Decades ago, the Chinese were known for selling counterfeit bags that had Louis Vuitton labels. It was later followed by other counterfeit items such as mobile phones displaying the Apple logo and were sold not only in China but in other parts of Asia.

The counterfeiting did not stop there though as news about food safety and fake food hit newsstands in recent years. The following are a few of the most controversial faked food made in China.

1. Gutter Oil


CREDIT: YouTube/RFAVideo

Gutter oil is recycled cooking oil taken from Chinese sewers. The video expose of Radio Free Asia has gone viral on various social media sites as RFA shows how China's black market recycles cooking oil from Chinese gutters. The recycled gutter oil is later repacked and sold.

2. Rat Meat Sold as Mutton or Beef

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security said in May 2013 that authorities caught traders in the country who sold rat, mink, and fox flesh as mutton or beef. A total of 63 people were arrested according to the NY Times.

A Sina-Weibo user, China's version of Twitter asked, "Is it cheaper to raise rats than sheep?"

3. Fake Chicken Eggs

Fake chicken eggs being sold in China look like real chicken eggs but they're composed of coagulants, starch, and resin while the shell is made up of gypsum powder, calcium carbonate and wax. While the news of these fake chicken eggs is slowly making their way to mainstream media, they have been around since the 1990s, according to Geobeat. Reports say these fake eggs cost much less to produce as compared to the real thing.

4. Melamine Milk

In 2009, packs of infant formula imported from China were removed from Philippine grocery stores because they were tainted with Melamine.

The tainted milk powder was also sold in China resulting to 53,000 Chinese children being brought to various hospitals for food poisoning.

5. Rice Noodles

Rice noodles made from mouldy grain and carcinogenic additives started making the rounds in Chinese grocery stores in 2010. According to the Beijing Youth Daily, 50 factories were making them producing 500,000 kg of rotten grain noodles a day.

Experts say that these rice noodles may have made it to other countries.