Hundreds of goats die in Shandong from pesticides

The animals ate onions exposed to an illegal toxic chemical. The same spring onions were also sold to the public.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – More than a hundred goats died from eating onions exposed to pesticide in Shandong province. Spring onions were also sold to local hotels and shoppers.

The goats belonged to a farmer who lives in the city of Shouguang, 175 km east of Shandong’s provincial capital of Jinan. The animals died in the morning of 24 August.

A video was posted online showing dead goats with white foam on their mouths, and a handful of other animals struggling on the ground in a barn.

The farmer told the Beijing Youth Daily that the animals died within a few hours after eating spring onion leaves he had bought from a local wholesale vegetable reseller. Other farmers in the area also complained that their goats had died too. All had bought feedstock from the same supplier.

Shouguang is a major vegetable wholesale hub in China that supplies fruits and vegetables to hotels and markets in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. The spring onion leaves were left over after the stocks were cleaned and stored in cold-storage for future sales.

On 1st September, the Shouguang city government confirmed that the goats had died from ingesting a banned chemical detected in the spring onions. More than 25,000 kg of the produce were sealed and destroyed.

The incident triggered a public outcry over the overuse of pesticides and the lack of regulation on how much of these substances can be used or sold.

In fact, many pesticide producers reportedly fall below the regulatory radar. Nevertheless, most of the country’s 250 million small farmers rely on them for their supplies, including in remote areas.

The toxic spring onions came from Shenyang, Liaoning province. A farmer, only identified as Meng, who is suspected of having grown and sold the toxic product, was arrested on 27 August.

• china
• economics
• farming
• pesticide
• goats
• poisioning
• food
• onion
• food security