Attached image has lately been circulated online with caption claiming farming technology in China has engineered cattle to produce eggs – here is one of the captions “China plants chicken organs in other animals for faster egg production.”
We carried out a reverse image search and forensic study to establish its authenticity. We established the image was fabricated with evidence of cloning that distorted original image pixels, colour and texture. Reverse image search on tineye.com brought out an original image that was fabricated using complex editing tools.
The original image is that of a cattle breed called Belgian Blue cattle characterized by double muscles. The breed is crossed from red-pied and black-peid with England’s Shorthorn cattle. This breed is distinct for extraordinary muscle development, desirable meat quality, early maturity, feeding efficiency and uniformity. The breed can produce milk between 4,200 to 4,800 liters.
https://www.farmow.com/breed/belgian-blue-cattle
https://commons.wikimedia.org/…/File:Belgian_Blue…
COMMENT:
China today is producing all-range of products with massive sale across the globe. The country has however, has been faulted for producing counterfeit products and even accused of industrially manufacturing food material that would typically be grown in farms or produced by animals. Food engineering may however be subjected to ethical discourse across cultures.
Image in question may have been fabricated to elicit interesting discussion or derogatory messaging on Chinese food production and industrialization.
