December 7, 2007

China tightens control on pig slaughter

China clamped down on 6,396 illegal slaughterhouses and confiscated more than 1.94 million kilogrammes of pork from illegally slaughtered pigs from January to mid November.

Ministry of Commerce representative said 864,700 kilogrammes of pork from diseased pigs have been destroyed.

According to Xu Xihe, deputy head of the ministry's market regulatory department, China has so far kept a record on 23,052 designated slaughterhouses and conducted 55,382 examinations on their production conditions and corporate management.

The ministry has also made 86,138 random checks on pork provided by the certified enterprises.

Meanwhile, 1,112 pig slaughtering enterprises that failed to meet the set standard have been shut down.

The Chinese government has ordered all markets, supermarkets, public canteens and restaurants in cities above county-level status to sell and consume only pork provided by certified slaughterhouses and enterprises.