Food Safety Spotlight | Pork Antibiotic Residue Nearly 38 Times Over Limit Sparks Outrage — Lincomycin Residue Testing Is Urgent!

Antibiotic Scandal Hits a Major Brand's Meat Products

On May 14, 2026, the Heilongjiang Provincial Administration for Market Regulation issued Notice No. 7 of 2026 on food safety supervision sampling. The product involved was a batch of pork hind leg meat produced by Wangkui Shuanghui Beidahuang Food Co., Ltd. Testing showed a lincomycin residue of 7.70×10³ μg/kg, while GB 31650—2019 stipulates a maximum residue limit of 200 μg/kg for lincomycin in pork muscle — the actual detected value exceeded the standard limit by nearly38 times.

Even more concerning, the production date of this batch was marked as August 27, 2025 — nearly nine months before the notice was issued — meaning the problem pork had long since entered the market. Subsequently, the subsidiary involved raised objections to the authenticity of the sampled products, which were ultimately rejected by regulators in accordance with the law.

What Is Lincomycin? How Serious Is Overdose Harm?

Lincomycin is a lincosamide antibiotic produced by Streptomyces. In pig farming, it is commonly used to treat respiratory infections, mastitis, and piglet yellow and white dysentery, and is a legal veterinary drug.

However, "legal" does not mean it can be "abused." If the dosage is increased during farming to quickly control disease, or if animals are slaughtered early without strictly observing the withdrawal period, the drug cannot be fully metabolized, leading to severely excessive drug residues in marketed products.

Long-term or excessive intake of lincomycin maytrigger gastrointestinal reactions, allergic reactions, hematologic reactions, and cardiovascular side effects.

This is not the first time lincomycin has appeared on the sampling blacklist. In fact, in the veterinary drug residue non-compliance notices issued over the years by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the State Administration for Market Regulation, lincomycin and clindamycin have been the main culprits of "lincosamide" veterinary drug exceedances, covering multiple categories including pork, chicken, honey, and aquatic products.

CATO Solution: Lincosamide Veterinary Drug Residue Testing Reference Standards

In response to the testing needs for lincomycin and related veterinary drug residues raised by this incident, CATO provides the following core items:

Support efficient laboratory testing! From farm to table, safeguarding every line of defense requires accurate and truthful testing data as support.