Despite scattered instances of poultry found with tainted feed, China's animal feed is on the whole safe, an agricultural official said.

A livestock market in Guangzhou city in the southern Guangdong province has barred all pigs from central Henan from entering its market since late last month, when 151 pigs transported from its Mengjin county were suspected of being fed with tainted feed.

But deputy agricultural minister Gao Hongbin yesterday stressed that the public need not worry about clenbuterol hydrochloride, a fattening drug in pig feed that was banned after it was found to be hazardous to human health.