Authorities in Jiangsu Province announced on Sunday that they have confiscated some 300 tons of beef illegally imported from areas affected by mad cow disease in Brazil and arrested 27 people involved.

Police in Lianyungang discovered beef illegally imported from epidemic areas of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, in Brazil in the city's Guanyun county in January, the Jiangsu-based Yangtze Evening Post reported Monday.

The investigation came after local food safety authorities received a tip-off in January, saying that "fake beef" was being sold in the grocery market at 44 yuan ($7.1) per kilogram. The market price of fresh beef was 60 to 80 yuan per kilogram then.

Inspectors then seized nearly 900 kilograms of beef packed in boxes with all-English logos and arrested two dealers surnamed Xu and Ren.

The team later tracked down another three dealers and eight suppliers in Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces selling illegally imported Brazilian beef.

The suspects confessed that they sold the beef in Jiangsu and other provinces and eared over 100 million yuan in Lianyungang alone.

Police said they are still investigating the case and hunting down suspects in other provinces.

Zhou Tongbin, a police officer on the case, said that sales of local beef plunged after the cheap illegal beef entered the market in Lianyungang and drove retailers to purchase beef from the dealers.

"The dealers stored the illegal beef in remote freezers and arranged for drivers to transport the beef to the buyers' storage area after getting paid," said Dai Leyu, the deputy director of the Guanyun public security bureau.

The case has raised public concern, with many fearing that they might buy the beef still on the market in other provinces. Some also demanded that government supervisors be severely punished.

China has banned sales of Brazilian beef since 2012 when a case of mad cow disease was reported in the state of Parana. Brazil's agriculture minister announced on July 17 that China had agreed to lift the embargo, The Rio Times reported.