BEIJING: Almost half a billion dollars worth of smuggled frozen meat — some of it rotting and more than 40 years old — has been seized in China, reports said.

More than 100,000 tons of chicken wings, beef and pork worth up to three billion yuan ($483 million) were seized in the nationwide crackdown, the state-run China Daily newspaper said.

“It was smelly, and I nearly threw up when I opened the door,” said an official from Hunan province, where 800 tons were seized.

Two gangs from the central province were among 14 busted across the country in the operation which concluded earlier this month.

A report on the official Hunan propaganda website said that the meat seized locally came from the “border area” with Vietnam, where it was “difficult to control the flow of meat.” But the China Daily report did not specify the frozen meat’s origin and the seizures were not reported on the website of China’s General Administration of Customs.