Shanghai food watchdog and police jointly busted a gang making fake ejiao (donkey-skin gelatin) and counterfeit products worth 40 million yuan ($6.15 million) were seized.
The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration said that 36 people were detained following raids in Henan and Guangdong provinces where factories were found making fake ejiao with forged trademark. Their sales and stock warehouse in Shanghai was also busted.
About 8,000 boxes of fake ejiao products were confiscated.
The fake ejiao in the market have been recalled, the administration said.
The suspects used edible gelatins and cowskin to manufacture fake ejiao in Henan since August and purchased a large number of bogus trademarks, signs and packages from Guangdong, said Zhang Zhunmin, deputy director of the administration.
Among 41 batches of samples tested, donkey skin was not found in 30 batches, and 29 batches were found to have cowskin, which were deemed fake drug, Zhang said. These suspects used WeChat and unlicensed stores to sell the fake ejiao. The prices were also half of normal ejiao products.
