China is paying great attention to the control of pig slaughter as part of efforts to ensure food security amid continuous price increase.

From Jan. 1 to mid November, the country clamped down on 6,396 illegal slaughterhouses and confiscated more than 1.94 million kg of pork from illegally slaughtered pigs. It also destroyed 864,700 kg of pork from diseased pigs, a Ministry of Commerce source said Thursday.

According to Xu Xihe, deputy head of the ministry's market regulatory department, this year, China has so far kept a record on 23,052 designated slaughter houses and conducted 55,382 examinations on their production conditions and corporate management. It has also made 86,138 random checks on pork provided by the certified enterprises.

Meanwhile, 1,112 pig slaughtering enterprises that failed to meet the set standard have been shut down.

With the steady rise in pork prices over the past few months, some profiteering lawbreakers have had pigs slaughtered illegally and marketed shoddy pork and meat from diseased pigs, Xu said.

China has ordered all markets, supermarkets, public canteens and restaurants in cities above county-level status to sell and consume only pork provided by certified slaughterhouses and enterprises.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2007)