The hairy crabs sold in the Chinese capital's markets do not contain carcinogens, Beijing Municipal Food Safety Office said Monday in a test report.

The office has been carrying out tests since Thursday by sampling 20 hairy crabs from the city's major aquatic product markets. The crabs are chiefly imported from east China's Jiangsu and Anhui provinces and central China's Hubei province.

The tests were aimed at detecting nitrofuran, an antibiotic linked to cancer, and forbidden fishing drugs. The report said none of the hairy crabs sampled contained the illicit substances and all meet standards.

The office said they will make regular tests of hairy crabs and reinforce quality monitoring of all aquatic products in Beijing.

Health officials in Taiwan last week impounded a batch of hairy crabs from Jiangsu province's Yangcheng Lake, claiming they were found to contain nitrofuran.

The allegation, however, was refuted by Jiang Yuan, director of the food section under the Jiangsu Provincial Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, who said that pre-leaving inspections on crab samples had found no abnormality.

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2006)