The Curious Case of the Gel-Injected Shrimp From China

The Curious Case of the Gel-Injected Shrimp From China
A Chinese vendor sells shrimp and prawns at a wet market in Beijing on July 19, 2007. Teh Eng Koon/Getty Images
Juliet Song
Updated:

Ms. Yang in the southern China port city of Guangzhou bought six high priced giant tiger prawns in October—she was happy with the purchase until she found gel inside the heads of the prawns.

Such gel, the presence of which is not typically detectable upon superficial inspection, is injected some time between when the shrimp are caught and when they’re sold, in order to add weight and thus earn a greater profit. Shrimp sold live have not been injected, because the injection would kill the shrimp.

Juliet Song
Juliet Song
Author
Juliet Song is an international correspondent exclusively covering China news for NTD. She primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus," covering U.S.-China relations, the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, and domestic unrest inside China.
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