BEIJING - Chinese government departments have jointly taken steps to ensure the safety of meat products for the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement posted on its website Friday.

Government authorities in business and commerce, public security, agriculture and quality control have begun a 10-month crackdown on unauthorized slaughtering of livestock to enhance the safety of meat products, according to the statement.

The upcoming Spring Festival holiday will see a boom in meat consumption and very likely food safety issues, said the statement, citing Vice-Commerce Minister Jiang Weixin.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, is a traditional holiday for family reunion and falls on Jan 23 this year.

The campaign, starting from the end of last year, will also target illegal meat processors that inject pork with water and sell the meat of sick livestock, it said.

Chinese meat processors shocked the nation in 2011 by adding cancer-causing clenbuterol to pig feed to produce lean meat, in what has become known as one of the most severe food safety scandals of the year.