China: US produced pork quarantined due to ractopamine

China’s quarantine bureau has rejected a 103.5 tonne US pork consignment after standard tests on the frozen meat showed positive results for the banned drug ractopamine, Reuters reports.

Ractopamine, a feed additive banned in China in the wake of a wave of feed contamination scandals, can be legally used in the USA. The drug is used as a way of making meat leaner. Clenbuterol, which has a similar effect on animals, is likewise banned in China.

This was not the first time China has taken such measures, in December the bureau rejected a consignment of 23.5 tonnes, also stemming from the US.

In the latest case, the quarantine bureau identified the US suppliers as Smithfield Packing Company, Alacra Foods and Pine Ridge Farms.

Xinhua news agency reported in March 2011 that the central Chinese province of Henan closed 16 pig farms and sealed 134 tonnes of pork products after the drug turned up.