Antibiotic use in Chinese food likely to continue for years

There is no short-term solution to the widespread abuse of antibiotics by the mainland's food producers, according to experts from several related industries.

Farmers often feed livestock with spoiled restaurant leftovers and low-quality feed to cut costs. Fish, crabs and even sea cucumbers are raised in tight nets or cases in polluted waters. Such dirty environments lead to large-scale bacterial infection.

To keep their products healthy and cut down on losses, farmers often use heavy doses of antibiotics, which are easily available and cheap.

Zhou Jianhua, a researcher with the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute under the Ministry of Agriculture, said most farmers were not informed about the nature of antibiotics and the risk of overdose. Some even mistake antibiotics for nutritional additives to animal feed - the more the better, he said.

While large food processing companies had to employ professional vets to regulate the use of antibiotics on animals because they were often the target of government inspectors, most farmers and small livestock producers, who contributed a substantial amount of meat, eggs and fish to local food markets, had long been ignored by government inspection and monitoring systems due to the small scale of their businesses and scattered locations.

"The lack of inspection and lack of education resulted in today's situation," Zhou said.