By TINI TRAN
Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese parents whose children were sickened after drinking contaminated milk pushed the government for greater accountability and compensation Friday, a day after a court handed down two death penalties and long prison terms for 19 other defendants.

Milk formula laced with the industrial chemical melamine has been blamed for causing the deaths of at least six infants and sickening nearly 300,000 others with kidney stones and other problems.

Zhao Lianhai, a parent who has rallied families through a Web site he created that details the crisis, said Friday that he and three others were presenting a petition to the Ministry of Health.

The petition, signed by some 550 parents, calls for free medical care and follow-up services for all victims, reimbursement for treatment already paid for, and further research into the long-term health effects of melamine among other demands.

“Children are the future of every family, and moreover, they are the future of this country,” the petition said. “As consumers, we have been greatly damaged.”

But state television reported Friday that most of the families had accepted payouts offered by the 22 dairies responsible for the contamination under a government-led plan.

The report is indicative of the communist leadership’s eagerness to bring an end to the embarrassing scandal. It also appeared to be trying to portray parents who were rejecting the payments as out of step with the majority.

Jiang Yaling, a parent from Guizhou, said the parents who are asking for a better deal held a meeting with several Health Ministry officials on Friday. She said the officials pledged to “respect our petition” and process it quickly.

“It’s not a matter of what the officials say to us, but it’s a matter of what they do. If these demands are not met, my child could have a life span of only 10 years. What kind of life is that? My child is my everything,” Jiang said.

The Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a faxed list of questions from The Associated Press.

Jiang said the group also planned to submit the same petition to the China Dairy Association and China’s food safety regulators later in the day.

The 22 dairy companies involved in the scandal have proposed a 1.1 billion yuan ($160 million) compensation plan. Families whose children died would receive 200,000 yuan ($29,000), while others would receive 30,000 yuan ($4,380) for serious cases of kidney stones and 2,000 yuan ($290) for less severe cases.

The China Dairy Association said the distribution of compensation payments was nearly complete, and that than 262,000 families — or 90 percent of the official total — had accepted the dairies’ offers by Thursday, CCTV reported.

Calls to the dairy association rang unanswered.

Many parents who rejected the compensation payments say they were inadequate and complained that the plan did not have the families’ input.

On Thursday, 21 defendants blamed in the milk scandal were sentenced, including the former general manager and chairwoman of Sanlu Group Co., the dairy at the center of the scandal.

Tian Wenhua, 66, the highest-ranking executive charged in the food safety crisis, was given life imprisonment while three other company executives got sentences between five and 15 years.

Investigations showed that middlemen who sold milk to dairy companies including Sanlu were watering down raw milk, then mixing in melamine to make it appear to have a higher protein content.

One of those middlemen, Geng Jinping, who supplied hundreds of tons of melamine-tainted milk to Sanlu, was sentenced to death. Also condemned was Zhang Yujun, who ran a workshop that produced melamine-tainted powder branded as protein powder.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) _ No more wondering where your hamburger came from, or where your lettuce and tomatoes were grown: Starting this week, shoppers will see lots more foods labeled with the country of origin.

It’s a law years in the making but timely, as China’s milk scandal and the recent salmonella-tainted Mexican peppers prompt growing concern over the safety of imported foods.

Still, hold the import-bashing: Numerous outbreaks in recent years have come from U.S.-produced foods, like spinach grown in California.

Until now, shoppers have had little clue where many everyday foods — meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, certain nuts — originate. That’s what the so-called COOL law, for country-of-origin labeling, changes.

Those who want to buy local — or who prefer, say, Chilean grapes and New Zealand lamb — can more easily exercise their purchasing power. Those worried about lax safety regulations in certain countries can avoid those imports. And the next time tomatoes are suspected of food poisoning, consumers may be able to tell investigators they bought only ones grown in a certain region, speeding the probe.

“We do see it as an important step on the road to a more comprehensive system for tracing food items” during outbreaks, says Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

“It will be a very good thing because we’ll have a lot more information,” adds Jean Halloran of Consumers Union. But, “you can still be fooled by the COOL label.”

How? There are bunches of exceptions. Fresh strawberries get a label but not chocolate-covered ones. Raw peanuts? Label. Roasted ones? No label. Those popular pre-washed salad mixes? Sometimes.

Here are some common questions as shoppers navigate the change:

Q: What does the new law require?

A: That retailers notify customers of the country of origin — including the U.S. — of raw beef, veal, lamb, pork, chicken, goat, wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish, fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and whole ginseng. (The aim was big agricultural commodities; ginseng was added for fear of imports masquerading as U.S.-grown.)

Q: Where will I see the country of origin?

A: Anywhere it fits. The rubber band around asparagus; the plastic wrap on ground beef; the little sticker that says “Gala” on an apple. If a food isn’t normally sold in any packaging — such as a bin of fresh green beans or mushrooms — then the store must post a sign.

Q: Aren’t many foods already labeled?

A: Some fresh produce already uses origin labeling as advertising. “Fresh from Florida” or “Jersey Grown” or “Vidalia Onion” tags don’t have to be changed under the new rules; the shopper should realize they’re all U.S. products.

The COOL law mandating such labels first passed in 2002, but lobbying by grocery stores and large meatpackers led Congress to delay the U.S. Department of Agriculture from implementing it. Seafood labeling was phased in first, in 2005 — a key change given recurring safety problems with fish and shellfish from certain countries, including China.

Q: What’s the biggest exception?

A: The labels aren’t for processed foods, meaning no label if the food is cooked, or an ingredient in a bigger dish or otherwise substantially changed. So plain raw chicken must be labeled but not breaded chicken tenders. Raw pork chops are labeled, but not ham or bacon. Fresh or frozen peas get labeled, but not canned peas. Raw shelled pecans, but not a trail mix.

