February 10, 2010

China establishes national food safety commission

A national food safety commission has been set up to tackle China's persistent problem of tainted milk.

Li Keqiang, tipped to take Premier Wen Jiabao's place in three years, ordered inspectors to trace and destroy all milk products tainted with melamine, an industrial compound that killed at least six children in 2008.

A number of cases of milk contaminated with melamine have surfaced in the past few months, some apparently old batches of tainted powder slated for destruction but hoarded away instead by dairy firms and later repackaged.

The scandal in 2008 destroyed the credibility of China's dairy industry and seriously damaged the "made in China" brand internationally. The government had promised consumers to guarantee their milk was safe in future.

But food quality watchdogs in northwestern Shaanxi province are now under fire after they failed to discover melamine in a batch of milk powder later seized by authorities in another province. Inspectors also shut dairy firms in northwestern Ningxia region last weekend, seized 72 tonnes of poisoned milk powder and warned that nearly 100 tonnes may still be on shop shelves.

The northeastern province of Liaoning also shut three ice cream companies last week for using melamine-tainted materials.

There have been no reported deaths or illnesses from the latest batches of contaminated milk.