Following our note last year, which highlighted a study linking obesity in Chinese children to antibiotics found in food, the country's food safety regulator, the China Food & Drug Administration (CFDA), has said overuse of antibiotics is a "prominent problem" for the meat industry, and claims that 3.8% of meat tested by its officers last week contained excessive samples of "banned substances". Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture, which is responsible for policing the livestock sector, counters that 96% of animals tested in its drug monitoring programme were within the national limits for veterinary drugs and therefore proof of low levels of antibiotics used in the industry.
Following our note last week, which highlighted a study linking obesity in Chinese children to antibiotics found in food, the country's food safety regulator, the China Food & Drug Administration (CFDA), has said overuse of antibiotics is a "prominent problem" for the meat industry, and claims that 3.8% of meat tested by its officers last year contained excessive samples of "banned substances". Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture, which is responsible for policing the livestock sector, counters that 96% of animals tested in its drug monitoring programme were within the national limits for veterinary drugs and therefore proof of low levels of antibiotics used in the industry.