Q: What if the foods are merely mixed together?

A: They’re exempt, too. So cantaloupe slices from Guatemala get labeled. Mix in some Florida watermelon chunks, and no label. Frozen peas, labeled. Frozen peas and carrots, no label. As for bagged salads, USDA considers iceberg and Romaine to be just lettuce, so that bag gets a label. Add some radicchio? No label.

Q: Must all stores comply?

A: No. Meat and seafood sold in butcher shops and fish markets are exempt.

Q: What if companies buy food from various places — beef from both U.S. and Mexican ranchers, for instance?

A: That’s a bone of contention between large U.S. meat producers and smaller ranchers that produce exclusively U.S. animals. Tyson Fresh Meats, for instance, says it’s too expensive to separate which of its cattle came from which country. So in a July letter to customers, Tyson said it would label all beef “Product of the U.S., Canada or Mexico.” The National Farmers Union is protesting; USDA is considering the complaints.

Q: Aren’t country labels on some processed foods?

A: Yes, tariff regulations have long required that a food put into consumer-ready packaging abroad be labeled as an import; that doesn’t apply to bulk ingredients.

Q: When does the change take effect?

A: The law goes into effect Tuesday, although USDA won’t begin fining laggards until spring. Violations can bring a $1,000 penalty.

EDITOR’s NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Summary

The Japanese government also said it had suspended imports of milk and milk products from China, where some 54,000 children have developed kidney stones or other illnesses after drinking baby formula contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. Four deaths have been blamed on the tainted milk.

The latest problematic foods were Heinz baby cereal and Silang House steamed potato wasabi crackers. The Hong Kong government said in a statement Friday it found traces of melamine in the products, which were both made in mainland China.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

By TINI TRAN
Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) _ China’s agriculture minister acknowledged Tuesday that the country’s milk-gathering system was “out of control” and led to abuses that put contaminated dairy products in stores across Asia, sickening some 54,000 babies and killing four.

At least six Asian countries banned or curbed imports of Chinese dairy products, and the World Health Organization warned of possible smuggling of melamine-tainted infant formula across borders. The European Union told customs authorities to keep a closer eye on food imports from China.

Melamine, used to make plastics and fertilizer, has been found in infant formula and other milk products from 22 Chinese 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.

Since the discovery of tainted milk was made public, China’s government has scrambled to respond. Recent days have seen a number of arrests and forced resignations of officials.

Chinese state television reported that the company at the center of the scandal, Sanlu Group Co., received complaints about tainted formula beginning last December and waited eight months to tell the local government, which then waited another month before informing higher authorities.

Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai told a meeting with the health and public security ministries that the industrial chemical melamine was likely added at stations that collect milk from small individual dairy farmers.

“Since milk stations began only in recent years, the country now has no specific method of supervising them, or clear-cut supervision department. The purchasing process of raw milk is basically out of control,” Sun said, according to a summary of his comments posted Tuesday on his ministry’s Web site.

“We must crack down on them with the greatest determination and the toughest measures,” Sun said in the meeting held late Monday.

A group of 316 Chinese milk producers and retailers issued a joint statement promising to keep the dairy industry clean, state broadcaster China Central Television reported late Tuesday.

Among other things, producers promised to reject sub-standard raw materials, strictly inspect production, and take responsibility for product quality. Retailers also promised closer inspections.

Sanlu had no comment Tuesday about the allegations on state television.

CCTV reported Monday night that an investigation by the State Council, China’s Cabinet, found that Sanlu had been receiving complaints about its infant formula as early as December 2007. The dairy company discovered melamine in its milk powder in June but did not report it to city officials until Aug. 2, it said.

“During these eight months, the company did not inform the government and did not take proper measures, therefore making the situation worse,” CCTV said.

The Shijiazhuang city government then failed to report the case to the Hebei provincial government until Sept. 9, CCTV said. Sanlu products were recalled from stores two days later and Shijiazhuang’s top Communist Party official fired.

Anthony Hazzard, the Western Pacific director of the World Health Organization, said 82 percent of the children made sick by the formula were 2 years old or younger.

The sick included 12,892 babies in hospitals, 39,965 who have received outpatient treatment, and an additional 1,579 patients discharged from hospitals, he said, citing China’s Ministry of Health.

Hazzard said countries had been advised to focus particularly on smuggled formula by the International Food Safety Authorities (INFOSAN), a network of 167 countries organized by the WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

He said authorities do not know at this stage what countries may have received the contaminated products.

“I think the greatest fear is if there has been illegal movement of the heavily contaminated products rather than the legal movement of products that may have very low levels of melamine,” said Hazzard, speaking in Manila where the WHO’s regional headquarters is located.

The head of the Chinese agency that monitors food and product safety stepped down Monday. 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.

According to the Health Ministry, of the 53,000 sickened children, 12,892 remain hospitalized, with 104 in serious condition. Another 39,965 children were treated and released.

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

Four Hong Kong children have been reported with kidney stones.

European Commission spokeswoman Nina Papadoulaki said the EU’s 27 member states do not import baby formula or other dairy products from China.

But she said national customs authorities across the EU were asked last week to step up checks on imports of “composite products,” such as bread or chocolate, to ensure they contain no traces of contaminated milk.

One of China’s biggest milk producers, China Mengniu Dairy Co., saw its stock price plummet slightly more than 60 percent in Hong Kong trading Tuesday after its products were found tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.

Mengniu, China’s No. 1 dairy producer in total volume, said only a small portion of its products were contaminated and blamed the contamination on “the illegal acts of some irresponsible milk collection centers and raw milk dealers.”

“The board wishes to sincerely apologize for the incident and any inconvenience caused to the public,” the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.