An inspection team from the Ministry of Agriculture has been dispatched to East China’s Jiangxi province to investigate the sales of unsafe pork from dead or sick pigs, which were suspected to have entered the market in at least seven provinces.

With more than 2 million pigs slaughtered and 1.1 million in livestock, Gaoan city in Jiangxi is one of China’s major pork producers.

The swine industry has a 3 percent mortality rate from disease. An estimated 90,000 pigs die from disease in Gaoan. The dead need to be dealt with according to strict health standards.

A report by China Central Television (CCTV) said dead pigs from Gaoan and other places entered the market with the help of an illegal sales network. According to CCTV, some of the pigs had a highly contagious virus.

The regular purchase price of pigs is 14 yuan per kilograms. In the CCTV report, a pig vendor bought two sick pigs at 6 yuan per kilogram from a pig farm and then resold them at 7 yuan per kilogram to a pork processing plant.

The report said the pork was mainly used to make salted bacon and sausage.

A pig farm owner named Yang told CCTV that his workshop sold pork from dead pigs to seven provinces with annual sales of 20 million yuan ($3.21 million).

The Ministry of Agriculture urged local law enforcement officers to inspect all pork purchases and inquire for pork safety certificates.