GUANGZHOU, CHINA — Nine people have been arrested by police and the license of a livestock market owner has been revoked in a case involving pork tainted with a chemical that made 70 people sick in southern China's biggest city, according to The Associated Press.

About two months ago, Chinese officials began investigating the pork case when 70 people became sick after eating pig organs in Guangzhou. Many of the diners were hospitalized. The pork was tainted with clenbuterol and ractopamine, banned chemicals used to make animals develop more muscle and less fat, investigators determined.

Nine suspects were arrested and police were searching for six more, an official at the city's Industry and Commerce Bureau told AP. Authorities also revoked the business license of Quanfa Food Co. Ltd., which owned the livestock market that sold the pork, according to the Xinhua News Agency. The local Nanfang Daily newspaper published on March 31 that the company failed to properly inspect the meat and it responded too slow when the food poisoning cases began to appear.

If found guilty of dealing in tainted food, Xinhua said suspects could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

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