China dairy sued over infant's toxic milk death

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Posted on 13th October 2008 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 10/13/2008 6:12 AM

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) _ The family of a baby whose death has been blamed on toxic milk filed suit against one of China’s largest dairies Monday, while another dairy ensnared in the scandal said it was a victim of unscrupulous subcontractors.

The lawsuit against Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co. was filed over the May 1 death of 6-month-old Yi Kaixuan in the northwestern city of Lanzhou, the family’s lawyer said.

It is the first to be filed over a child who died from drinking the tainted milk and asks for almost $160,000 in damages.

Milk collection stations and individual farmers are accused of watering down milk to increase volume, then adding the industrial chemical melamine to increase protein levels. Melamine, used mainly in plastics and fertilizer, is high in nitrogen and can make milk appear to contain more protein, which is what quality tests measure.

The practice has been blamed for causing the deaths of four infants and sickening 54,000 others, with 10,000 still hospitalized.

Speaking on a television talk show late Sunday, the president of Bright Dairy said his company, one of the largest in the Chinese dairy industry, had been “too nice” toward milk collection stations that bought milk from farmers.

Large dairy companies typically buy raw milk gathered from small farmers at milking stations and collection centers, often by subcontractors responsible for safety testing. Safeguards were often lax and major milk producers have been criticized for not carrying out adequate testing.

The comments appeared aimed at restoring consumer confidence in the wake of the scandal that has dinged the reputation of some of China’s best-known food companies.

“We thought they were operating in good conscience,” Guo Benheng said on state television’s economics channel.

“I’d say we made an innocent mistake, although an innocent mistake is still a mistake. We are definitely making corrections,” Guo said, according to a transcript of his remarks posted on official Web sites Monday.

Appearing on the same show, the vice president of Mengniu Dairy, one of the country’s largest, said the scandal had affected the company profoundly.

“This sort of thing just tears your heart apart,” Zhao Yuanhua said.

The Yi family’s lawyer, Dong Junming, said he turned the lawsuit in at Lanzhou’s No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court where clerks told him they would notify him Tuesday as to whether it would be accepted.

At least two other lawsuits have been filed against Sanlu — the company at the center of the uproar — in recent weeks by parents of children suffering from kidney stones. It is not clear if courts will allow these suits to progress.

Product liability lawsuits are still relatively rare in China, and lawyers have complained of government pressure to withdraw from the cases.

Chinese milk powder and other food products have been banned from more than a dozen countries, worsening an increasingly painful downturn in China’s crucial export sector and threatening household incomes in the vast, mostly poor countryside.

The scandal has struck a blow to China’s efforts to build global brand names and establish healthy business practices.

Newspapers on Monday reported Chinese beverage-maker Hangzhou Wahaha Group was considering buying dairy assets from Sanlu Group, the milk-maker accused of attempting to cover up melamine tainting.

Sanlu is 43 percent owned by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Group, which has already slashed the value of its investment. China’s government took over and suspended Sanlu’s operations last month, and company heads have been detained for investigation.

China’s dairy industry has sped ahead in recent years, far outpacing regulatory structures aimed at ensuring safety and quality. Since the tainting scandal broke last month, strict standards for allowable melamine levels in food have been set and 5,000 government inspectors dispatched to provide 24-hour supervision over the industry.

Last week, police arrested a dairy farmer accused of producing 600 tons of melamine-spiked protein powder. Eight dairy farm owners and milk buyers were also arrested for purchasing the powder.

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Associated Press writer Cara Anna contributed to this report from Shanghai.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

FDA: Tiny bit of melamine in food usually OK

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Posted on 3rd October 2008 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 10/3/2008 11:03 AM

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Eating a tiny bit of a melamine, the chemical responsible for a global food safety scare, is not harmful except when it’s in baby formula, U.S. food safety officials said Friday.

Melamine-tainted formula has sickened more than 54,000 children in China and is being blamed for the deaths of at least four tots. The chemical has also turned up in products sold across Asia, ranging from candies, to chocolates, to coffee drinks, that used dairy ingredients from China. Authorities in California and Connecticut have found melamine in White Rabbit candies imported from China.

