February 25, 2009

Chinese health chiefs pledged Tuesday (Feb 24) to harshly punish those caught in the production, sale and use of illegal additives in food in a nationwide campaign, which has already led to the arrests of four people.

Underground markets for illegal additives operated in some regions and unspoken practices still occur in some food industries, said Vice Health Minister Chen Xiaohong, during a video conference briefing on the initial stage of the four-month campaign. Such practices include adding melamine to dairy products to fabricate false protein test results.

Chen added that law enforcement personnel had investigated 1,274 cases involving the illegal use of additives after receiving public tip-offs and complaints. Seven people had been transferred to the public security and judicial departments, and four of them have been arrested.

The Health Ministry, the State Food and Drug Administration and seven other government departments launched a nationwide investigation on December 10 last year to find illegal additives in food.

In the first stage of the campaign, there were more than 770,000 law enforcement personnel despatched out to check about 1.36 million food-processing firms nationwide.

Chen said the investigation will target widely consumed products such as dairy products, processed meat, rice, flour, oil, liqueurs, beverages and food additives in the next stage.

The nationwide campaign was organized in the wake of the melamine-tainted milk scandal. The contaminated milk powder and other dairy products were linked to the illnesses of more than 294,000 infants and killed at least six.