The government will conduct an investigation into chickens throughout the country after some chicken meat has been found to have more anthelmintic residue than the permissible level, the agricultural ministry said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will conduct the inspection into whether any chickens carry dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, the toxic pesticide that was banned nearly 40 years go.

So far, the investigation into chickens has only been conducted at 52 chicken and egg farms that were earlier found to have used a banned pesticide.

Citing data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Hwang Ju-hong of the People's Party earlier said that of 60 chicken products examined from April to May, two were found to contain the anthelmintic toltrazuril in concentrations of up to six times greater than the permissible level of 0.1 milligram per kilogram.

The products in question were from two factories in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon, the lawmaker said. Toltrazuril, used to protect animals from infections, is seen as potentially harmful to humans if ingested excessively. (Yonhap)