One in five Chinese restaurants are believed to be serving shark fin soup exploiting a legal loophole allowing people to bring the meat to this country if it is for personal consumption , a charity claims . The loophole came to light after trading standards officers raided restaurant The Royal China Club , on Baker Street in central London , and confiscated illegally imported fins . Charity Bite-Back , which campaigns to protect sharks , reported the eatery after Jason Chan , its marketing manager , boasted that it sold the soup and another dish made with ground shark teeth . Scroll down for video . The revelations come after the Royal China Club , a restaurant in central London , was raided by inspectors after boasting of selling shark fin soup and another dish made from ground shark teeth . Charity workers say that restaurants are either disguising the soup ( pictured ) on their menus as 'fish fin soup ' , or are offering it to Mandarin speaking customers if they ask . More than 70 million sharks are killed each year for their fins , often dying slow , painful deaths after being dumped back into the sea once their most valuable parts have been cut off . Graham Buckingham , campaign director at Bite-Back , told The Times he was disappointed that The Royal China Club was not fined for their breach . He added : 'There 's never any big penalty for this type of discovery and even if trading standards had chosen to prosecute , the fines are described as minimal . ' Charity Bite-Back believes as many as one in five Chinese restaurants are selling the soup after exploiting a loophole which allows people to bring 20kg of fins into the country if they are for personal consumption . While conducting research for a recent report , Mr Buckingham 's charity discovered a legal loophole allowing for 20kg of shark fin to be brought into this country if it is for personal consumption . Just one kilogram of shark fin can fetch up to £180 through wholesale markets . He said as many as one in five Chinese restaurants could be offering the dish , but many disguised it as 'fish fin soup ' or did not put it on the menu , but offered it to Mandarin speaking patrons .
Up to one in five Chinese eateries could be selling meat or illegal meat . Charity says it is often sold on menu or only smoked if requested . Loophole lets customers bring 20 kg of meat into soup for personal consumption .