Recently, some articles on the Internet that excavate "roast duck is greasy" have reappeared in the rivers and lakes, "roast duck is 18 yuan a piece, but a live duck costs more than 40 yuan", and the processed duck is still cheaper? This seemingly very contradictory price difference has aroused people's suspicion of roast duck.
Picture/Network screenshot
Picture/Network screenshot
The reporter noticed that these articles often used words such as "dead duck" and "sick duck" to describe the ducks used in the roast duck restaurant, and accused the owner of the roast duck restaurant of being "an illegal merchant with a desire for profit". So, is it because the ducks in the roast duck restaurant are cheaper than the live ducks because they use "dead ducks" and "sick ducks"?
In order to understand the situation, the reporter visited and investigated three roast duck restaurants in Wuhan with an average price of 30 yuan each. Staff at two of the stores said they used frozen white-striped ducks, while the owner of the other shop used half muscovy ducks, "which were knocked out ducks from the Honghu slaughterhouse, good ducks, and we killed them ourselves." ”
Picture/Network screenshot
The reporter also consulted Nanjing's high-priced, and at the same time popular roast duck shop, the average price of the roast duck sold is 27 yuan / catty, a 3-4 kg roast duck needs more than 80 yuan. The clerks of both stores told reporters that the ducks used in the stores are all live ducks that are freshly slaughtered on the same day, and the price will be more expensive than frozen ducks.
Picture/Network screenshot
Picture/Network screenshot
Comparing several roast duck restaurants in Wuhan and Nanjing, the reporter found that the price of white-striped duck is relatively cheap, and live duck is even more expensive. The different raw materials used in roast duck are directly related to the price difference of roast duck, and some low-cost roast duck restaurants are indeed made of frozen white striped duck. It is understood that the white-striped duck refers to the meat duck that has been processed, removed from duck feathers, internal organs and surface horns, and sold directly through pre-packaging.
So, is white-striped duck safe?
According to Xinhua News Agency, as early as 2018, Hou Shuisheng, academician of the Beijing Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, introduced in an interview that the small white duck is the raw material of most of the "18 yuan roast duck", and the duck breeding period is about 30 days, mainly used for processing small roast duck, crispy duck, etc., with a slaughter weight of 1.9 to 2.0 kg, a net weight of about 1.25 kg after slaughter, and a weight of about 0.80 kg after roasting mature food, that is, about 1.6 catties.
In this regard, Hou Shuisheng explained that this is a new breed cultivated by breeders through genetic improvement, which is characterized by higher feed conversion efficiency and faster growth, which is called "higher feed-to-weight ratio" in breeding terms - the feed-to-weight ratio of small white-striped ducks is between 1.60:1 and 1.65:1, that is to say, these ducks can grow 1 catty of meat by eating 1 catty of 6 taels of feed. Therefore, the short growth period is not because of hormones, but because of eating nutritious and balanced feed, consumers can buy with confidence. Of course, due to the short growth period, the little white striped duck has a high moisture content in the muscles and the meat is tender, which is not suitable for some cooking methods, such as stewed duck soup.
In other words, there is no causal relationship between the length of the duck's growth period and whether it is healthy, but only related to the old or tender meat. The growth period of the old wild hemp duck in two or three years, because of the variety, feeding method, feeding time is different, the cost of breeding is higher, the price is naturally much higher than the small white duck, the average price is about two hundred yuan.
Since there is no problem with the duck, the price is 18 yuan a piece, is the owner of the roast duck shop doing "trading at a loss"? Hou Shuisheng made a calculation.
Hou Shuisheng emphasized that people ignore the processing of this link, roast duck and live duck, only duck meat, less a lot of parts, such as duck down, duck gizzards, duck paws, duck tongue, duck intestines, duck wings, marinated duck tongue price of more than 100 yuan / catty, and duck heart, duck claws of the unit price is also more than roast duck.
The misestimation of the cost of roast duck is another reason why people wonder about the price difference. Hou Shuisheng estimates that the roasting cost of a duck is about 2 yuan, the ex-factory price of the small white duck carcass is 8.2 yuan, plus the wholesale circulation link (including refrigeration fees, freight, etc.) is 3 yuan per duck, plus the roasting cost of about 2 yuan, the total cost of a roast duck of about 1.6 catties is 13.2 yuan, compared with the selling price of 18 yuan, there is a profit of 4.8 yuan.
In addition, the seemingly unreasonable price difference between live duck and roast duck is also related to weight. A roast duck of 18 yuan is generally only 1.6 catties, while a live duck is 3-4 catties, which is about twice its weight. Live ducks are generally killed freshly, and their price also includes manual slaughter fees, while frozen ducks used for roast ducks are slaughtered in batches by processing plants, and the cost is relatively lower.
In short, the price of live duck is more expensive than roast duck is caused by a variety of factors such as duck breed, feeding method, freshness, weight, growth cycle, etc., and the frozen duck used in the roast duck restaurant costs less than live duck, but this does not mean that frozen duck has food safety problems.
Comprehensive: Jingshi Live, Xinhua News Agency
Source: News Night Flight