8 detained in China for adulterated animal medicines

Eight persons were detained by Chinese police and a case filed against a pharmaceutical company for using banned harmful additives in animal medicines, the Ministry of Public Security said here today.
More than 4,000 boxes of such animal medicines were also confiscated by police, the Ministry said in a statement.
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 for clorprenaline hydrochloride, a type of lean meat boosting additive banned by authorities.
Haiyan police later found that all these contaminated pigs were given injections manufactured by Jiangxi-based Hailian animal medicine company.

The ministry said it coordinated with the police across 21 provincial localities, including Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, in unravelling the production and distribution network of Jiangxi Hailian animal medicine company, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
According to police investigations, 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.