The beef jerky marketed under the brand name Yisi was discovered to contain no beef whatsoever when Guanghzou inspectors found little protein content and almost no meat in product samples.
The “jerky” was being produced by Ruian Lianxi Food, Ruian Chengjia Food and Guangzhou Siwei Food, three companies that are now in court facing charges for their dodgy jerky practices.
The accused made their jerky by soaking pork in water to enlarge its fibre to resemble beef fibre, and adding various additives to emulate the beef flavour.
Police seized 30 tonnes of the fake beef jerky as well as a large amount of food additives.
The companies said they believed that the meat they used was safe and that they had used pork in the product because it cost half the price of beef.
