Chinese police trace illegal diet powder

Police in East China's Jiangsu province have traced tonnes of bogus diet powder containing harmful chemical substances, after uncovering a counterfeiting food workshop.

The diet powder claiming to be L-Carnitine Coffee had became a faddish diet product sold online. Police raided the drug making workshop arresting 12 suspects and seizing 8 tonnes of bogus diet powder.

Police in Huai'an city on Tuesday warned consumers not to buy the diet product, saying that 10 tonnes of the powder produced by the gang had been distributed to the market.

The counterfeiting was found in 2017. A buyer sent the powder to the Huai'an Food and Drug Administration in the province for examination, as she had toxic symptoms of vomiting and dizziness after taking the powder.

Tests showed there the diet ingredient L-Carnitine was not present, but instead coffee mixed with Sibutramine Hydrochloride and Phenolphthalein.

Police said these chemicals caused high blood pressure, a fast heart beat, anorexia, insomnia, abnormal liver function and intestinal mucosal damage.