THE city’s market supervision bureau and Futian police busted an illegal pig-slaughtering chain, where pork containing clenbuterol — a chemical used to increase the meat’s lean rating — was found, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    The police and the bureau carried out the action Dec. 6, seizing 15 suspects after months of investigation.

    Police shut down two production sites in Bao’an District, impounded one truck, five pork stands and 700 kilograms of tainted pork.

    Futian police conducted two actions in Dongguan on Sept. 12 and Nanshan District on Nov. 22, closing illegal stands and impounded tainted pork.

    Police shut down a total of five illegal slaughterhouses and five stands, seized more than 20 delivery trucks, 42 suspects and over 150 illegally slaughtered pigs that totalled 13,000 kilograms of pork. Various levels of clenbuterol were detected in part of the seized pork.

    Instead of going through the inspection and quarantine process, some pork sellers injected water into the pork, or bought ill pigs at low prices to make a bigger profit. Illegal slaughterhouses are usually located in secret places, and they use simple slaughtering tools in unclean environments, which poses great food-safety risks to consumers.

    Police have strengthened law enforcement to crack down on illegal slaughtering.

    The pork merchants will be punished according to the Food Safety Law. The five stand owners selling tainted pork will be detained for 10 days.

    (Zhang Qian, Liu Shiyang)