The statement that China bans the import of pork from the United States is totally ungrounded, and the Chinese market is open to US pork,?said a?spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.

The US is the largest source of pork imports into China, and the volume of such imports has been on the rise in past years.

China's imports of US pork increased from 80,000 tons in 2009 to 590,000 tons last year. And during the first four months of the year, the figure has reached 120,000 metric tons.

"What is banned in China is clenbuterol, and it's strictly required that all the pork imported from other countries into China should not have this chemical in it," Shen said.

The concerns stirred by the takeover of the world's largest pork producer — the US-based Smithfield Foods Inc — by China's Shuanghui International, indicating that the deal would affect US food safety, are not relevant at all, Shen added.

He added that he also hopes that the US government will deal with the acquisition deal fairly and properly.