Over 90,000 detained for illegal food production

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Chinese police had investigated over 132,000 cases and detained more than 90,000 suspects by November in a nationwide crackdown on a set of highly attended offenses, especially food and drug safety cases.

The high-profile campaign, launched on Aug. 22 by the Ministry of Public Security, aims to eliminate illegal food producers and vendors, factories producing counterfeit goods and markets built for the disposal of stolen goods, pornography, gambling and drug trafficking.

A statement issued on Sunday by the ministry summarized the "preliminary progress" of the campaign, stating that 28,000 venues used for illegal activities have been shut down during the first 100 days.

The statement particularly noted the results of operations against manufacturing and sale of clenbuterol, an illegal fat-burning drug that is sometimes illegally used as an additive in pig feed, and "gutter oil," or reprocessed cooking oil that is illegally produced using waste oil from restaurants.

The statement also highlighted police officers' attempts to gather tips from the public.

Over 100,000 tips were received through phone calls, e-mails and microblog posts, according to the statement.

The ministry did not specify the ending date of the campaign in its statement, but vowed to establish "permanent mechanisms" to address those issues.