Tainted milk resurfaces
- Source: Global Times
- [02:33 February 05 2010]
- Comments
Zhangzhou Southern Food Company in Fujian Province is making every effort to recall 15 tons of milk candy made from melaminetainted milk powder, a manager surnamed Shi told the Global Times Thursday.
By Kang Juan and Huang Jingjing
At least 100,000 tons of toxic milk powder found in a 2008 scandal, which left at least six babies dead and 300,000 people sick, was not destroyed and may have been sold for human and animal consumption, a senior analyst of the dairy industry estimated amid a new crackdown on tainted products.
The fresh national crackdown launched this week has exposed at least seven companies involved in the reselling of melaminetainted milk products. Among them is Shanghai Panda Dairy, which had been blacklisted and closed down over the 2008 scandal but later reopened.
Wang Dingmian, former director of the Dairy Association of China, told the Global Times Thursday that the resurfacing of the toxic milk showed that the monitoring and investigation of the intermediate links between manufacturers and end users are absent at local levels, resulting in the tainted milk already sold having escaped surveillance.
"A livestockfeed manufacturer told me last June that someone had 60,000 -70,000 tons of melaminetainted milk powder and wanted to sell it to him at a low price," Wang said. "I warned him that he would get arrested if he dare buy it."
"There is at least 100,000 tons of undestroyed toxic milk on the market even after the massive sweep in 2008," he said, adding that it might have been consumed in the form of food, dairy products and animal feed.
The 2008 scandal exposed the widespread practice of adding melamine, a chemical normally used in making plastics and fertilizer, to watereddown milk to increase profits and fool inspectors testing for protein. When ingested in large amounts, melamine can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.
According to a government order issued after the scandal emerged, all milk powder with excessive melamine content made before September 14, 2008, must be destroyed.
Zhangzhou Southern Food Company in Fujian Province is making every effort to recall 15 tons of milk candy made from melaminetainted milk powder, a manager surnamed Shi told the Global Times Thursday.
The food producer brought 25 tons of tainted milk powder, which could be traced to Lekang Dairy Company in Weinan in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Three of the company's executives and a related milkpowder dealer have been arrested Wednesday on charges of "manufacturing and selling food that does not meet hygiene standards."
More than two tons of candy made from tainted material have been seized by the local quality watchdog, but 15 tons had already been sold.
"We weren't aware that part of the material had been tainted. All the test documents the seller offered and even the sample test the authority gave showed there was nothing wrong," Shi added.
"The products are under the minimum volume of melamine and are safe, though we have resorted to recalling all of them, even though it will cause a great loss to us," said a man in charge of production, surnamed Ke, at the company.
