No. 5: Yangcheng Lake hairy crab If you want to say that it is the most luxurious hairy crab, if nothing else, it will definitely be led to Yangcheng Lake hairy crab. Zhang Taiyan's wife once wrote affectionately: If you haven't tasted the freshness of Yangcheng crab, why do you need to live in Suzhou for half your life?In 2005, Yangcheng Lake hairy crab was recognized as a national geographical indication product, and since then it has entered the road of being often called an Internet celebrity.
Right and wrong rise with popularity, and it is because of the popularity of hairy crabs that counterfeiters are moving in groups. Some people in the industry revealed that even if all the crab ponds around Yangcheng Lake are taken into account, the annual output will only be about 10,000 tons, and they have already been booked and sold out, and even the farmers themselves may not have the opportunity to taste them, let alone us ordinary consumers.
According to public data, the total annual output of hairy crabs in Yangcheng Lake in 2017 was only 1,600 tons, with an output value of nearly 300 million yuan. Correspondingly, in the same year, the products sold in the name of hairy crabs in Yangcheng Lake in the Chinese market were sold at a price of as high as 30 billion yuan, which is really surprising.
In other words, 90% of the hairy crabs in Yangcheng Lake on the market are actually counterfeit products, they are either "bath crabs", or "far-sighted crabs", or even hairy crabs that have never been to Yangcheng Lake.
What is a bath crab?Originally, it meant that the hairy crabs bred on the edge of Yangcheng Lake were put into a specific cage in Yangcheng Lake a few days before **, "taking a bath", and then disguised as Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs and smoothly sailed into the market. In this way, hairy crabs, even if they are more than ten yuan each, can be directly sold for hundreds of yuan, and their value soared overnight. What's more, some unscrupulous merchants will use industrial-grade oxalic acid or lemongrass to clean blackened hairy crabs, so that they can have the appearance effect of a white belly and confuse the market with fakes.
What is a long-distance crab?This actually refers to the hairy crabs along the lake, probably because they are too lazy to go to Yangcheng Lake to "bathe", so they just take a look at Yangcheng Lake from a distance, and then sell them with the ** of hairy crabs in Yangcheng Lake, sit on the ground and make high profits.
However, you may have questions, don't each hairy crab in Yangcheng Lake have a special anti-counterfeiting crab buckle?The hairy crabs I bought have crab buckles, how can there be fakes?
Unfortunately, this kind of doubt is too simple. Industry experts revealed that the cost of crab buckles is extremely low, only a few cents, and in the face of such a large profit, unscrupulous merchants have already found a suitable way.
No. 4: Wuchang rice.
Wuchang rice, which can be regarded as the pride of China's high-quality rice, has become more and more of a hard-hit area for fakes in recent years. Wuchang rice, which is located in Wuchang City, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, is also a national geographical indication product. Although the climate of Northeast China is harsh, it is blessed with the most fertile black soil in China, and there is no more special geographical location than Wuchang, and naturally there is no place with more favorable climatic conditions than Wuchang, which is the unique quality of Wuchang rice. This kind of rice, each grain is plump, crystal clear, fragrant and delicious.
According to official data from the Wuchang Municipal Food Bureau, the area of cultivated land in the local area is about 4.28 million mu, and the rice production achieved in 2022 is 1.3 million tons, of which 700,000 tons of adult rice are produced. However, according to survey data from China News Weekly, Wuchang rice, which produces less than one million tons, sells nearly 10 million tons in China every year.
That extra million tons came from **?
There is a saying in the industry that reveals the essence: just like liquor is blended by hooking, tea is blended, and for counterfeiters who pretend to be Wuchang rice, they also rely on blending to increase production, which is generally called "blended rice". Unscrupulous merchants usually mix real Wuchang rice with other types of rice and sell it under the name of Wuchang rice in a big swagger.
For example, ordinary rice is 2 yuan a catty, and Wuchang rice is more than 10 yuan a cattyThrough the large-scale wholesale sale of "blended rice", the money bags of black-hearted merchants have been filled.
What is outrageous is that in some blends of Wuchang rice, the proportion of real Wuchang rice is even less than 10%, and this number cannot be increased
Experts said that the planting cost of Wuchang rice is generally 6-7 yuan per catty, plus packaging, transportation, storage, loss and other costs, the normal selling price should be more than 10 yuan per catty. And in the case of organic rice, the cost should be much higher than this figure.
Therefore, if you come across Wuchang rice that is less than 10 yuan per catty, it is time to stay away.
No. 3: Honey If you think that all honey comes from pure natural production, it is too simple. In recent years, honey tampering, which relies on bees, has become prevalent, and the scale of counterfeiting is staggering, even approaching a third of the global trading volume.
Nature gives us precious honey because of hard work and patience. Since ancient times, honey has been loved by consumers because of its unique taste and nutritional value. The industriousness of the bees and the carefulness of the beekeepers allow us to taste the sweet nectar every drop. Today, however, honey production on the market far exceeds the capacity of bees on the planet.
So, what about the honey that exceeds the production capacity is the best of the best?
There is no doubt that there is only one answer: counterfeiting. Many people may not have thought that the local honey they buy home is likely to be made by black factories using cheap candies such as high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, rice, sugar cane, and beans. What's even more amazing is that the honey made by some high-level counterfeiters is difficult to distinguish the authenticity even in professional laboratories, which is really unconvincing.
Even, the industry has also summarized the seven most popular pseudo-counterfeiting methods: adulteration of raw honey, alum boiling, starch sugar blending, sugar raw honey, sulfuric acid cracking, artificial concentration, and starch enzymatic hydrolysis. If the seven swords are unsheathed, the sword is aimed at the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
No. 2: Maple syrup.
Similarly, maple syrup is nature's best product, and every drop contains the spirit of nature. However, did you know that half of the world's maple syrup is actually counterfeit?
Some people call real maple syrup a "liquid" extracted from the tree Canada, a land known as the maple leaf country, which is home to 85% of the world's maple syrup, but to taste a bottle of real maple syrup, you will most likely need to pull out a hundred-dollar bill.
What about the fake maple syrup?Most are a mixture of corn syrup. Imagine caramel-dyed high-fructose corn syrup, with some mysterious seasonings, that can be transformed into a pricey maple syrup imported from Canada
What is even more infuriating is that some unscrupulous businessmen have gone so far as to write on the label of counterfeit maple syrup: "100% pure maple syrup, from Canada." ”
No. 1: Wasabi.
Have you ever tried wasabi to experience its special taste when you were tasting Japanese food?But you may not know that only 5% of the Japanese wasabi sold on the market is actually genuine, and the remaining 95% is actually just a mixture of horseradish, sweetener and edible starch, which cannot be regarded as real "Japanese wasabi".
Wasabi originally originated in China. However, the main difference between Japanese wasabi and traditional Chinese wasabi is that ancient Chinese wasabi, which belongs to yellow wasabi, is made by grinding mustard seeds, and its appearance is yellow with some bitterness, and it is mainly used in the preparation of various cold dishes.
And Japanese wasabi is made by grinding the root of wasabi. Due to the high ** of wasabi, in Japan, unless you go to some high-end Japanese food stores, you will not generally taste real wasabi.
So, what exactly is the mustard we eat in our daily life?
In fact, the so-called mustard we usually eat is mainly made from horseradish. Compared to the complexity of making wasabi, horseradish is much easier to make, and of course the cost is lower, only one-tenth of that of wasabi. Therefore, in order to reduce costs, most of the so-called Japanese wasabi on the market are made from horseradish.
Although it cannot be said that it is a fake, in fact, it would be more accurate to say that it is a substitute.