BEIJING, November 12, 2009 (AFP) - A company in northern China that claimed its face masks could prevent swine flu infection has been shut down and ordered to recall the bogus product, the country's food and drug safety watchdog has said.

Tianjin Mingda Science and Technology Co. Ltd. had told consumers that wearing its product would keep them from contracting A(H1N1) influenza, but the State Food and Drug Administration said the mask was never approved.

"The person in charge of the company claimed the masks had been tested by the institute of virus prevention," SFDA spokeswoman Yan Jiangying told reporters on Wednesday, according to a transcript on the agency's website.

"The company was making bogus claims about its product," she said, according to the China Daily.

An investigation revealed that about 8,000 of the masks had been produced, and 5,000 of them sold for 9.5 yuan ($1.40) each, the SFDA said.

The factory has now been sealed off, and the company ordered to pull any remaining masks from store shelves.

Calls by AFP to the company went unanswered.

As of Wednesday, China's health ministry has reported 36 swine flu deaths on the mainland. A total of 62,871 people have been infected with the virus, according to ministry data.

China hopes to vaccinate up to 65 million people by the end of the year, while up to 100 million more doses of the vaccine could be produced in the first quarter of 2010, the ministry said earlier.

The government has ordered production of vaccines to be stepped up and more inoculations to be administered, especially at schools and for those most susceptible to the virus.

So far, nearly 10.9 million people have received shots, according to the health ministry.