A banned veterinary drug, which is used to increase the leanness in animals, has been found responsible in a food poisoning case in Tainan two years ago. The Council of Agriculture is now tracking the sour ce of the feed additives.

Two years ago, 12 people in a family in Tainan were sent to the hospital for they all appeared to have symptoms of nausea and vomiting 20 minutes after they shared a meal of fried chicken.

Due to limited testing capability at that time, the real cause of the food poisoning case had never been confirmed until now.

Taipei Veterans General Hospital has reopened its investigation over this case by re-testing the urine samples taken from the family two years ago and the test result has indicated that the drug residues of feed additives, clenbuterol and salbutamol, were likely the cause.

The feed additives are used to increase weight gain, carcass leanness and feed efficiency in animals but the drug usually stays in the liver and lungs of the animal.

Once people digest the contaminated meat, even if it is fully cooked, poisoning symptoms such as nausea, heart palpitations, and muscle tremors may appear shortly after the meal.

In defense for the reputation of chicken farmers, Council of Agriculture revealed its inspection results over the past few years saying that no trace of such feed additives were found in the samples of chicken meat.

However, the police found out a feed factory in Tainan had illegally sold 150 tons of feed containing such additives to pig farmers two years ago and the Council of Agriculture is going to investigate into the matter to see whether chicken farmers had also bought the feed from the same factory.

Doctors suggest that since it is difficult to tell if the meat contains leanness drug, people should avoid buying meat that are overly cheap.