Ox Gallstones Holand

Ox gallstones are a very rare commodity and a high demand in the Chinese herbal medicine market. Their retail price can be as high as HK$19,000 for a tael, ie US$65 per gram.

In China, ox gallstones have been employed for hundreds of years as a drug to combat a wide range of disorders. There are more than 154 traditional Chinese herbal preparations containing this form of calcium bilirubinate as an ingredient.

Price

HOLAND: MONDAY’s article about charges being laid against an abattoir worker for the theft of gallstones (click here to view the original story) has aroused considerable interest among readers. It has led to suggestions that processors must be making a fortune from gallstones harvested at meat works, at the expense of beef producers.

But the truth is that’stones’ are extremely rare, and their value depends on many factors including their size, quality and texture. The entire production of gallstones from Australia’s cattle industry amounts to 200kg a year, according to one of the country’s biggest dealers in the commodity.

The gallstones are harvested during the bile extraction process on the eviscera table at abattoirs. They are a valuable source of revenue for meat processing plants because they can be sold for high prices in Chinese herbal medicine, but they also have a value for those who collect them from slaughter animals.

Ox gallstones are the most precious and valued of all biles in China, especially when it comes to treating disease and preventing health problems. This is mainly because of their composition, which is largely comprised of calcium bilirubinate salts.

In ancient China, ox gallstones were used as a remedy for diseases caused by clogged bile ducts, such as chronic liver disorders, hepatitis, jaundice and inflammation of the kidneys, bladder or urethra. Moreover, ox gallstones were often prescribed as an aphrodisiac for women and to reduce blood pressure.

They were also prescribed for infantile convulsions, which were described in ancient literature as “a sudden onset, upward gaze of the eyes, lockjaw, rigidity of the neck, limb convulsions, frothy salivation, ‘rattling’ of pharyngeal phlegm and coma.”

As far back as the Han dynasty, doctors and physicians had a tradition of collecting gallstones from oxen. They were divided into four types: Sheng Huang, Zhong Huang, Man Huang and Tuan Huang.

Sheng Huang is the most common kind of ox gallstones, which can be found in the intrahepatic bile ducts. It is soft and “like the yolk of an egg” at first, but becomes hard once it is placed in water.

Origin

MONDAY’s article about charges being laid against an employee at a southeast Queensland abattoir over the theft of gallstones aroused considerable interest among readers. Many responded by pointing out that processors must be making a fortune from them, at beef producers’ expense, but the reality is that these hard crystalline masses are extremely rare and expensive.

They are usually removed in the slaughterhouse as they develop during bile extraction. They are formed from bile pigments, calcium and cholesterol in digestive fluids, and can take different shapes and sizes. The dryness, color, texture and size of stones and whole or fractured fragments all influence the value of particular specimens.

Ox gallstones are pigment-containing (calcium bilirubinate) stone deposits that form in the gallbladder and ducts of oxen. They are a valuable therapeutic agent in traditional Chinese medicine, and have been used for more than 2500 years to obtain pure unconjugated bilirubin for multiple purposes. They have a number of clinical applications, including antipyretic, anticonvulsive, hypotensive, and expectorant effects.

The earliest written record of ox gallstones is found in Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic, which was composed in the Qin (221-206 BCE) and Western Han Dynasties (206 BCE-25 CE). This text describes them as “the most precious biles” of animal origin and characterized their medicinal value.

As early as the Qin dynasty, ox gallstones were known to be used for curing a number of childhood diseases. These included fever, polydipsia, aphtha, diarrhea, vomiting and nocturnal gagging (most likely febrile nightmares).

In TCM, ox gallstones were regarded as a superior drug, because they possessed a high pharmacological value. This was especially true for ox gallstones of the “highest quality” (i.e., calcium bilirubinate).

Since 1955, Chinese scientists have introduced a method of producing natural ox gallstones ex vivo. They first insert a pinhead-sized “natural” gallstone into the gallbladder, which then swells up and begins to form a pigment gallstone within 1-3 years. This procedure is akin to culturing pearls[4,4].

As the demand for ox gallstones increases in China, new methods of artificially producing gallstones have been developed. Moreover, ox gallstones can also be cultured in the lab to obtain artificially produced ox gallstones that have the same chemical composition and therapeutic properties as naturally forming ox gallstones[4,4].

Purity

HOLAND, Australia

There has been considerable speculation since Monday’s story about gallstone theft at a southeast Queensland abattoir. Many people believe processors are making a fortune from these valuable pieces of meat, at beef producers’ expense. But that isn’t necessarily the case.

In fact, the whole production of gallstones from Australian cattle is a meagre 200kg a year, according to one of the country’s biggest dealers in the commodity. That’s not even a fifth of the average worldwide annual supply of 2,000kg.

Despite that, gallstones are still harvested at most large Australian abattoirs. They are collected during the bile extraction process on the eviscera table, and are then dried to remove moisture.

The dried stone then goes to a drier, and is vacuum packed for storage. It’s then sold at the retail level as a Chinese medicine either in its raw form or as a proprietary mixture of herbs and other ingredients.

But in order to get the most out of this product, a lot of work needs to be done to keep the gallstones as dry as possible. They need to be kept in a well-ventilated, dark, air-conditioned room at around 20degC for two to three weeks. They are then flipped over regularly to prevent them from sticking together.

After that, they’re inspected and graded to ensure they’re in the correct specifications. Typically, these products have to be a light yellow or golden colour and have a natural smell of healthy, BSE free cattle. They also need to be free of liver stones, kidney stones, bile tubes, moldy stones, bloodstones and cholesterol stones.

These ox gallstones are very important to Chinese medicine, as they have been used for centuries to cure poisonous snake bites and scorpion stings. It’s said that they can rejuvenate the spirit, clear the heart, and help put a stop to tremors and convulsions. They’re also known to remove phlegm, delirium, or a coma and are considered a cleansing, detoxifying, and antiseptic treatment. They’re also high in vitamins A, D, E and K. These vitamins are necessary to maintain a healthy immune system, and deficiencies of these can lead to night blindness, infertility, hemorraghic diathesis and osteopenia.

Packaging

ox gallstones are not as abundant as you would expect, and a few rare examples can be found in a limited number of slaughtered cattle. They are retrieved during the bile extraction process on the abattoir’s eviscera table, and are in most cases, only of pea-sized size.

Nevertheless, they are a valuable commodity in the Asian alternate medicine marketplace and can be sold as a natural product or combined with other ingredients to form a proprietary Chinese medicine. This is a market that has already made a name for itself, with many importers in Hong Kong currently looking to secure supplies of the natural product.

The packaging for these goodies is not to be taken lightly, and a few precautions need to be followed in order to ensure that your ox gallstones get to their destination in one piece. This should include using the most well-ventilated container possible, and keeping it cool to avoid any potential damage. It is also worth remembering that your gallstones will need to dry out properly before they can be used for their commercial purpose.

In the end, you can be sure that your ox gallstones are in good hands when they make it to their destination. EC21 has you covered with a vast selection of top-quality ox gallstones, along with other impressive products and services from a huge range of manufacturers and suppliers. So why not take the next step and start finding ox gallstones that are right for you? You can post your Buying Leads for FREE now, or simply contact a supplier to ask any questions you might have. Besides, you can get the free B2B price comparison tools on this page to help you find the best prices for your ox gallstones orders.

Ox Gallstones Holand