But infant formula made in the U.S. is safe, because manufacturers do not use any ingredients from China.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday its safety experts have concluded that eating a very tiny amount of melamine — 2.5 parts per million — would not raise health concerns, even if a person ate food that was tainted with the chemical every day.

But officials stressed the scientific assessment does not mean that U.S. authorities will tolerate any melamine that is deliberately added to foods. In China, unscrupulous suppliers appear to have been adding melamine to make watered-down milk seem protein-rich in quality-control tests. That’s because melamine is high in nitrogen, as is protein.

“If products are adulterated because they contain melamine, (authorities) will take appropriate actions to prevent the products from entering commerce,” the FDA said in a statement. The agency said it was setting the 2.5 parts-per-million standard to address situations in which the chemical accidentally comes into contact with food, such as in cases where it is used for industrial purposes in a factory that makes food products.

Officials also stressed that infant formula sold to U.S. consumers must be completely free of melamine.

“There is too much uncertainty to set a level in infant formula and rule out any public health concern,” the FDA said.

Melamine first came to the attention of U.S. consumers last year, when it touched off a massive pet food recall. Chinese suppliers of bulk pet food ingredients were found to have been adding the chemical to artificially boost the protein readings of their products. Thousands of pets here were sickened, and hundreds are believed to have died.

Melamine is harmful to the kidneys. It can cause kidney stones as the body tries to eliminate it, and in extreme cases, life-threatening kidney failure.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

China dairy brand won't survive tainted formula

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Posted on 24th September 2008 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 9/23/2008 11:59 PM

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) _ China’s Sanlu milk brand — the company at the center of China’s tainted baby formula scandal — won’t recover from the damage it has suffered, its New Zealand partner said Wednesday as it slashed the value of its holding in the company.

Tens of thousands of Chinese children have sought medical care, nearly 13,000 have been hospitalized and four infants have died because of Chinese-made infant formula contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine.

The Chinese government has now taken control of Sanlu Group Co., 43 percent owned by New Zealand’s Fonterra Cooperative, and shut down its operations, Fonterra Chief Executive Andrew Ferrier said at a briefing.

Told that Chinese authorities had now reported Sanlu received complaints about its infant formula as early as December 2007 but failed to alert authorities until Aug. 2, Ferrier said, “If these allegations prove to be true, then I’m appalled.”

“Sanlu has been damaged very badly by this tragedy,” he told reporters as he announced Fonterra’s annual results.

“The (Sanlu) brand cannot be reconstructed,” Ferrier said, adding he “can’t see clearly at this point” whether Sanlu group “will stay intact.”

He noted melamine contamination “is in dairy products across the whole country,” with 22 Chinese companies caught up in the scandal.

If it was true that local Chinese officials didn’t report the contamination to the central government until Sept. 9 as Beijing now claims, “then I am shocked,” he said.

“We were under the belief that people were aware at all levels” by early August, he said, adding, “It could have been that people were fooling us … at the local authority level.

He said he would not speculate when asked whether there had been a cover-up of the scandal because the Olympic Games were about to start in Beijing at the time the contamination was first reported by Sanlu on Aug. 2.

Ferrier again insisted that Fonterra “pressed” for an immediate public recall of Sanlu infant formula from that time — a step only taken on Sept. 9 after the New Zealand government alerted Beijing authorities to the poisoned formula.

“We pushed as hard as we could in the system,” he said Wednesday.

Fonterra, which trades dairy products in 140 countries, would now introduce “more comprehensive testing for every conceivable poison … round the world” in milk it purchases, he said, adding, “You can never be 100 percent absolutely certain against a criminal contamination of your supply chain.”

Ferrier said “we don’t know” when asked if Fonterra retains confidence in Sanlu’s board and management.

“You can bet Fonterra is gun shy about this whole thing and we need to get to the bottom of it,” Ferrier said. “There will be material changes to management and governance of this investment.”

While Sanlu had been profitable in 2007 and 2008, Ferrier said Fonterra had slashed the value of its investment in the Chinese dairy group by US$139 million to an estimated US$62 million.

Fonterra has poured nearly US$200 million into the joint venture since buying a 43 percent stake in December 2005.

Company Chairman Henry van der Heyden said the melamine contamination “is a criminal event,” but added his board was unanimous that Fonterra remain “committed to China.”

