Beijing has launched a crackdown on pork production following a scandal involving the use of potentially poisonous meat additives in Central China's Henan province.

Quality supervision inspectors will closely monitor the process from the farm to the fork, leaving no room for the use of chemical additives, according to an unnamed official with the capital's agriculture bureau who was quoted by Beijing Times.

The comments came following a major meeting between pig farmers, meat processors and food retailers on Saturday.

Livestock will be checked at farms and upon delivery, with measures ramped up at 30 highway and railway animal epidemic supervision stations citywide. Farmers found adding chemicals to animal feed will face severe punishments, authorities warned.

The move comes less than a week after a CCTV report exposed the use of clenbuterol by pig breeders in Henan. The additive, which is often used to aid weight loss, can cause nausea, headaches, limb tremors and even cancer if taken in sustained or large doses.

The scandal caused a stir in Beijing and many other cities after Jiyuna Shuanghui Food Co Ltd, an affiliate of China's largest meat processing company Shuanghui Group, was found to have purchased pigs that had been fed clenbuterol. Some consumers were so scared they vowed never to eat pork again.

Administrative officials confiscated 70 tons of pork produced in Henan for further examination last Thursday.

Roughly 70 percent of pork products are made outside of Beijing, with less than 1 percent from Henan. About 520 tons of pork, including about 13,524 live pigs, were shipped from the central province to the capital between January and March.

"If the meat is found to be substandard, it will be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way and those responsible will be called to account," Li Quanlu, director of Beijing Animal Health Inspection Institute, was quoted as saying on China.com.cn on Thursday.

Checks at Beijing's 14 slaughterhouses will be strengthened to maintain an inspection rate of 5 to 10 percent for all live pigs shipped to Beijing. Tests over the past eight years have failed to find any livestock contaminated with clenbuterol.

The price of pork was 18 yuan per kilogram on Sunday at Beijing's Xinfadi Market, North China's largest agricultural produce distribution center, almost the same as last month.