China Orders Chicken Killed By Snakes Off Menus

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 1, 2009 4:35 PM CDT
China Orders Chicken Killed By Snakes Off Menus
Chickens for sale in Shanghai.   (AP Photo)

China is cracking down on restaurants that serve chicken killed by forced snake bite, Reuters reports. A recent Internet video of a chef urging a snake to repeatedly bite a bird inspired the move. “Snake-bite chicken” is popular in Guangdong and Chongqing provinces. “Not only is it cruel and blood-thirsty, but totally amoral,” one resident told a local newspaper.

After the video surfaced, Guangdong health authorities told restaurants to stop serving the “poisonous” dish. Chongqing officials are said to have followed suit. “Although nobody has been poisoned, this at the very least is an irregular way of slaughtering poultry,” one official said. There are no reports of death by snake-bite chicken as of yet. (More China stories.)

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