China arrests over 900 in tainted pork crackdown
August 29th, 2011 - 11:57 am ICT by IANSBeijing, Aug 29 (IANS) At least 989 people have been arrested over the last six months as part of a national crackdown on the manufacture and sale of an illegal fat-burning drug, a Chinese public security official said Monday.
Clenbuterol, a toxic chemical, is sometimes used as an additive in pig feed, the official added.
Farmers sometimes use clenbuterol, which is banned as a food additive in China, to turn their pigs lean.
Police busted a criminal ring that was involved in the manufacture and sale of clenbuterol in 63 cities nationwide, Xinhua quoted Xu Hu, a senior official of the Ministry of Public Security as saying.
Authorities launched a food safety campaign in March of this year, with a focus on clenbuterol. A total of 2,000 police officers in the provinces of Hunan, Sichuan, Hubei and Henan, as well as Tianjin Municipality, participated in the latest bust.
Police seized 2.5 metric tonnes of clenbuterol and closed six illegal laboratories, 12 production lines, 19 processing and storage sites and 32 “underground” factories during the crackdown, Xu said.
- China wages war against adulterated food, fake drugs - Mar 16, 2012
- China busts gang for selling gutter oil - May 05, 2012
- 300 Chinese villagers suffer from food poisoning after eating tainted food - Apr 25, 2011
- Rains likely to hit China's food bowl - May 28, 2012
- 100 held in China for reprocessing waste oil - Apr 03, 2012
- Action against 113 in China's tainted pork scandal - Nov 26, 2011
- China cracks 28,000 IPR violation cases - Nov 06, 2011
- 11 killed in south China rains - Jul 15, 2012
- China to crack down on illegal gun possession - Feb 10, 2012
- China busts multi-million-dollar fake drugs racket - Nov 29, 2011
- 14 Chinese kids rescued from human traffickers - Mar 11, 2012
- Chinese child-trafficking ring busted - Jul 06, 2012
- China blacklists 151 materials forbidden in food, feed - Apr 24, 2011
- Chinese officials being grilled on live TV - Sep 02, 2012
- Nearly 300 illegal workers held in Dubai - Jun 06, 2012
Tags: beijing, china arrests, clenbuterol, crackdown, factories, food additive, food safety campaign, henan, hubei, metric tonnes, municipality, pig feed, pigs, police officers, public security, security official, sichuan, tainted pork, toxic chemical, xinhua