MNeagle
9th July 2010, 06:49 PM
Food safety concerns return with the discovery of 76 tons of melamine-laced goods that escaped the '08 recall.
BEIJING - Two years after a national health scare over melamine-tainted milk products rocked China's dairy industry, inspectors in western China's Qinghai Province have seized 76 tons of dairy ingredients laced with the same industrial chemical, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday.
The seizure appeared to involve products that had escaped a nationwide recall of dairy foods after the 2008 scandal, in which at least six children died and 294,000 others were sickened.
Inspectors in Gansu Province first discovered contaminated samples of milk powder brought to them for testing by a worker at the Dongyuan Dairy Factory in adjacent Qinghai Province. Qinghai officials later found that 64 tons of raw dairy products and 12 tons of finished goods were tainted with melamine, some at up to 559 times the legal maximum.
Both the factory owner, Liu Zhanfeng, 54, and the production manager, Wang Haifeng, 37, were taken into police custody, Xinhua reported. Officials said most of the contaminated material was destined for Zhejiang Province, near Shanghai.
Melamine, used in concrete, fertilizer and plastics, mimics protein in certain food-quality tests, and some Chinese manufacturers added it to ingredients used in infant formula, chocolate, pet and animal feeds, and other products to make them appear more nutritious. When eaten in sufficient quantity, however, melamine can cause permanent kidney damage.
First pet food, then dairy
A year before the 2008 scandal, pet foods contaminated with Chinese-supplied melamine killed dozens of dogs in the United States and Africa and forced recalls of nearly 90 brands.
In January, inspectors in southern China's Guizhou Province pulled dairy products out of local stores after discovering melamine in products shipped there from Shanghai and three other provinces.
Xinhua reported Friday that officials in Jilin Province, in northeastern China, had confiscated more than 1,000 packages of milk powder after finding tainted products in a market June 22. Officials have since begun inspecting dairy plants across the region.
In all of the recent cases, the contaminated products appear to be leftovers from the 2008 recall. Inspections at that time found excessive melamine in the products of 22 dairy companies, or one in five dairy manufacturers.
Still fighting corruption
Government officials here vowed to crack down on food safety violations in the wake of the 2007 and 2008 melamine cases, which damaged the reputation of Chinese food exports worldwide. The government ordered sweeping changes in food inspection last year, writing new rules and placing the existing patchwork of food regulatory bodies under a single authority, the National Ministry of Health.
But food safety procedures still need improvement, and some manufacturers and growers still use bribery and corruption to escape scrutiny.
"The Chinese government has enormously and effectively responded with new laws and new regulations, and tries to implement this as soon as it can," Rio Praaning Prawira Adiningrat, secretary general of the Public Advice International Foundation, said. But the sheer size of the Chinese economy and the number of people "makes it virtually impossible to check everything," he said.
Praaning praised the government's commitment and willingness to discuss its problems, adding, "I think they are absolutely doing the best they can."
http://www.startribune.com/world/98147449.html?page=1&c=y
BEIJING - Two years after a national health scare over melamine-tainted milk products rocked China's dairy industry, inspectors in western China's Qinghai Province have seized 76 tons of dairy ingredients laced with the same industrial chemical, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday.
The seizure appeared to involve products that had escaped a nationwide recall of dairy foods after the 2008 scandal, in which at least six children died and 294,000 others were sickened.
Inspectors in Gansu Province first discovered contaminated samples of milk powder brought to them for testing by a worker at the Dongyuan Dairy Factory in adjacent Qinghai Province. Qinghai officials later found that 64 tons of raw dairy products and 12 tons of finished goods were tainted with melamine, some at up to 559 times the legal maximum.
Both the factory owner, Liu Zhanfeng, 54, and the production manager, Wang Haifeng, 37, were taken into police custody, Xinhua reported. Officials said most of the contaminated material was destined for Zhejiang Province, near Shanghai.
Melamine, used in concrete, fertilizer and plastics, mimics protein in certain food-quality tests, and some Chinese manufacturers added it to ingredients used in infant formula, chocolate, pet and animal feeds, and other products to make them appear more nutritious. When eaten in sufficient quantity, however, melamine can cause permanent kidney damage.
First pet food, then dairy
A year before the 2008 scandal, pet foods contaminated with Chinese-supplied melamine killed dozens of dogs in the United States and Africa and forced recalls of nearly 90 brands.
In January, inspectors in southern China's Guizhou Province pulled dairy products out of local stores after discovering melamine in products shipped there from Shanghai and three other provinces.
Xinhua reported Friday that officials in Jilin Province, in northeastern China, had confiscated more than 1,000 packages of milk powder after finding tainted products in a market June 22. Officials have since begun inspecting dairy plants across the region.
In all of the recent cases, the contaminated products appear to be leftovers from the 2008 recall. Inspections at that time found excessive melamine in the products of 22 dairy companies, or one in five dairy manufacturers.
Still fighting corruption
Government officials here vowed to crack down on food safety violations in the wake of the 2007 and 2008 melamine cases, which damaged the reputation of Chinese food exports worldwide. The government ordered sweeping changes in food inspection last year, writing new rules and placing the existing patchwork of food regulatory bodies under a single authority, the National Ministry of Health.
But food safety procedures still need improvement, and some manufacturers and growers still use bribery and corruption to escape scrutiny.
"The Chinese government has enormously and effectively responded with new laws and new regulations, and tries to implement this as soon as it can," Rio Praaning Prawira Adiningrat, secretary general of the Public Advice International Foundation, said. But the sheer size of the Chinese economy and the number of people "makes it virtually impossible to check everything," he said.
Praaning praised the government's commitment and willingness to discuss its problems, adding, "I think they are absolutely doing the best they can."
http://www.startribune.com/world/98147449.html?page=1&c=y