Drugmaker found to use banned additive for animal medicines

Chinese police have busted a pharmaceutical company that uses harmful additives in animal medicines, the Ministry of Public Security said late Saturday.

Eight suspects have been detained and more than 4,000 boxes of such animal medicines were confiscated by police.

The ministry said police in Haiyan county of east China's Zhejiang Province received reports in February from agricultural authorities that many pigs raised in their county had been tested clorprenaline hydrochloride, a type of lean meat boosting additive banned by authorities.

Haiyan police later found these contaminated pigs all took an injection manufactured by Jiangxi-based Hailian animal medicine company.

The ministry said it coordinated police across 21 provincial localities, including Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, in busting the production and distribution network of Jiangxi Hailian animal medicine company.

Police investigations showed the company had illegally used the harmful additive in six categories of animal medicines, including the injection bought by pig farmers in Haiyan.

According to the ministry, the illegal additives used by the company in this case were extremely deceptive, threatening food safety from the very sources.

The ministry vowed to severely crack down on such crimes.