March 12, 2009

Beijing-based Sanyuan is still awaiting approval to market milk powder products, following its takeover of scandal-hit Sanlu Group, a Sanyuan manager said Wednesday (Mar 11).

Liu Hongfeng, a milk production manager of Hebei Sanyuan Foods Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the Sanyuan Group, said a dozen types of liquid milk from the former Sanlu plants had been on sale under the Hebei Sanyuan name since March 6.

He said the liquid milk output reaches more than 100 tonnes daily and the products are available in Hebei, Henan and Anhui provinces.

However, Liu added that the company was still awaiting approval by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine to sell milk powder products.

A food scandal erupted late last year in China as melamine was added to milk products to falsify protein test results which caused six deaths and nearly 300,000 children to fall sick. 

Sanyuan bought Sanlu Group, the main dairy company responsible for last year's scandal, at an auction on March 4 for RMB616.5 million (US$90 million). It acquired Sanlu Group's core assets as well as one of Sanlu's subsidiaries, the Linhe Dairy.

Liu said the production of adult formula powder had been ongoing for 10 days with a daily output of 10 tonnes but regulators were still conducting checks on samples. However, Sanlu's production facilities for baby formula remained idle.

To ensure the quality of its products, Sanyuan had imposed strict quality-control measures and imported advanced inspection equipment, as well as setting up its own labs.