Hong Kong (CNN) -- China has one of the oldest food cultures in the world and, like that acme of Western food culture French cuisine, the food needs to be fresh. At Sei Wui, a remote town in western Guangdong Province, a live goose will cost you little more than $US3 a bird. "They're 18 kwai a piece," said one market trader, using the Chinese vernacular for the renminbi, China's currency, and pointing to her gaggle of geese honking furiously at one end of a bamboo pen. "Buy it now and they'll cook it for you," she added, pointing down the road to a small stall doing a brisk business serving a lunchtime crowd of pavement diners.
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Chinese cuisine demands that food be as fresh as possible
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But problems arise with the way live poultry is handled, stored and slaughtered
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China's public health authorities taking throat swabs from live food dealers
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H7N9 strain of bird flu virus has resulted in more than 17 deaths
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So far, 84,444 samples have been taken, 47,801 have been tested and 39 samples confirmed as @placeholder positive.
Hong Kong
Like most of China, @placeholder back then liked its chickens fresh.