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May 29, 2011

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Vendor held for selling bad pork

POLICE in east China's Suzhou City have detained a pork vendor suspected of selling meat and internal organs of pigs that had died of disease, the city's market watchdog revealed yesterday.

The watchdog has also confiscated more than 1,100 kilograms of the tainted pork in stock from the 49-year-old man surnamed Zuo.

According to the Suzhou Industrial and Commercial Administration, Zuo had sold pork worth about 30,000 yuan (US$4,620) to some canteens at local construction sites as well as small eateries.

Though no poisoning cases linked to the inferior pork have been reported, tests at the Jiangsu Province animal disease control center showed the pork contained a toxic bacteria which can cause serious food poisoning.

The administration said Zuo started his wholesale pork business in 2007. With pork prices soaring, he turned to selling dead pig meat in April this year to earn more profits.

Zuo's illegal practice came to light during an inspection raid on May 17 and he was nabbed by Suzhou police early next morning. Zuo later confessed to buying the inferior pork from fly-by-night operators at a cost much lower than market price.

China's courts have been ordered to increase the severity of punishment for food safety crimes, including capital punishment for cases that lead to fatalities, Xinhua reported.

"Food safety concerns the people's interests and livelihoods, social stability and the future of socialism with Chinese characteristics," the court said in a Friday statement, adding that major cases should be held in open trial.



 

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