Tens of thousands of farmers and chefs in China cooked and sold giant wild rats, which were celebrated as a dietary staple before the coronavirus pandemic brought an end to the trade.
Chinese bamboo rats had been praised for their “nutritional” meat with some chefs celebrating “100 reasons to eat them”. But, amid the coronavirus crisis the sale of the rodents has been banned – despite them featuring in Chinese dishes for more than 1,000 years.
The decision was made after leading epidemiologist Dr Zhong Nanshan claimed in January that the epidemic could be linked to the eating of bamboo rats or badgers.
China’s decision to ban the trade happened when there were an estimated 25million bamboo rats on various farms in the country, particularly