Rats on the menu

BEIJING – Chinese officials have denied media reports that truckloads of live rats rounded up near a flooded lake in eastern China were ending up in local markets and on restaurant menus in the south.

Newspapers reported that rats had been selling fast over the last two weeks in Guangzhou, capital of the southern province of Guangdong, coinciding with a 2 billion strong plague of rats fleeing rising waters in Dongting Lake in eastern Hunan province. Since late June, local governments in Hunan have been grappling to contain the marauding rats which had destroyed 1,6 million hectares of cropland and stoked fears of disease.He Huaxian, a disease control official in Hunan’s plague-afflicted Yueyang county, denied a report in Information Times which said that trucks loaded with live rats from Hunan were headed for a local Guangzhou market, the China Daily reported yesterday.Wang Fan, a Guangzhou food safety official, also denied the report.Nampa-ReutersSince late June, local governments in Hunan have been grappling to contain the marauding rats which had destroyed 1,6 million hectares of cropland and stoked fears of disease.He Huaxian, a disease control official in Hunan’s plague-afflicted Yueyang county, denied a report in Information Times which said that trucks loaded with live rats from Hunan were headed for a local Guangzhou market, the China Daily reported yesterday.Wang Fan, a Guangzhou food safety official, also denied the report.Nampa-Reuters