SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) — China has arrested more than 110 people suspected of selling pork from pigs that died from disease in its latest crackdown on food safety violations.
Officials also confiscated more than 1,000 tonnes of contaminated pork.
The Ministry of Public Security said the suspects were part of a network made up of 11 groups who, since 2008, had been buying pigs that had died of illnesses from livestock farms at low prices.
The meat was sold to markets in 11 provinces, including Henan and Guangxi, or processed into bacon or cooking oil for sale. The accused also bribed food supervisory authorities to obtain quarantine certificates, the ministry said.
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Seventy-five of the suspects have been prosecuted. Several food quarantine staff have also been sent to prosecutors, said the ministry, which had been investigating the network since the end of 2013.
Food safety remains a major concern in China after a series of high-profile scandals that has involved tainted milk powder and donkey meat. The scandals have embroiled foreign corporations such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and McDonald’s.
More than 10,000 dead pigs were found floating in Shanghai’s Huangpu River in 2013 after the regional government cracked down on criminal gangs that had been selling abandoned carcasses as meat on the black market, fuelling overcrowding on farms.
China’s top food watchdog said food and drug safety was “grim” and pledged stronger oversight.
