China: No, we are not sending cans of human flesh to Africa

China's ambassador to Zambia released a stern statement on Tuesday, seeking to battle misinformation that he said was harming China's reputation in Africa. "This is completely a malicious slandering and vilification, which is absolutely unacceptable to us," according to Yang Youming's statement, which was widely reported in Chinese state media. The misinformation in question? That China was taking dead bodies, marinating them, putting them in cans and then selling them in African supermarkets.

Some reports quoted people who allegedly worked in Chinese meat factories as saying that the practice had begun because China had run out of space to bury their dead or that Beijing reserved its good, nonhuman meat for more powerful countries.

Well, this is a new approach for burying the dead, "Can e'm", them make money from can sales!. We all know this is an untrue rumor, but a novel approach to spreading gossip, the Africans will believe anything you know..... www.washingtonpost.com...

a reply to: tommo39

Or you know this might be BS? Stranger things have happened.....

a reply to: tommo39

Well, they put melamine into baby formula so who says they are not capable of canned long pig?

China is the one nation who's products I do not trust as far as I can kick them. I mean, I manage a store who's products are 99% made in China and the return rate is shocking. Quality is so variable and there is no care or pride taken in their work.

Why on earth the buying public has not woken up to this and started a made in China boycott, I will never know.

This is Africa we are talking about. If you are born albino, your life is in danger because your body parts are used in traditional medicine for their magical powers. During the ebola outbreak, one of the things hampering the fight against the disease was local superstition. Because so few people who went into the hospitals came out alive, people would not go to them until they were so ill the odds of survival were reduced which, of course, created self-fulfilling prophecy. There were also rumors that the Western volunteers were sacrificing those in the hospitals at one point which led people to attack them.

So the idea that rumors of canned human meat have spread there is not at all far-fetched. Given the suspicious and superstitious nature of Africans and what we know about China's laughable quality control, either idea if plausible.

a reply to: markosity1973

Long pig.
Haven't heard that one in a long time.
You have hillbilly relatives?

a reply to: tommo39

I live in China, and people here do not like buying products in country. They prefer to get them from Hong Kong or overseas, as they do not trust the products made in China.

Not just electrical goods, but also medicines and cosmetics.

Someone said to me that all the best quality products are shipped out to other countries and the dross remains here - no evidence of that myself, just anecdotal. So maybe human flesh is actually a Chinese delicacy, who knows?

originally posted by: skunkape23
a reply to: markosity1973

Long pig.

Haven't heard that one in a long time.
You have hillbilly relatives?

I AM a hillbilly. Born and raised on a farm here....

a reply to: markosity1973

To be fair, human DNA was also found in some American hot dog products just last year. And though the report claims it probably isn't human meat, it uses words like "probably" and "most likely" to say that.

More worryingly - unless you are a hardcore vegetarian who would rather eat people than pigs - the company found human DNA in 2% of its hot dog samples, and in two-thirds of the vegetarian samples.

It's probably not human flesh you're ingesting along with your porky treat - the researchers claimed that the human DNA most likely came from hygeine issues, so saliva and other bodily fluids along the production line.

Human DNA found in hot dogs - and 10% of vegetarian sausages contain meat

Just pointing out that if China was doing it, they wouldn't be the first. (I saw a similar article about human DNA being found in meats in South Africa, too, but I think you get the point.)

a reply to: enlightenedservant

Human DNA can come from something as simple as a hair too.

The odds that someone fell into the vat and no one said anything are tactics that go back at least as far as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.

originally posted by: enlightenedservant
a reply to: markosity1973

To be fair, human DNA was also found in some American hot dog products just last year. And though the report claims it probably isn't human meat, it uses words like "probably" and "most likely" to say that.

You are of course 100% correct. Poor hygiene means that human DNA can make it's way into most foods.

I have a (made in China of course ) water cooler with a cool human DNA custom feature - there is a human hair encased in the plastic body of the water tank for all to see. I tell everyone it is a gift from Great Aunt Tsing-Lee.

But the OP claim is that the Chinese have found a novel way to deal with too many dead people and not enough graves - send 'em to the cannery. That kind of human DNA contamination would be a lot harder to explain away.

a reply to: markosity1973

I agree with you. I'm just pointing out that we should be just as careful when scrutinizing Western-produced foods. It was only a year or so ago when the horsemeat scandal rocked Europe. And that scandal started because of the pig DNA that was found in supposedly Halal foods (not to mention the lard/pork DNA found in Cadbury products in several Muslim countries at the time).

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: enlightenedservant

Human DNA can come from something as simple as a hair too.

The odds that someone fell into the vat and no one said anything are tactics that go back at least as far as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.

The article I linked mentioned the human DNA could've come from saliva or other non-flesh sources. So I wouldn't doubt that. Then again, I've worked in several factories where people have lost a finger or more in machinery, and one where a guy fell into a trash compactor and was instantly killed.

Of course, these were in manufacturing plants so we don't have to worry about that getting in a food supply. But seeing as those workplace accidents happened in "highly regulated" American factories, I can only imagine what accidents happen less regulated regions.

Eeew gross, human meat. So gross, but strangely addictive.

Fake eggs, plastic rice and cooking oil refined from sewer refuse are some of the delicacies I've read that hail from China.

Canned human?

Is it so far fetched?....nope

originally posted by: Tucket
Fake eggs, plastic rice and cooking oil refined from sewer refuse are some of the delicacies I've read that hail from China.

Canned human?

Is it so far fetched?....nope

This is the problem with less regulations and standards. It's like people forgot the old business motto of "buyer beware". Every time I hear people talk about a "free market", I think about stuff like this. Because a "free market" is just a euphemism for a "lawless market".

a reply to: enlightenedservant

When i was a kid,my brother was so disgusted,he found in a take-away pie,a fingernail with a piece of skin still attached.He never ate a shop-bought pie again.

Africans are very superstitious and many are gullible-but to be fair,China is not exactly a bastion of consistently superior quality products-or scruples when it comes to what they eat.The locals know many Chinese people eat cats and dogs,so they may wonder what else they could get in their minds to eat-or may expect others to eat so they can make money.

I live in South Africa,and in just about every city,town and village there are some Chinese nationals living and having shops,usually clothing shops,or cheap electronics and furniture.One can sense a disdain in them towards non-Chinese people,it is barely hidden.An air of superiority and disdain.They are coldly polite,but the dislike comes through.A few are friendly,but it is a distant sort of friendliness.

If it's like this here in Mzansi,i'd wager their cold disdain and haughty superiority can be perceived by blacks in other countries too.And it's human nature to not trust those you can feel are considering you beneath them.Especially if the haughty disdainful ones are famous for shoddy quality,sometimes products that are downright dangerous to consume- and often for eating anything they themselves can lay their hands on.