Pork intestine casings with traces of the chemical chloramphenicol, imported from the Netherlands, were burned in east China's Jiangsu province Sunday.
It is the first time China has burned and buried unhealthy animal food products imported from the Netherlands.
On March 28, the local quarantine authorities discovered traces of chloramphenicol in the casings for Dutch sausages.
On April 19, China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the General Administration of Quality Supervision，Inspection and Quarantine jointly ordered a halt to imports of all animal food products from the Netherlands.
It also stated that all the animal-foods which arrived in China from the Netherlands before the ban should be carefully checked and any containing poisonous residues were to be destroyed.
Chloramphenicol is a potent antibiotic which may cause serious anemia and cancers in humans if used in high doses.
According to earlier reports, France, Germany and Ireland all found the residue in beef and animal feed products imported from the Netherlands.
(China Daily April 22, 2002)
