August 4, 2015
Drug-tainted meats found in China stores
Spot checks of meat productssold in retail markets found several of them containing animal-medication residues beyond the allowable limits, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) said.
The CFDA said that during the first half of 2015, "a sampling of 420 batches of pork, chicken and poultry offal samples showed up 11 batches of substandard samples". The samples were taken from supermarkets and wet markets.
Samples of pork loin taken from Harbin Dajiang Food Co. were found to be not up to standards, according to the food safety watchdog. Also, samples from a WalMart outlet in Harbin city had traces of salbutamol (a drug used to treat asthma), according to the CFDA.
Samples from Xu Changxin Meat Processing Co. and Chuying Animal Husbandry Trade Co. also failed the tests, the CFDA said, adding that samples of processed pork from Chengdu Wu Tian Food Co. had excessive enrofloxacin antibiotic.
Samples from chicken sold in a meat shop in Fuzhou city''s Nan Hu Agricultural Products Market and in Guan Du wet market in Zhengzhou city were likewise found to have excessive residues of furazolidone metabolite, which is usually used to treat salmonids for parasite infections.
In Xuchang city, samples of poultry meat sold in a Tesco convenience store were found to have excessive residues of furaltadone metabolites.
The CFDA said five meat firms--including Qingdao Wanfu Group Co. Ltd and Beijing Dafa Chia Tai Co. (part of the CP conglomerate)--passed the tests.
It ordered the retail stores with the drug-tainted products to take them off the shelf and issue recalls, as well as check "all production batches" and take measures to "prevent any recurrence".