沃爾瑪在華驢肉商品查出狐狸肉

Europeans still harbouring concerns about a horsey taste in their hamburgers should spare a thought for Walmart customers in China, who are dealing with a food safety scandal that reads like an Aesop fable.

對漢堡中的馬肉味道仍心有餘悸的歐洲人，應該關心一下沃爾瑪(Walmart)在中國的消費者，他們正面對一場聽上去像是一則伊索寓言的食品安全醜聞。

The world’s largest retailer has promised to compensate Chinese customers who bought its spicy donkey meat after a supplier adulterated the popular delicacy with fox meat.

這家全球最大零售商已承諾向那些在其門店購買了“五香驢肉”產品的中國消費者作出賠償，原因是一供應商在這種頗受歡迎的食品中摻入了狐狸肉。

Walmart has recalled the “five spice” donkey meat sold in its stores in Jinan city in eastern China after it said tests found the product contained the DNA of “other animals”.

沃爾瑪已召回在中國東部城市濟南門店銷售的“五香驢肉”產品，此前該公司表示，經過檢測發現，該產品含有“其他動物”的DNA。

The revelations followed reports from government officials that found the products were actually made from fox.

此前，政府官員的報告發現，該產品實際上就是用狐狸肉製作的。

Fox meat sells for around $1 per kilo in Jinan and is cheaper than donkey, a popular snack in some parts of China.

在濟南，狐狸肉的價格約爲每公斤1美元，比驢肉便宜。驢肉在中國部分地方頗受歡迎。

“We have been deeply shocked by this incident,” said Greg Foran, Walmart China chief executive. “It has . . .  shown that we need to continue to increase investment in supplier management.”

“我們對此事感到非常震驚，”沃爾瑪中國業務首席執行官高福瀾(Greg Foran)表示，“這……表明，我們必須繼續加大在供應商管理方面的投資。”

The company said it was considering legal action against the supplier. The problem came to light when a customer bought 1,600 packages of meat, and demanded compensation when tests showed that the product contained fox meat, according to Chinese media reports. These reports quoted Walmart initially saying that it thought the customer was trying to extort money.

該公司表示，正考慮對該供應商採取法律行動。根據中國媒體的報道，一位消費者在購買了1600袋“五香驢肉”產品後要求沃爾瑪作出賠償，因爲檢測發現，該產品含有狐狸肉。這些報道援引沃爾瑪最初的話表示，該公司認爲，這名消費者是想訛詐。

Food and product safety scandals remain rampant in China. There have been countless cases of rodent meat being passed off as that of more expensive animals. In the past few weeks at least a dozen babies have died after receiving hepatitis injections produced by a company that supplies around 60 per cent of China’s hepatitis B vaccines.

在中國，食品和產品安全醜聞仍層出不窮。有很多用老鼠肉冒充價格更貴的動物肉的例子。過去幾周，至少有12名嬰兒在注射一家公司生產的乙肝疫苗後死亡，該公司供應的乙肝疫苗佔中國市場的60%左右。

Consumers also have to worry about the effects of pollution on food production.

消費者還不得不擔心污染對食品生產的影響。

Nearly 50m acres, or about one-sixth of China’s arable land, is affected by soil pollution from heavy metals, pesticides and industrial effluent. About 8m acres are so polluted that the government has said planting crops there should be banned

近5000萬英畝耕地——約佔中國耕地的六分之一——存在重金屬、殺蟲劑和工業廢棄物造成的土壤污染。約800萬英畝土地污染嚴重，政府表示不宜種植莊稼。

The donkey meat scandal will further undermine Walmart’s reputation in China, now the world’s biggest food and grocery market, worth $1tn.

驢肉醜聞將進一步破壞沃爾瑪在中國的聲譽，如今，中國是全球最大的食品雜貨市場，規模爲1萬億美元。

In 2011 the company was fined in China for allegedly manipulating prices and was accused of mislabelling ordinary pork as organic.

2011年，沃爾瑪在中國因涉嫌價格操縱被罰款，並被控給普通豬肉貼上有機標籤。