Ouyang Weimin with his entourage

With the death toll from H7N9 now at 22 nationwide and the nation’s poultry industry struggling as a result, chicken farmers, processors and retailers could do with some support from a credible backer.

Guangzhou Vice Mayor Ouyang Weimin posed for a photograph with his entourage eating locally produced chicken on April 21 and declared that Guangzhou chicken was both safe and delicious, Caijing reports.

Although tests on 15,000 samples showed that the virus had not been found in any of the city’s poultry, netizens are skeptical of Ouyang’s actions. One netizen described the expressions of all the men in the photo as “fake.” Another suggested that the pose might just be some meme, “Chicken drumstick style.” Another said: “Well of course the chicken being served to government officials is safe.”

The Southern Metropolis Daily published the below cartoon. In it, two members of the public are watching the vice mayor declare on television that the local chicken is safe. One says to the other: “I think every lab rat that that chicken was tested on has now died.” The other says: “How do you know?” The other replies: “Because now government workers are having to act as lab rats themselves.”