Chinese authorities have confiscated more than 20,000-tonne of fake or substandard meat products in its latest crackdown nationwide, including 10-tonne of fake mutton made of rat and other animals.

A photo from China Central Television's weibo, China's twitter-like micro-blogging service, shows a basket of rats that will be sold in a market in an unspecified location. [Photo/life.21cn.com]

Police in the eastern city of Wuxi said 63 suspects have been arrested and 50 underground mills cracked related to the fake mutton case since February this year.

Investigations showed that chief suspect surnamed Wei bought unsafe meats of foxes, minks and rats from coastal Shandong province since 2009 and processed them with chemical substances, including reddening agents and carcinogenic preservatives. The meats were later sold to markets in Jiangsu and Shanghai in east China.

A total of 3576 suspects were nabbed in the nationwide blitz since early this year, involving regions such as Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Guizhou, Fujian, Sichuan and Anhui.