China Says It Found Fake Meat Certificates With Tainted Canadian Pork

Canada needs to step up its meat export certification system, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said during a June 26 press conference. Asked about a temporary ban on Canadian meat, Shuang said that Chinese customs found "ractopamine residues in pork products exported from Canada to China." During a subsequent investigation, China found "the official veterinary health certificates for the batch of pork exported to China were counterfeit and the number of those forgery certificates was up to 188," he said. "These forged certificates were sent to the Chinese regulatory authorities through Canadian official certificate notification channel, which reflects that the Canadian meat export supervision system has obvious safety loopholes."

As a result, China is taking preventative measures and "asked the Canadian government to suspend the issuance of certificates for meat exported to China since June 25," he said. "It is the responsibility of the Chinese government to ensure the safety of Chinese consumers and safeguard food safety in China. The relevant Chinese authorities are acting totally in accordance with law. We hope the Canadian side will take this incident seriously, complete the investigation as soon as possible and take corrective measures that can effectively ensure the safety of food exported to China."