It's a criminal offence to use it in food, but Clenbuterol, known on the mainland simply as 'lean meat powder', keeps showing up.
In a country overwhelmed by fake and substandard products, World Consumer Rights Day was marked yesterday with an annual programme on China Central Television that showed the dangerous drug being added to pig feed at several farms in Henan .
And because of inspection loopholes, bribes allowed farmers to get approval papers - without any tests for Clenbuterol - and see their pigs go to market in Nanjing .
They were also sold to a branch of meat products giant Shuanghui in Jiyuan, indicating that processed meat products made with tainted meat could have gone on sale across the country.
Clenbuterol is a banned muscle-developing drug that some farmers feed to pigs to reduce body fat and give meat a pinker, fresher appearance. Eating tainted meat may cause dizziness, fatigue, palpitations and other medical conditions.
The continuing Clenbuterol scandal highlights persistent quality problems stemming from greed and lax regulation.