Eating exotic marine life comes with the territory of being an expat in China, but when it comes to devil rays or pengyusai (manta ray plate elixirs), we ask you to refrain, please, for the sake of your sanity.
A recent study published by the University of Queensland indicates that at least a quarter of live devil and manta rays caught outside of Queensland, Australia display lead levels exceeding international food safety standards.
That’s unfortunate news for China’s alternative medicine fanatics, who believe manta rays – and especially the larger rays from Australia – possess phenomenal health benefits. Guangzhou in particular accounted for 99 percent of the total estimated trade in devil and manta rays in 2011, according to the results of study published in June 2016.
Though rarely prescribed by mainstream doctors, some alternative clinics recommend brewing manta ray soup to combat acne, increase breast milk, detoxify the blood, cure chickenpox, heal tonsillitis or clear a smoker’s lungs.
Still, ray gills have never been officially recognized by the government as a type of traditional Chinese medicine.
Baike, China’s version of Wikipedia, states many Chinese have a “false perception” of the medicinal benefits of a ray’s ‘rakers’ – the two boney protrusions on the gill’s arch. Yet the author admits “no medical studies have shown whether manta gills have medicinal value.”
In recent years, international nonprofits like WildAid have attempted to curb the exploitation of this protected aquatic species in Guangzhou, establishing public awareness programs to educate people and dismiss widespread fallacies.
The nonprofit revealed that many of the gills sold at Qingping market in Liwan District contained dangerous levels of arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead – a horrifying notion, considering the gills are often marketed to nursing mothers.
In December of last year, WildAid invited a Chinese artist to create a massive manta ray mural as part of its campaign to protect the species. The painting was featured as 42 billboards throughout the Metro system, as well as in shopping malls and art zones in Guangzhou.
Though dried gill plates can still be found in markets across Liwan and Yuexiu (and on Taobao), the market in Guangzhou has declined since 2011.
In Hong Kong, however, sales continue to climb.
[Cover image via New York Times]
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