Over 330 Shanghai residents have been poisoned by pork tainted with a weight-loss steroid popular among bodybuilders. Clenbuterol, a product normally marketed to fitness fanatics, was used by farmers in east China to produce leaner pork meat, the China Daily reported.
As a result, a total of 336 people have been poisoned in Shanghai since September 13, in the city's largest clenbuterol poisoning case, the paper said.
The chemical can reportedly cause damage to the human nervous and cardiovascular system. However, all those affected in Shanghai have been released from hospital, the paper said.
Most of the pigs have been traced to neighboring Zhejiang where rearing pigs on clenbuterol, known locally as "lean meat powder", is widespread, the paper said.
The government banned the use of the chemical in the 1990s, it added.
The incident has exposed many loopholes in China's food safety inspection system, the paper said.
"Many people are still using 'lean meat powder'," the local Oriental Morning Post quoted a Zhejiang farmer as saying.
"I've raised pigs for 10 years and almost all of them have been fed it."
According to the report, many farmers stop feeding the pigs with the drug several weeks before they are slaughtered, making detection difficult for food inspectors.
Shanghai officials downplayed the scare, saying it is unlikely that more contaminated pigs are in city markets, the China Daily said.
Clenbuterol is a medication that has been used to treat bronchial diseases such as asthma, but is largely used by bodybuilders or as a weight-loss supplement for the overweight.
It is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees doping in sports.
