Baby formula recall in China after infant death
Baby formula recall in China after infant death
China's biggest milk powder producer has recalled 700 tons of baby formula after a baby died and at least 50 more suffered from kidney problems.
By Aislinn Simpson
Last Updated: 12:00PM BST 13 Sep 2008
Investigators who raided the factory discovered that the formula had been contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used in plastic.
It is the latest blow to the reputation of China's goods, following a series of product recalls for everything from toxic toys to poisonous cough syrup.
A total of 78 people, including dairy farmers and milk dealers, have been questioned over the contamination.
A Health Ministry spokesman, Mao Qunan, said: "Those responsible will face serious punishment."
The producer, Sanlu Group, knew about the contamination more than a month ago but did not announce it publicly, said a company manager, Su Changsheng, quoted on the website of a leading Chinese business magazine.
"The suspects added water to the milk they sold to Sanlu to make more money," official Xinhua news agency quoted the deputy mayor of Shijiazhuang, the city where Sanlu is based, as saying.
"They also added melamine so that the diluted milk could still meet standards."
Su Changsheng said the chemical might have been added to make the milk's protein content appear higher. Melamine is nitrogen-rich, and standard tests for protein in bulk food ingredients measure levels of nitrogen.
The tainted formula saw 59 babies - most less than a year old - admitted to hospital in northwest China's Gansu province. Other cases are now cropping up across the country.
Investigators found melamine in the urine and kidney stones of the sick babies, Xinhua said, citing a government investigation team.
Lu Yuan, a urologist with the No. 1 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said 14 sick babies were brought into her facility in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province.
"Most of the babies looked worn-out and had a fever when they arrived at the hospital," she said. "Some didn't produce any urine for two to three days and were in very serious condition."
The case is the second involving harmful baby formula in China in recent years. In 2004, more than 200 Chinese infants suffered malnutrition and at least 12 died after being fed contaminated formula.
In US Food and Drug Administration warned consumers to avoid Chinese infant formula, although a New Zealand dairy cooperative that owns part of Sanlu said it believed no tainted powder was exported from China.
Sanlu, based in Shijiazhuang, a city southwest of Beijing, buys milk from suppliers that include 60,000 farming households, according to its website.
The company has 18 percent of China's market for milk powder, and produces 6,800 tons of milk a day.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/2827362/Baby-formula-recall-in-China-after-infant-death.html
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Chinese dairy knew of milk contamination
By JOE McDONALD – 20 hours ago
BEIJING (AP) — A dairy that sold milk powder linked to kidney stones in infants and one death knew in August it was tainted with a banned chemical, weeks before it ordered a recall, the Health Ministry said Saturday.
Meanwhile, the reported number of ill babies rose to 140, the official China Daily newspaper reported.
A Health Ministry statement gave no indication why Sanlu Group Co., China's biggest milk powder producer, failed to warn consumers immediately. Employees who answered the phone Saturday at the ministry news office and at China's product safety agency said they had no more information.
In August, Sanlu's testing "revealed melamine in the baby milk powder and showed that it was contaminated," the ministry statement said. It did not say when Sanlu alerted authorities about its findings. On Thursday, the dairy announced a recall of 700 tons of formula made before Aug. 6.
A New Zealand dairy cooperative that owns part of Sanlu said Friday it believed none of the tainted powder was exported.
Kidney problems in infants were reported as early as mid-July but authorities failed to launch a food safety investigation, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Another news report said the dairy received complaints as early as March.
Investigators are questioning 78 people in the contamination, which occurred when dairy farmers added melamine to the milk, possibly to make its protein content appear higher, Xinhua said. Melamine is rich in nitrogen and standard tests for protein in bulk food ingredients measure nitrogen levels.
The incident reflects China's enduring problems with product safety despite a shakeup of its regulatory system following a spate of warnings and recalls about tainted toothpaste, faulty tires and other goods.
The biggest group of victims has been in China itself, where shoddy or counterfeit goods are common and infants, hospital patients and others have been killed or injured by tainted or fake milk, medicines, liquor and other products.
The number of infants suffering kidney stones after being fed the formula has risen to 140, the official China Daily newspaper said. Some 59 were in Gansu, a poor province in the northwest, where one child died.
Xinhua cited a Gansu provincial health department spokesman as saying he received reports on July 16 that 16 infants under one year old, all of whom drank Sanlu milk, were suffering a rare kidney ailment. He said the Health Ministry launched an epidemic survey.
"However, there seemed no food and safety survey had been done. Otherwise, the health, and even lives, of many infants could have been saved," Xinhua said.
A Sanlu manager quoted by the newspaper Beijing News said the dairy received complaints in March and June but could not track down the problem.
"We finally imported foreign equipment in August and finally found the milk powder contained melamine," the manager, identified only by the surname Wang, was quoted as saying.
Another Sanlu manager quoted Friday on the Web site of a leading Chinese business magazine, Caijing, said it refrained from making an announcement because some grocers refused to return tainted powder. The report did not say why that prevented a warning.
Sanlu buys milk from a nationwide network of suppliers that includes 60,000 family farms, according to the company's Web site.
It was China's second high-profile case in four years involving harmful baby formula.
In 2004, more than 200 infants suffered malnutrition and at least 12 died after being fed phony formula that contained no nutrients. Some 40 companies were found to be making phony formula and 47 people were arrested.
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Associated Press researcher Bonnie Cao in Beijing contributed to this report.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9TWJGihXFri_4iWWPS7iDjKrT5gD935MT700
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