'Rotting 40-year-old meat' seized in smuggling crackdown in China

More than 100,000 tonnes of frozen meat - some of it rotting and more than 40 years old - has been seized in a smuggling crackdown in China.

One official told news agency AFP: "I nearly threw up when I opened the door."

Some of the meat was so old it is thought it was packaged when the country was still under the rule of Communist China's founding father Mao Zedong, who died in 1976.

Anti-smuggling official Yang Bo said the perpetrators would often use normal vehicles rather than refrigerated ones to save costs.

"So the meat has often thawed out several times before reaching customers," he said.

State newspaper the China Daily reported the chicken, beef and pork, estimated to be worth about £300 million, came from the border area with Vietnam where it was "difficult to control the flow of meat".

Earlier this month 14 gangs from across the country were busted in connection with the smuggling operation.

Poor food safety is a major concern in China, where standards are lax and scandals involving tainted products are common.

In 2008, it was rocked by one of it's biggest-ever food safety scandals when an industrial chemical was added to dairy products, killing at least six babies and making 300,000 others ill.

Last week millions protested after the country held its annual dog festival in which 10,000 animals were slaughtered.