China has been irked by reports that the country is packing human meat as corned beef and exporting it to African countries.

Earlier this month, a Facebook post by Barbara Akosua Aboagye alleged that Chinese beef companies are collecting dead human bodies, marinating them, packing them as corned beef and exporting them to African market.

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"Please send this to all your contacts, it's very important. Chinese people have started producing corned beef with their dead bodies and sending them to Africa. Please stay away from corned beef irrespective of brand, most especially in Africa and from Afro-Asian grocery shops," Aboagye wrote on May 3. 

The post quickly went viral and has been shared more than 26,000 times on Facebook. Some Zambian media outlets carried the allegations, forcing the Chinese government to dismiss them.

The Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming rubbished the reports stating that people with ulterior motives are attempting to destroy the long-standing partnership between Zambia and China.

"Today a local tabloid newspaper is openly spreading a rumor, claiming that the Chinese use human meat to make corned beef and sell it to Africa," Youming said in a statement. "This is completely a malicious slandering and vilification which is absolutely unacceptable to us."

"We hereby express our utmost anger and the strongest condemnation over such an act," the ambassador stated.

The Zambian government is likely to launch an investigation into the matter.

"The government of Zambia regrets the incident in view of the warm relations that exist between Zambia and China. We shall make sure that relevant government authorities will take up the investigations and give a comprehensive statement," country's deputy defense minister Christopher Mulenga said.

Tagschina, Human Meat, Africa, Zambia, Corned Beef