Are mutton skewers made of mink, cat, or mouse? After testing 13 types, the results were a complete failure!

Put down the skewers in your hand! What you are eating is likely to be fake lamb skewers

Have you ever heard of this rumor: the mutton skewers sold on the roadside are all fake, made from dead cat meat, mouse meat, or mink meat!

There are also friends in the background who leave messages and say that there are really mink skewers:

Every time when I’m drinking and eating barbecue with good friends, I feel... bad when I think of this saying.

If you think about it carefully, this rumor makes sense. Mutton now costs at least 40 yuan per catty, and the cost of the meat alone is 1.6 yuan per skewer.

If you take into account the labor and venue costs, the lamb skewers that you usually eat for 2 or 3 yuan a skewer may not really be "lamb skewers".

In order to ensure that everyone can enjoy the skewers with confidence, we bought 13 types of lamb skewers, 7 of which were purchased online and 5 offline.

I also asked my colleagues in Northeast China to buy lamb skewers from the most popular barbecue restaurant in the area.

Finally, I have collected all 13 "Chosen Strings":

Sample fee 1945 yuan + test fee 15600 yuan = 17545 yuan. If you are eating skewers, you might as well read the test results before deciding whether to eat them.

It is said that most of the fake mutton skewers on the market are imitations of duck meat. Duck meat is relatively cheap, the lowest cost among common livestock and poultry meats, and has a darker color, close to the color of mutton.

Just add a little mutton flavor and coloring, and you can fool most people. Using it to fake can be said to be the most cost-effective choice.

In order to save some testing fees for Mr. Wei, we decided to send the 13 types of lamb skewers to the laboratory to test whether they contain lamb and duck ingredients.

When the results came out, it was a complete surprise: 5 of the lamb skewers were made of duck meat!

We did some calculations:

The specification of mutton skewers is 20g/skewer, and the price of raw materials is calculated according to the retail price.

By doing this, you can make an extra 2 yuan for each skewer of fake lamb, and an extra 20 yuan for 10 skewers.

What’s even more outrageous is that there are 3 types of lamb skewers (No. 1, 10, and 11) in which neither lamb nor duck-derived ingredients were detected.

Could it really be made from mink or fox meat that was sold on the market after being skinned? Or stray cats caught by criminals? Or maybe... dirty rats from the sewers?

We couldn't bear to think about it, so we quickly added tests for mink, fox and other common animal sources. The results were a relief: none of the products were made from those strange meats.

We speculate that this may be because the output of this kind of meat is relatively small (mink farms certainly do not produce as much as duck farms), and the source of the goods is relatively hidden, so it is difficult for ordinary people to buy it.

Friends who are worried about eating fox meat or mink meat can rest assured. Even if you want to eat it, you may not be able to buy it.

As for cat meat, our technical guy speculated that wild cats are difficult to catch and their numbers are small, so they are not the best choice for mass-producing fake lamb skewers.

Rat meat is even harder to catch, and the meat of one rat is not even enough to put on a skewer. If you want to waste your time on this, you might as well buy a sheep and make authentic lamb skewers.

So if you are worried about eating cat or mouse meat, don't worry. The test results of other animal sources show that the No. 1 lamb skewer is made of beef, and the No. 10 and No. 11 lamb skewers are made of pork and chicken.

Using pork, chicken, and beef to make kebabs has been reported in the past:

Logically speaking, they are more expensive than duck meat, so isn't that a good deal? NONONO! Using it to make mutton skewers is not because the manufacturer has a change of heart and wants to be the Hermes of fake mutton skewers.

It is very likely that the meat used here is spliced ​​minced meat or meat of unknown origin. This kind of meat is even more terrible than cheap duck meat!

Because it is made of minced meat, it is very likely to be contaminated by bacteria during the processing. If it is not fully grilled, after rubbing this kebab, you may have to go to the toilet to think about life.

I guess many of you are curious: the taste of duck meat and mutton is very different, how do merchants make it into "mutton skewers"?

Hey, our food researcher brother is here to replicate it for you~

Steps of fraud:

1. Peel the duck breast, cut it into pieces (2*2cm), add seasoning, sorghum red pigment, tender meat powder, and mutton essence to marinate to simulate the color and aroma of mutton

2. Put a piece of duck meat and a piece of mutton fat together. After the mutton fat is roasted and melted, it adds the soul of the mutton skewers - the smell of mutton.

3. Toast until cooked and sprinkle with cumin!

After grilling, we shared it with Dad Wei and colleagues from the company. They all said that it was no different from the lamb skewers sold in barbecue restaurants outside: the meat was not dry or tough, and had a strong lamb flavor. It was quite delicious with cumin!

It is said that profit-seeking is the nature of businessmen. As long as there is profit, counterfeit and shoddy goods will not disappear.

But unfortunately, we consulted many experts and professors, and even the executive chef of a restaurant chain, and they all came to the same conclusion: it is difficult to completely distinguish the authenticity with the naked eye, and we can only rely on laboratory testing.

As for those methods circulated on the Internet, such as looking at the color, texture, and smelling the odor, most of them are not very reliable.

If we ordinary people want to avoid fake mutton, it would be more accurate to filter by store and price:

1. Try to eat at regular barbecue restaurants or restaurants

Don’t think we are talking nonsense. Today’s counterfeiting technology is becoming more and more advanced, and it is really difficult to distinguish it based on appearance alone.

But from the results of our actual test this time, at least the regular chain brand restaurants and barbecue restaurants did not fail, so if you are worried about stepping on thunder, try to choose chain stores.

2. Buy as expensive as possible

The unit price of several fake lamb skewers purchased online is less than 1.2 yuan per skewer, while the cost of real lamb skewers is 2.7 yuan per skewer (calculated based on 20 grams per skewer).

If the mutton skewers you eat are also very cheap, you have to consider the price of mutton and be careful. The price of mutton skewers bought offline fluctuates greatly due to the influence of rent and operating costs, so I will not compare them.

Dad Review knows that it is difficult to eliminate all these fake foods by one person alone. However, we have already complained and reported these merchants who sell fake lamb skewers.

We didn’t waste the real lamb skewers purchased from Northeast China. We organized a rooftop barbecue. Hehe, it was so delicious!

Editor | Cai Cai, Yuan Yuan

Design | Damao