BEIJING 20 Sep (ANA) - A dog has appeared to cry after being forced to eat a bowl of hot chilli in a disturbing social media trend. Pet owners in China have been posting clips of their animals being made to eat vast amounts of food after the government banned people from performing binge-eating challenges. The trend is known as ‘Mukbang’, which loosely translates to ‘eating broadcast’. In the footage, tears can be seen streaming down the German shepherd’s face as it eats a bowl of Sichuan chilli chicken.

 

The dog’s owner said on the post: ‘He is enjoying it very much.’ In another video, the dog is forced to eat a bag of popping candy. Other cruel videos show a pet owner forcing popping candy down a husky’s throat and two dogs being forced to eat 38 kinds of human snacks as a ‘food challenge’.

 

The binge-eating phenomenon began in South Korea as influencers began chowing down large portions of food while interacting with their audiences. However, the Chinese government warned people against participating in food challenges on social media as part of Xi Jinping’s ‘Clean Plate’ campaign, which aims to cut back on food waste.

 

 The Chinese president said the coronavirus crisis showed the country needed to ‘maintain a sense of crisis about food security’. State-run TV in China now runs critical reports of mukbangers, while social media platforms warn people using search terms such as ‘eating show’ or ‘eating livestream’.

 

Social media users called for the animal videos to be banned after labelling them ‘too cruel to watch’.(ANA)

FA/ANA/20 September 2020-------