Cattle gallstones are more valuable than gold

Cattle gallstones – small, hard, crystalline masses found in the gall bladders of ~1% of slaughtered cattle – are attracting the interest of thieves and smugglers from around the globe, according to a new Wall Street Journal report.

For example: Thieves in Brazil’s São João da Boa Vista recently broke into a farmhouse and made off with $50,000 in gallstones; slaughterhouse workers in Australia’s Queensland have been arrested for stealing stones while on the job; a brother and sister in Uruguay were sentenced to prison late last year for smuggling $3+ million worth of cattle gallstones into Hong Kong. (The gall of these people, amirite?)

Money is the motivation. Some traders are willing to pay as much as $5,800/ounce – twice the price of gold – for the little bile nuggets. José de Oliveira, CEO of Oxgall, a Brazilian gallstone trading company, told the WSJ that a single gallstone can be worth more than all the meat on a cow.

Demand is mostly being driven by China’s $60 billion/year traditional medicine industry. Gallstone powder is mixed with other ingredients (like rhino horn) to make “Angong pills,” for example, a stroke treatment commonly found in Chinese households that can cost $200 for a couple of pills.

🌏 Zoom out: Though cattle gallstones raise few concerns, many conservationists say the Chinese medicine industry is behind an alarming rise in the trafficking of endangered species. In addition to rhino horns, traditional remedies can include ingredients like pangolin scales and tiger penises.