Antibiotics added to the feed of livestock to increase productivity are not just limited to clenbuterol, and authorities are largely blind to such adulteration, according to an industry insider.
A scandal uncovered last month involved pork produced by Shuanghui Group, China's largest meat producer, that was tainted with clenbuterol, which had been added to pig feed.
"In 2006, of 210,000 tons of antibiotics produced in China, 97,000 tons were directly used in livestock feed," said professor Xiao Yonghong, head of the National Antimicrobial Resistant Investigation Net under the Ministry of Health.
Xiao said that the misuse of antibiotics can be disastrously detrimental to a wide range of people.