A report run by China Central Television revealed that a batch of commonly used medicinal capsules were found to have been made from industrial gelatin containing excessive chromium content.
(Ecns.cn) -- First suspected to be in yogurt and jelly, potentially harmful industrial gelatin has now been found in capsules, fueling deeper concerns over China's struggle with food and medicine safety issues.
On Sunday, a report run by China Central Television (CCTV) revealed that a batch of commonly used medicinal capsules were found to have been made from industrial gelatin containing chromium content more than 90 times higher than the national standard, according to the Beijing Morning Post.
The capsules were made in pharmaceutical plants across the nation, including well-known companies such as Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical Group Co and Sichuan Shuzhong Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd.
After the story broke a general outcry ensued, and the official website of Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical was hacked until Sunday night, during which the homepage showed ironic voices of Chinese consumers expressing intense frustration.
Capsule town
Ru'ao Town, a well-known capsule manufacturing area in Xinchang County of East China's Zhejiang Province, is home to numerous plants which make approximately 100 billion capsules every year, about a third of the output on the Chinese mainland.
Reporters from CCTV found that factory prices of the same type of capsules ranged from 40 yuan (US$6.3) to 100 yuan (US$15.9) per 10,000 capsules. The cheaper capsules would have been made using industrial gelatin, the report revealed.
Wang Haoming, a sales manager at Zhuokang Capsule Co Ltd, said the company's products mainly go to pharmaceutical plants in the country's northeastern and northwestern regions.
Investigations found that the products were produced with both edible and industrial gelatin. However, the latter is cheaper and can significantly reduce costs, despite its potentially toxic chromium content.
According to CCTV reporters, the edible gelatin costs over 30,000 yuan (US$4,755) a ton, while the industrial kind costs about 20,000 yuan (US$3,170) a ton.
An official at the Huaxing Capsule Plant said its gelatin mainly came from manufacturers in Hebei and Jiangxi Provinces, after which the reporters traced it to a plant in Hebei.
Chemically-treated leather
The Xueyang Gelatin and Protein Plant in Hebei's Hengshui City has a food production license and is allowed to produce food additives on a large scale.
Song Xunjie, the plant's manager, told reporters that some of the gelatin is made from leather products that are not supposed to be used by the food industry, because they have been processed with calcium oxide and industrial acid.
In the courtyard of the plant, reporters found piles of leftover leather scraps releasing a pungent odor. At less than 1,000 yuan (US$158.5) a ton, the leather is cheap – and attractive to companies hoping to cut corners.
According to Song, edible gelatin must be made from the hides or bones of animals, and that the leather scraps are strictly forbidden in production.
In the plant, the leather scraps are dipped in quicklime for swelling, decolorized in a strong acid base and then washed several times. After they are white and tender (similar to the fresh hides of animals) they are dumped into a specially-designed boiler. Within hours, they turn into transparent fluid and are then further processed into gelatin.
The reporters also noticed that the staff had added a chemical called "sodium dodecyl sulfate" to kill bacteria and decontaminate the products.
Tanning agents for leather usually contain chromium. The scraps also contain chromium residue, which can damage people's kidneys and liver, or even cause cancer, according to medical experts.
Immediate reaction
In CCTV's report, a total of 13 batches of products from nine pharmaceutical factories bought in Beijing, Jiangxi, Jilin, Qinghai and other areas were found to be problematic in terms of chromium content.
According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, the national standard of chromium content is at maximum 2 milligrams per kilogram, but these products contained chromium levels much higher than that.
The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) issued an emergency notice late Sunday night to suspend sales of 13 drugs that were reported to have been made with capsules containing excessive chromium.
The SFDA has instructed its local bureaus to investigate the cases and examine the drugs mentioned in the report, said the notice.
On Sunday afternoon, a sudden fire broke out in the Xueyang Gelatin and Protein Plant, but was soon put out around 4 p.m. According to CCTV reporter Zhang Yun, a truck full of cargo drove out of the plant during the fire and the staff refused to answer any questions. The police have arrested three staff members at the plant, including Song Xunjie.
The government in Xinchang County also made an immediate response on Sunday afternoon and set up a special team to look into the case. Many capsule manufacturers have been closed down and are under investigation, according to Xinhua News Agency.
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