Big savings are pushing Hong Kong shoppers to ignore a ban on meat and eggs from mainland China.

Hong Kong grandmother Shirley Cheung* knows she’s breaking the law every time she buys partially cooked beef brisket from Shenzhen to take home.

At a hotpot restaurant in Shenzhen’s Liantang Port, brisket costs about 76 yuan ($11) per kilo. At the local food market in Sheung Shui in the New Territories, it will cost over HK$200 (US$26).

“This restaurant only delivers this brisket fresh once a day, and it’s perfect for soups and stews,” says Chung, 66. “The quality and price make it irresistible, and after blanching the meat looks cooked.”

She is among numerous Hong Kong residents who flout the law and ignore signs at border crossings prohibiting bringing back food without proper hygiene certificates, including partially cooked meat that bleeds when cut.

“Everyone does it to save money,” said the grandmother of three. “I doubt the customs officers will catch us all.”

Hong Kong’s Customs and Excise Department identified 1,324 cases of food smuggling at land border checkpoints between January and August. This exceeded the figure of 1,019 cases for all of last year.

Most of those caught had raw meat. The number of 817 people detained in the first eight months of this year exceeded the number of 467 people arrested in all of last year.