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

China's product safety watchdog steps down

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Posted on 23rd September 2008 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 9/22/2008 5:06 PM

By TINI TRAN
Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) _ The head of China’s food safety watchdog resigned Monday for failing to stop the widespread contamination of baby formula as the number of children sickened in the scandal soared to nearly 53,000, including four infants who died.

The shake-up came as investigators revealed that China’s biggest producer of powdered milk, Sanlu Group Co., had received complaints as early as December 2007 linking its infant formula to illnesses in babies. Months later, tests revealed the milk was tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, which causes kidney stones and can lead to kidney failure.

“During these eight months, the company did not inform the government and did not take proper measures, therefore making the situation worse,” China Central Television reported, citing an investigation by the State Council, China’s Cabinet.

Melamine, used to make plastics and fertilizer, has been found in infant formula and other milk products from 22 of China’s dairy companies. Suppliers trying to cut costs are believed to have added it to watered-down milk because its high nitrogen content masks the resulting protein deficiency.

The number of sick children reported by the Health Ministry has jumped from 6,200 to nearly 53,000. Of those, 12,892 remain hospitalized, with 104 of them in serious condition. Another 39,965 children have been treated and released.

The ministry did not explain the sudden increase in the number of cases but it suggested health officials were combing through hospital records from May through August to trace the origins of the contamination.

Baby formula and other milk products have been pulled from stores around the country and Chinese dairy products, including baby formula, milk candy and ice cream, have been recalled or banned in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Hong Kong.

In a reflection of the breakdown in supervision of the dairy industry, Sanlu and several other leading companies embroiled in the scandal had been given inspection-free status by the food safety watchdog.

That privilege has since been rescinded, but the World Health Organization stressed Monday it was only a first step and urged closer monitoring.

Quality issues can crop up at any point in the supply chain, from the farm to the retail outlet, said WHO China representative Hans Troedsson, adding: “It’s clearly something that is not acceptable and needs to be rectified and corrected.”

The resignation of Li Changjiang, who headed the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine since 2001, comes a year after he and the government promised to overhaul the system in response to a series of product safety scares.

New regulations and procedures were introduced in an attempt to restore consumer confidence and preserve export markets after a string of recalls involving tainted toothpaste, faulty tires, contaminated seafood and in March 2007, pet food containing melamine that was blamed for the deaths of dogs and cats in the United States.

A series of improvements were announced from establishing a national food recall system to random inspections to increasing exchanges with quality inspectors in other countries.

In an indication of Beijing’s determination to improve product safety, the government in July 2007 executed the disgraced chief of China’s food and drug agency, who was convicted of accepting bribes in exchange for letting fake medicine into the domestic market.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Li stepped down with the approval of China’s Cabinet.

The agency “failed to conduct a proper inspection in this case, and Li Changjiang bears responsibility for this. The State Council has accepted his resignation,” China Central Television reported.

In addition, the top official from Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is based, was fired Monday for “failing to deal with the case properly,” the official Xinhua News Agency said. Party secretary Wu Xianguo is the latest in a string of city officials who have been sacked over the scandal.

The discovery of the tainted milk is especially damaging because Sanlu was considered one of the most reputable brands in China, winning an industry award in January and being featured on state television last fall as a domestic company with stringent quality controls.

WHO was having discussions with Chinese officials on how to strengthen its food quality system, said Troedsson, its country representative. Local authorities need increased training to create a “more robust reporting system,” he said.

“It is important to know if information was withheld, where and why it was withheld,” he said. “Was it ignorance by provincial authorities or was it that they neglected to report it? Because if it was ignorance there is a need to have much better training and education … If it is neglect then it is, of course, more serious.”

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Associated Press reporters Anita Chang and Henry Sanderson contributed to this story.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

China milk scandal claims victim outside mainland

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Posted on 22nd September 2008 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 9/21/2008 11:37 AM

By SCOTT McDONALD
Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) — A Hong Kong toddler has developed a kidney stone after drinking Chinese milk — the first reported victim outside the mainland affected by a widening scandal over a toxic chemical found in baby formula and other Chinese dairy products.

More than 6,200 infants have become sick and four babies have died in China after being fed baby formula laced with melamine, a banned industrial chemical.

