A newspaper reported one death from receiving the fake albumin, but authorities have not officially said whether anyone has taken ill.

China has an across-the-board problem with food and drug safety and has come under increasing pressure from the United States and the European Union to improve inspections of exports. Within the country, thousands are sickened or die every year from bad drugs and mass food poisonings.

A shortage of albumin, a blood protein that chronically ill people often lack, triggered a nationwide investigation in March into whether fakes were being sold to meet demand, China Central Television said.

The report centered around an investigation in the northeastern province of Jilin, where 59 hospitals and pharmacies were sold the unusable blood protein. It did not say what the counterfeits were made of but CCTV's Web site showed two vials of albumin, the real product looking cloudier and more viscous than the translucent fake.

The China Business News said that the State Food and Drug Administration had seized fake blood protein from other provinces and regions including Shanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Chongqing.

The paper said that the mother of Zhu Huazheng, from the eastern province of Shandong, had died after using fake albumin from Beijing Tiantan Bioproducts Company Ltd. but did not give details.

A company employee was quoted as saying that no albumin had been produced since February because of a shortage of raw materials.

"Many fake product makers have seized the chance and sold bogus blood protein under our name. We are still investigating it," said the unidentified employee.

Telephones at the company rang unanswered on Monday.

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