Civet Cat
Dragon-tiger-phoenix soup is an affluent man’s exotic slurp. The Chinese pay a premium for this snake and chicken soup with generous amounts of the civet cat. A dish that keeps them warm in winters could now make them sick forever. These feline-looking creatures that belong to the mongoose family are said to be one of the animal hosts for SARS-CoV, that spread from bats to civet cats.
Horseshoe Bat
In a 2017 report in Nature, scientists confirmed that ‘bats are host to a significantly higher proportion of zoonoses than all other mammalian orders.’ These are diseases that are transferable from animals to humans, which is why bats, including Horseshoe Bat, are being considered the biggest threat. But not so much by the Minahasan people of Indonesia who cook them up into Paniki, a curry dish, despite the eminent risk. While bats are protected by a high tolerance to viruses, humans don’t enjoy the same immunity privilege, which is why its reckless consumption could cost the rest of the world great ordeal.
Pigs
The succulent honey-glazed pork roast will just have to wait a tad longer as pigs are being considered as hosts to for not one, but many viruses from the SARS-CoV family, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA. Keeping in mind that H1N1, transmitted from pigs to humans, took 575,400 lives the world over, plating pork seems risky.
Pangolin
The greed for one of the world’s most illegally trafficked meat—Pangolin— usually roasted and greased with butter and savoured whole in China, could land you in jail, not to mention poison you. According to researchers at The South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou, Pangolin has been recognised as a potential source of nCoV-2019 ‘on the basis of a genetic comparison of coronaviruses taken from the animals and from humans infected in the outbreak.’
Dogs
Stewed, stir-fried or grilled... Canine meat is a delicacy in Vietnam, South Korea, China, Nigeria and even parts of India. Turns out it could be deadly. Dogs have roamed freely in the wildlife markets of various countries, scavenging food, thus exposing themselves to a possible animal-to-animal transmission. Therefore, not just its consumption, but even coming in contact with dogs can be dangerous.