Editorial Team
Federal authorities have arrested six New York City residents for smuggling illegal duck and goose organs from China to NYC (by way of Los Angeles).
It happened for about a year starting in mid-2002.
The suspects snuck goose and duck intestines – as well as “duck-blood products from unapproved establishments in China” and hawthorn fruit, which is not authorized in the U.S. – to New York City in order to sell them to restaurants and consumers.
The organs were sometimes mislabeled as frozen seafood and in one instance, they were “hidden under packages of dead rattlesnakes,” the LA Times reports. Sometimes, the illegal organs were placed in boxes labeled as “pet nail clippers.”
The only meats China can import to the U.S. are catfish and “heat-treated/cooked” poultry products, according to the complaint, so none of this is okay.
Ming Huang Chen (Joe Chen) and Runhua Hou (Rachael Hou) have been charged with illegal importation, while Hangming Fang, Shanqing Ou, Hangting Lin and Minghao Lin are facing smuggling and transport charges.
