Shark fins restaurants in China use to make expensive shark fin soup are mostly artificial ones made of gelatine, a Chinese news report said on Jan. 9.
CCTV reported that restaurants in Beijing, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian make fake shark fin soup, adding that mung bean starch, sodium, and a host of assorted chemicals which give the substance the shark fin‘s characteristic mucilaginous texture are added to such fake shark fin soup.
CCTV estimates that up to 40 percent of shark fins consumed in China are fake. The restaurants serve cheap ingredients at a high price and the chemicals used to make the shanzai shark fins are said to be highly poisonous and could damage the lungs and other organs.
An investigation found that there is no DNA of sharks contained in the gathered samples of the dish in 10 restaurants.
The investigation also said that one third of dried shark fins sold in markets in Zhenjiang contained excessive amounts of lethally dangerous cadmium and mercury methyl. Mercury methyl can affect pregnant women, the nervous system and damage brain of fetuses.
Shark fins are used as an ingredient to make shark fin soup, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine and a must-have in official banquets, although they were banned in July 2012 by the Council of State of China as a way to reduce public expenditures in such banquets. Due to the excessive slaughter of sharks and its high price, shark fins are controlled. Carrying an expensive price tag, a dish of shark fin soup is priced at 1,000 yuan (about 170,000 Korean won) in Chinese hotels and restaurants.
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