New slimming drugs detected in pigs and pork

LOCAL food safety watchdog said it saw a drop in the amount of pork contaminated by clenobuteral hydrochloride, a widely-used pig slimming drug, in recent checks but an increase in the use of two other slimming drugs.

While clenobuteral hydrochloride is found in 1 percent of checked pigs or pork products, salbutamol and ractopamine are found in 5 percent of the samples, officials from the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration said today.

The city government has intensified checks on these chemicals in butcheries and wholesale markets. Pig farms that are found feeding pigs with banned drugs will be put on a blacklist and banned from the Shanghai market, officials warned.

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