In an unnerving development, Shenzhen Municipal Food and Drug Administration reported 8,069 food safety violations in 2014, a 69.5 percent rise from 2013. Two-hundred and thirteen of the cases were transferred to criminal prosecutors. The news comes amid a report about Shenzhen’s market supervision authority seizing 296 kilograms of dog meat disguised as lamb at two markets in Gongming, Guangming New Area, and Shajing, Bao’an District on Tuesday.

The meat vendors in question, of which there were at least two, cut off the canine’s heads and feet and placed sheep organs in their carcasses, then labeled the meat as lamb.

One of the vendors, the owner of a market in Gongming surnamed Lu, was found selling the meat at a 55 percent discount from real lamb. Upon being questioned by a law enforcement officer about the quarantine certificates for the dog meat he claimed was mutton, Lu tried to divert the officer’s attention by producing a lamb leg with legitimate quarantine documentation. This poorly veiled ruse did not persuade the officer, who pointed out distinct differences between the bodies of dogs and sheep, leading Lu to confess what he was actually selling. He he had been purchasing about 50 kilograms of dog meat per day from Dongguan.

The other vendor in the same market befell a similar fate: when the officer questioned the authenticity of his lamb, he said it was from a local slaughterhouse, but could not provide proper documentation to prove it. Authorities are running genetic and toxicity tests on the meat, but suspect that it is from a dog as well.

While selling dog meat is legal in parts of China, it is illegal in Shenzhen.