Cambodian rat meat a booming export

The Cambodian rice fields are opening up a new export commodity that is growing in popularity, rat meat.

The rice field rats (Rattus argentiventer) of Cambodia are considered to be a healthy delicacy due to their natural lifestyle and largely organic diet, reported BBC News.

A local farmer from Kompong Cham province, Chhoeun Chhimm sets 120 rat traps every night and captures the rodents when they are driven onto higher ground by a lack of food and seasonal rain.

“Wild rats are very different. They eat different food,” said Chhim. He refers to common urban rats as “dirty” and deems them unfit for human consumption.

Chimm said that on a good night he can catch up to 25 kilograms of rats that “taste a bit like pork.” He however admitted that the dish was not his favourite.