No illnesses had been reported elsewhere until the Hong Kong government said late Saturday that a 3-year-old girl was diagnosed with a kidney stone after drinking milk produced by the Chinese dairy Yili that contained melamine.

The Hong Kong government also announced Sunday that tests found melamine in Chinese-made Nestle milk. The Dairy Farm milk was made by Nestle’s division in the Chinese coastal city Qingdao, it said.

The Swiss food and drinks giant issued a statement Sunday saying that none of its China-made dairy products contained melamine.

“Nestle once again expresses confidence that none of its products in China is made from milk adulterated with melamine,” the statement said. It did not specifically respond to the Hong Kong report of tainted Dairy Farm milk.

Nestle offices in Hong Kong and Geneva did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Calls after work hours to its Beijing office and Beijing hot line went unanswered.

Meanwhile, Singapore said Sunday melamine was detected in samples of White Rabbit-brand Creamy Candy. The popular Chinese milk candy was pulled from shelves in the Philippines last year after health officials there claimed it was tainted with formaldehyde.

Chinese candy maker Guan Sheng Yuan Co. denied the Philippine allegations, saying the candy tested was likely a counterfeit version and subsequent tests showed samples of the candy were formaldehyde-free.

Already on Friday, Singapore suspended the sale and import of all Chinese milk and dairy products including milk, ice-cream, yogurt, chocolate, biscuits and candy, as well as any other products containing milk from China as an ingredient.

Japan, Malaysia and Brunei have also recalled or banned Chinese-made dairy products.

Since the problem of tainted milk products became public knowledge less than two weeks ago, the crisis has spread to include almost all of China’s biggest dairy companies.

A top official with the World Health Organization said Sunday that delays in releasing critical information about contaminated Chinese milk had hampered Beijing’s ability to rapidly deal with the problem and warn consumers.

Shigeru Omi, the WHO’s head of Western Pacific operations, told reporters at a press conference in Manila that “some people withheld the information for some time,” but he did not give specifics.

The scandal began with complaints over milk powder by Sanlu Group Co. — one of China’s best-known and most respected brands. But it quickly became a much larger crisis as government tests found that one-fifth of the companies producing baby milk powder had melamine in their products.

A New Zealand stakeholder in Sanlu has said it was told before the start of the Beijing Olympics on Aug. 8 that there was a problem. The dairy farmers’ group Fonterra, which owns 43 percent of Sanlu Group, told the New Zealand government, which informed Chinese officials.

The public was not told until Sept. 11 that the powder, used in baby formula and other products, was laced with melamine.

Melamine is used in making plastics and is high in nitrogen, which registers as protein in tests of milk. Though health experts believe ingesting minute amounts poses no danger, melamine can cause kidney stones, which can lead to kidney failure. Infants are particularly vulnerable.

Some of the farmers who sell milk to Chinese food companies are thought to have used melamine to disguise watered-down milk and fatten profit margins hurt by rising costs for feed, fuel and labor.

The parents of the Hong Kong girl diagnosed with a kidney stone took her for a precautionary checkup because she had been drinking Yili milk daily for the past 15 months. Yili Industrial Group Co. is one of 22 companies whose milk and dairy products were recalled after batches of their products were found to contain melamine.

The toddler was in good condition after receiving medical treatment and had been discharged from the hospital, the government said.

China’s communist leadership has launched high-profile efforts to show it is on top of the crisis, with Premier Wen Jiabao appearing on state-run television Sunday to say dairy companies had to show more “social responsibility.”

Wen was shown visiting a Beijing hospital where children were having health checks. He also stopped at a supermarket to look at dairy products.

“What we need to do now is to ensure that nothing like this happens in the future, not only in dairy products but in all food,” Wen said.

Food and product safety scandals have been a feature of Chinese life. Only last year, the government promised to overhaul inspection procedures after exports of medicines, toys, pet food ingredients and other products killed and sickened people and pets in North and South America.

The chemical in the dangerous pet food was the same as in the milk scandal — melamine.

Many of the largest companies whose products have been recalled, such as Yili Industrial Group Co. and Mengniu Dairy Group Co., did not have government inspections before the problem became public. The government scrapped that exemption this past week.

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Associated Press reporter Min Lee in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.