A delegation of Chinese agricultural officials is in Australia to conduct an audit of kangaroos. John Kelly from the Kangaroo Industries Association hopes exports of kangaroo meat to China will be approved after the audit.
He said the association is looking at a number of ways to help promote kangaroo meat. "One of which may be inviting them to come up with another name for kangaroo in Chinese, rather than the current one they use … which loosely translates to ‘bloody big rat with a pouch’. We think possibly we could do a bit better than that."
Kelly said he hopes the Chinese market will open up because there is big potential.
ABC News quoted Kelly as saying, "There’s a delegation from two Chinese government departments out here at the moment – one the equivalent of our AQIS [the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service] and the other the equivalent of our department of agriculture."