April 20, 2011
 

China's misuse of antibiotics is underestimated

Antibiotics put into the feed of Chinese livestock to enhance productivity are not just restricted to clenbuterol, and the authorities are ignorant of such adulteration, according to an industry insider.

A scandal uncovered last month involved pork produced by Shuanghui Group, China's largest meat producer, which was tainted with clenbuterol, which had been added to pig feed.

"In 2006, of 210,000 tonnes of antibiotics produced in China, 97,000 tonnes were directly used in livestock feed," said professor Xiao Yonghong, head of the National Antimicrobial Resistant Investigation Net under the Ministry of Health.

Xiao said that the misuse of antibiotics can be disastrously detrimental to a wide range of people.

Chinese police have detained 95 people in connection with the clenbuterol case involving a subsidiary of China's largest meat producer, Shuanghui Group.

Police have closed their investigations after taking 95 people into custody between March 14 and 29 in the central provinces of Hubei, Henan, Shaanxi and Jiangsu, it said.

The scandal reportedly cost the company more than CNY12.1 billion (US$1.85 billion) in just two weeks after it was exposed by the media on March 15.

Pork is the most popular meat in China, where more than 600 million pigs are slaughtered annually, according to the media.