MEDIA reports that a popular chain restaurant was using dead fish and shrimp to cook rice porridge gained wide attention in Shenzhen last week. Also, an investigation by the city’s market watchdog, which was released Thursday, revealed that the shrimp used in the restaurant had contained a carcinogen, the Daily Sunshine reported Friday.

    Jindaoyuan, the restaurant brand, has advertised rice porridge cooked with fresh seafood, but officers with the city’s market inspection bureau raided its Fuzhong Road restaurant Aug. 15 and 16 and found that dead shrimp and abalone were being used to make porridge. The restaurant has been shut down pending rectification.

    The restaurant’s shrimp samples tested by the city’s academy of metrology and quality inspection were found to contain a kind of medicine that could cause cancer. The national agricultural ministry has banned the use of such medicine to feed animals, and the health ministry blacklisted the medicine as an illegal food additive in 2010.

    The restaurant is being investigated for false advertising and using illegal food additives.

    (Zhang Yang)