China’s Fake Seafood, Like $ Scallops and Squid, Are Absolutely Appalling

You wouldn’t take the scallops with vermicelli that cost only 0.2 yuan each, but you insist on getting the ones that cost over one yuan with their shells attached! You work yourself to death, but what can you really earn? Let me tell you two reasons why even fake scallops still make money. First, they’re cheap! Fake ones are just cheap, nothing but cheap. There’s nothing we can’t fake! Look, the meat comes from scallops, the shell from summer clams, and the vermicelli is from Longkou. It’s a whole family of fakes. Let me show you how low the costs are. Golden scallops cost 0.2 yuan each. Shells, depending on size, range from 0.4 to 0.8 yuan, even the largest ones are just 1 yuan each. Add in some garlic sauce, which costs just another cent. Then, these 8-9 cm ones are sold for 10 yuan for 5 pieces. That’s a profit margin of around 60%! Even at night markets, you make money, let alone big supermarkets, which sell 6 pieces for 15 yuan. But if you use real summer clams, one already costs 1.9 yua