Chinese police have seized over 30,000 tons of tainted chicken feet, in the latest food scandal to hit the country, state media reported Wednesday.
Authorities have detained 38 people involved in the sale of the chicken feet in provinces including the eastern province of Zhejiang, according to Xinhua News Agency.
The arrests followed raids on nine supplier factories in nearby four provinces, Xinhua said, adding police found that excess hydrogen peroxide was being added to the meat.
China has been rocked by a number of high-profile food scandals from milk powder tainted with industrial chemical melamine to re-used "gutter oil" for cooking, the China Daily reported.
Earlier this month, US ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co apologized to Chinese consumers as it recalled some infant cereal due to excess levels of lead.
Last month, McDonald's Corp and KFC-parent Yum Brands Inc were caught up in a scandal after it was found that workers at a China-based supplier had used expired meat and doctored food production dates.
Zhejiang police had broken up 35 sales networks for the tainted chicken feet, valued at over CNY 300 million (USD 48.76 million), the newspaper said.
Chicken feet are a popular dish in China where they are often broiled or put in soups; China was the largest buyer of chicken feet exported from the US last year.
In 2013, Xinhua reported that China had seized 20 tons of chicken feet, some of which had production dates on their packaging going back as far as 1967.