China says to crack down on sale of spoiled meat

BEIJING, June 22 (Reuters) Spoiled meat and meat which has been injected with water to add weight is finding its way on to the Chinese market, the government said today, warning it would crack down on this latest violation of food safety rules.

''Recently, some parts of the country have experienced the illegal behaviour of lawless merchants selling pork from pigs which have died of disease,'' the country's top quality watchdog said in a statement on its Web site (www.aqsiq.gov.cn).

''This has caused hidden dangers to the production of food and consumers,'' it added.

Regional quality bureaux must increase their oversight of the industry to prevent this from happening, the statement said.

''The industry must not use meat or poultry which have not died in abattoirs and must not use inedible materials,'' it said.

''Put an end to pork from pigs which have died of disease, meat injected with water and infected poultry entering the food processing sector,'' the watchdog said, without giving specific examples of recent cases.

If such products are found, companies will be dealt with by the law and all the meat recalled, it said.

China's pigs have been battered by an outbreak of blue ear disease, or Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), that killed 18,000 of the country's hogs in the first five months of 2007 and possibly as many as a million last year.

The outbreak has contributed to soaring domestic pork prices and put pressure on national inflation levels, prompting Premier Wen Jiabao to visit a pig farm last month where he pledged to ensure meat for the poor of the pork-loving nation.

Scandals involving substandard food and medicines are reported by Chinese media almost every day, and the issue has burst into the international spotlight since tainted additives exported from China contaminated pet food in North America.

Public fears about food safety grew in China in 2004 when at least 13 babies died of malnutrition in Anhui after they were fed fake milk powder with no nutritional value.

REUTERS SKB BD1625