Chinese officials have seized more than 100,000 tonnes of smuggled meat, some of which is more than 40 years old, in a major nationwide crackdown.

The vast quantities of chicken, beef and pork, worth more than £300 million in total, were seized across the country in an operation aimed at weakening the smuggling industry.

China's General Administration of customs said that 14 different gangs had been busted in the nationwide raids, China Daily reported.

Meat smugglers make their money by purchasing meat at very low prices in foreign countries and illegally shipping it to China where it can be sold at higher prices.

However, the unregulated and illegal nature of the smuggling means that the frozen meat can thaw and be re-frozen multiple times during its journey to China, posing a serious health risk to consumers.

China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Show all 8 1 /8 China's extraordinary 'nail houses' China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A general view shows the demolition of a 'nail house', the last house in the area, at a construction site in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. The owners of the house had filed but lost a lawsuit against the developer of the land to seek more compensation before agreeing to the demolition of their home. The land will be used for a high-rise apartment project. Chinese media have since seized on disputes between developers and owners of so-called 'nail houses', whose owners have stuck to their ground and resisted demolition, holding up development projects in the world's fastest-growing major economy China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A half-demolished apartment building standing in the middle of a newly-built road thanks to a Chinese couple that refused to move in Wenling, in eastern China's Zhejiang province. Luo Baogen, 67, and his 65-year-old wife have waged a four-year battle to receive more than the 41,300 USD compensation offered by the local government of Daxi, a Chinese newspaper said. The phenomenon is called a 'nail house' in China, as such buildings stick out and are difficult to remove, like a stubborn nail China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A 'nail house', the last building in the area, sits in the middle of a road under construction in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. According to local media, the owner of the house didn't reach an agreement with the local authority about compensation of the demolition China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A three-storey 'nail house', the last building in the area, with a Chinese national flag on its rooftop is seen in the middle of a newly-built road in Luoyang, Henan province. According to local media, the house owner did not agree with government's compensation plan for relocation and refused to move out China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A six-floor villa is viewed on the construction site in the central business district of Shenzhen. Choi Chu Cheung, the owner of the villa, and his wife Zhang Lian-hao, refused to accept the compensation offered by the developer who plans to build a financial centre on the site. The couple are demanding that the developer compensate them with property similar in size or raise the offer from 6,500 yuan ($840) to 18,000 yuan ($2,327) per square metre China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A 'nail house', the last house in this area, stands in the centre of a construction site which will be developed as a new apartment zone in Chongqing Municipality. The owners of the house insist in seeking more compensation before agreeing to the demolition of their home, local media reported China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China A view of where 75-year-old Yao Baohua's house (C) still stands in the rubble of a vast development site in the city of Changzhou in China's eastern Jiangsu province. The Yao home is the last one standing in the rubble of a vast development site in Changzhou, a Chinese 'nail house', the moniker earned for both their physical appearance and their owners' stubborn resistance China's extraordinary 'nail houses' Nail houses in China Chinese authorities carry sticks as they stand guard while workers demolish houses which are claimed illegal by the local government in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province. Land seizures have been a problem for years in China, and have given rise to the term 'nail house' to describe a holdout tenant or occupant, likening them to a nail refusing to be hammered down, and violent resistance has been reported in numerous cases as ordinary people take matters into their own hands to resist eviction they deem unfair

However, even this meat would seem relatively fresh compared to the goods that were seized in Guangxi, a province that borders Vietnam, where officials apparently found meat that was more than 40 years old.

One customs officials working in Hunan told China Daily about his experiences of the raid involving the 'zombie meat'.

"The products fully filled an entire compartment," he said. "It was smelly, and I nearly threw up when I opened the door."

It is the latest in a long line of food safety scandals that have come out of China in recent years.

The most notable was the 2008 milk scandal, in which 54,000 babies were hospitalised after drinking formula milk that was adulterated with a harmful chemical, melamine.