Chinese media is reporting that meat smugglers have tried to get Australian products across the border.
Customs officials in the Chinese city of Chenzhen seized the ship which was attempting to smuggle frozen goods into the country to avoid duties, according to newspaper China Daily.
At 1800 tonnes, and with a value of US9.4 million, the discovery has been described as the biggest bust of its kind since 1997.
Authorities detained five of the ship's 18-member crew, after discovering the 60-container ship loaded with undeclared beef, chicken wings and pork tripe.
Australia is not the only country to be implicated in the discovery, with China Daily reporting that the smuggled meat originated from the United States, Brazil, New Zealand, as well as Australia,
The meats presented a potential health and safety issue because they had not been inspected or quarantined, and the transportation method could have been detrimental to the quality of the meat, according to officials.
There is no suggestion that any Australian exporter or meat producer had any knowledge of the attempted smuggle, and as Aaron Lori, Meat and Livestock Australia’s South East Asia and China analyst explained, it would be easy for an Australian product to be included without anyone’s knowledge.
"Often, the exporter at home has no idea where their product is going to once they sign it over to the buyer," he said.
"It may go through many different sets of hands after that before finding its way into some smuggling operation under the cover of darkness.
"I would doubt very much that this is Australian beef involved because we have legal access into China, but American beef is in high demand there and it's very easy to buy US beef in China wet markets, even though they have no legal way to export to China."
Over 500 000 tonnes of illegal meat is traded across China each year, he estimates.
This trade is often referred to as the grey channel," Mr Iori said.
"It's not legal, but it's also very common and my guess is the Chinese in Shenzhen have gone on a crackdown and there could be a whole host of reasons for this."
The meat is mostly traded illegally through Hong Kong, near the southern port city of Shenzhen, and through Vietnam.