MADE-IN-CHINA canned pork products have practically vanished from shop shelves here.

Supermarkets are down to their last few cans of luncheon meat, stewed pig trotters and minced pork.

"What you see is what's left," said an NTUC FairPrice spokesman, adding that its warehouse was "completely dry".

Other supermarket chains like Giant and Cold Storage reported the same shortage. All said that they were having trouble replenishing the stocks.

Distributors The Straits Times spoke to said the problem started in August, when the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) rejected and destroyed a consignment of canned pork products from two food processing plants in China.

It had found traces of Nitrofurans, a banned antibiotic, which is fed to pigs to treat illnesses.

The AVA suspended all imports from these two factories, which produce the two most popular brands here, Maling and Gulong.

An AVA spokesman said yesterday: "Even though the levels of antibiotic found were very low, we believe in taking no chances. Food safety is of paramount importance."

He added that previous imports of these brands and products from other brands had passed safety checks: this means consumers do not have to throw out any cans they may have stored.

China has had a wave of bad press recently over food scares. Excessive antibiotic or pesticide residues have previously led to bans in Europe and Japan on shrimp, honey and other products.

Distributors of canned pork here say that they have not been able to import the other lesser known brands from the six factories that are still in the AVA's good books.

Chinese suppliers are playing it safe by not selling to Singapore at all, in case their canned pork also gets the boot.

Said Mr Ted Ngo, managing director of Yit Hong, which deals in Maling luncheon meat and Narcissus canned pork products: "The factories may meet China's standards but not Singapore's.

"If products from China are rejected here, it would cause a lot of inconvenience to them."

Mr Goh Kai Kia, chairman of Goh Joo Hin, which mainly distributes the Shanghai Maling B2 luncheon meat, had tried to bring in alternatives from the United States and Brazil.

"But customers felt these were too salty and too expensive," he said.

Supermarkets too are trying to find substitutes such as Denmark's Tulip brand of pork luncheon meat, which costs about 30 per cent less than the ones from China.

But with stocks fast depleting, canned pork products still on the shelves now cost 50 per cent as much as they did at the start of this year. Shanghai Maling B2 pork luncheon meat now costs $2.50, up from $1.70.

The AVA said that the Chinese factories will be able to resume exports of canned pork products when it meets the food safety standards set by them.