A cowherd employee claimed that the cattle dealer bought Simmental cattle, each weighing approximately 800 kilograms. This type of cow is known as the "omnipotent cow" in the animal husbandry industry, and is a large breed used for milk, meat, and animal husbandry.

Subsequently, the cattle dealer loaded the purchased cattle into a truck and drove more than 40 kilometers towards the Shuishui dens located in Houjie Town.

At around noon that day, two trucks arrived one after another, and the workers in the hideout began to water each cow one by one as usual.

At 14:20 on the same day, more than ten cows were filled with water and reloaded. One truck drove out of the water filling pit, and an hour later, another truck also carried more than ten cows.

Following two trucks as they continued to drive, Southern+reporters discovered that after the cow had been watered, it was immediately taken to the Nancheng Food Branch of Dongguan Food Co., Ltd., which is a legitimate slaughterhouse.

Before the cattle are pulled into the slaughterhouse, quarantine personnel are sampling the cattle at the entrance.

Southern+reporters consulted quarantine personnel on the grounds that their own cows need to be slaughtered. They stated that the company will never accept water buffaloes, and if any water buffaloes are found, they will be taken to the garbage station for harmless treatment.

But Southern+reporters found that the cows brought from the above-mentioned water buffalo dens were smoothly pulled into the company for slaughter for several consecutive days.

A staff member of the Nancheng Food Branch of Dongguan Food Co., Ltd. told Southern+reporters that the company only provides slaughtering services and does not purchase beef. Bull traders bring cows here for slaughter and need to find their own sales channels. "Generally speaking, after slaughtering here, they sell them to the market, supermarkets, and some even to government cafeterias."

After the annotated water buffalo was pulled into the slaughterhouse, Southern+reporters saw a stack of "animal quarantine certificates" at the corresponding stall table, which showed that the beef was destined for agricultural product wholesale markets in Humen, Dongguan, a catering company in Dongguan, and Shahe Square in Tianhe District, Guangzhou.

Each cow sells for thousands of yuan more

A live cattle farmer in Dongguan said that the current market price for beef is about 40 yuan per kilogram. If a cow is watered with water weighing about 100 kilograms, the weight of slaughtered meat can increase by about 60 kilograms. Watering can allow cattle dealers to earn thousands of yuan in illegal income from each cow.

According to relevant national standards, the moisture limit index for beef is ≤ 77%, and water buffaloes generally exceed this index.

Mo Jinmei, the head of the physical and chemical testing group at Guangdong Zhongjian Dayuan Testing Technology Co., Ltd., said,

After live cattle are filled with water, the flavor and taste of the meat will deteriorate, and when cattle dealers add water to the cattle, they generally do not disinfect the water. Bacteria and other organisms in the water can contaminate the beef, causing it to spoil. Meanwhile, beef injected with water is prone to water absorption, swelling, and rupture of its cells, resulting in protein loss and enzyme damage, accelerating the spoilage of the beef.

Lawyer Tang Jiali told Southern+reporters,

The act of selling low-quality beef that has been injected with water as non injected beef falls under Article 140 of the Criminal Law, which stipulates that inferior beef is used as good beef. Once the sales amount reaches more than 50000 yuan, it constitutes the crime of producing or selling counterfeit and inferior products, and can be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment or detention, and fined 50% to 2 times the sales amount, or only.

Why can Dongguan water buffalo enter formal slaughterhouses?

Who was the water infused beef sold to?

Southern+will continue to monitor and report on this matter