Capital investigates tainted pork

Capital investigates tainted pork

• Source: Global Times
• [08:59 March 17 2011]
• Comments

A customer shops for processed pork at a Chaoyang district supermarket Wednesday. Photo: Guo Yingguang

By Yan Shuang

Pork products from Henan Province will be prevented from being sold on the Beijing market, announced authorities Wednesday after a pork scandal in Henan was reported on CCTV Tuesday.

CCTV's Weekly Quality Report revealed that pork producers in Mengzhou, Henan were feeding pigs a drug used to add muscle mass in animals in order to increase their sale weight.

Shuanghui Group, a well-known Chinese food producer headquartered in Luohe, Henan, had shipped the pork to its Jiyuan plant for processing.

The municipal Animal Health Inspection Institute made a citywide inspection of 14 major meat markets to check for pork containing the additive Tuesday, according to a Beijing Evening News report Wednesday.

"The drug increases muscle mass in animals. People who consume meat containing the drug may suffer from symptoms such as sickness, dizziness and profuse sweating," Nan Qingxian, former Dean of College of Food Science & Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University, told the Global Times Wednesday.

The drug, identified to contain Clenbuterol, a respiratory medication known to be used as a growth hormone, is prohibited from use in animal feed and water, according to an announcement jointly released by the Agriculture, Health Ministries and the State Food and Drug Administration in 2002.

According to the report, pork products shipped from several cities in Henan to Beijing between March 1 and June 1 will be quarantined and prohibited from sale.

"About 70 percent of pork and pork products in Beijing come from outside the city, and until now Beijing has not seen any such cases of pork containing the drug," Nan said.

The Ministry of Agriculture sent an inspection team to Henan after the scandal broke, according to the ministry.

Global Times reporter found Shuanghui brand meat products still available in Beijing supermarkets such as Lotus, with some being sold at a discount.

A Lotus shopper bought a pack of Shuanghui brand sausage despite the label reading "produced in Luohe, Henan."

"I know about the Shuanghui scandal, but the sausage here should be OK, or else the supermarket wouldn't be selling it," he told the Global Times.