By IANS,
Beijing : At least 989 people have been arrested over the last six months as part of a national crackdown on the manufacture and sale of an illegal fat-burning drug, a Chinese public security official said Monday.
Clenbuterol, a toxic chemical, is sometimes used as an additive in pig feed, the official added.
Farmers sometimes use clenbuterol, which is banned as a food additive in China, to turn their pigs lean.
Police busted a criminal ring that was involved in the manufacture and sale of clenbuterol in 63 cities nationwide, Xinhua quoted Xu Hu, a senior official of the Ministry of Public Security as saying.
Authorities launched a food safety campaign in March of this year, with a focus on clenbuterol. A total of 2,000 police officers in the provinces of Hunan, Sichuan, Hubei and Henan, as well as Tianjin Municipality, participated in the latest bust.
Police seized 2.5 metric tonnes of clenbuterol and closed six illegal laboratories, 12 production lines, 19 processing and storage sites and 32 “underground” factories during the crackdown, Xu said.