The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration is closely monitoring pork products in local markets as the harmful chemical, clenbuterol, was found in processed pork in Anhui Province.

The Anhui FDA said this week that a batch of canned pork produced by the Yurun Group sold in Fuyang and a batch of bacon produced by the Hefei Laweisi Food Co sold in Hefei was found to contain the poisonous chemical, which is fed to pigs to produce leaner meat.

The FDA has ordered the recall and destruction of the contaminated products.

Yurun said the contaminated products didn't enter Shanghai market but some local supermarkets have taken action on other Yurun-brand products such as ham sausage.

"Altogether there were about 100 boxes of questionable products," said an official surnamed Quan at the company's headquarters in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.

Company officials said the pork used in the contaminated pork came from a small butchery near Fuyang, but most of their pork comes from their own butcheries and is safe.

The Lotus Supermarket in Shanghai said the Yurun processed meat in its stores was produced at Yurun's factory in Nanjing, said communications official Xiang Jun. It has asked suppliers to show recent quality certificates for other Yurun products.

Local supermarkets such as Metro, Carrefour and NGS said they didn't carry the contaminated processed meat in its Shanghai outlets.

(Shanghai Daily April 24, 2009)