China tainted dairy prompts new safety campaign

The Chinese authorities has launched a campaign to look into food safety problems including the recent discovery that tainted milk from 2008 were used to make ice cream bars and other products sold just weeks ago.

 

The announcement came two years after six children died after consuming melamine-tainted milk.

 

The discovery prompted authorities to launch a 10-day campaign to "thoroughly and comprehensively investigate food safety risks."

 

"We will conduct sample tests once a week at dairy companies as well as thoroughly test all the dairy products sold here," said Huang Ying, an officer in the food department at Lanzhou Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision of Gansu province.

 

The stepped up practice came after several cases of milk products with excessive melamine were discovered.

 

A week ago, officials in Guizhou Province announced that four dairy companies sold products in the province with high levels of melamine, and the companies involved blamed suppliers for the contamination.

 

The four companies were Shanghai Panda Dairy Company, Zibo Lusaier Dairy Company, Tieling Wuzhou Food Company and the Laoting Kaida Refrigeration Plant.

 

Prior to this, the authorities in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province confiscated over five tonnes of problematic milk powder in December, in which 275 kilograms were found with excessive melamine.

 

According to a report later released by the local police, the inspection authority detected the tainted milk powder by Shanxi Jinqiao Diary Company back in October 2008. At that time, regulators sealed up the products in the company's warehouse but never destroyed them.

 

"There were still some leftovers in the dealers' hands that nobody cared about," Wang Dingmian, former chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Dairy Association said.

 

According to Wang, the recently reported cases of contaminated milk products are related to products stashed away during the 2008 milk powder. Wang is worried that insufficient follow-up into those tainted milk could lead to a surge of similar cases.

 

During the 2008 milk scandal, 69 batches of tainted milk products weighing approximately 10,000 tonnes were recalled.