July 21, 2017

Consumer confidence being restored as China milk products up to standards

China's milk industry has recovered from the 2008 safety scandal, according to a new report, which found that 99.8% of fresh milk and 99.5 percent of dairy products checked last year were up to standards.

Nine years ago, an infant formula produced by Sanlu Group was found to contain melamine, killing six babies and leaving thousands seriously ill. Since then, there has been a continuing effort by the Chinese government to restore consumer confidence. 

A dairy quality report jointly released by the Dairy Association of China (DAC) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) on Wednesday, July 19, said that the quality of domestic dairy products continued to improve in 2017, Xinhua reported.

Spot checks last year detected no illegal additives including melamine, the report said, adding that 98.7% of infant formulas checked conformed to standards, exceeding many other domestically produced food products.

Major quality and sanitary indicators were up to the standards of developed countries, a MOA official, Wang Jiaqi, told a press conference held during the report's release.

Infant formula and supplementary food were among the commodities that were under close watch last year. Inspection of recipes of baby milk powders registered by manufacturers was tightened and malpractices were exposed.

China has also taken measures over the past year to improve dairy regulations and industry standards, and tighten supervision, said Liu Yaqing, DAC deputy secretary.

China produced 37.12 million tonnes of milk and 29.93 million tonnes of dairy products last year, ranking third after the US and India, the report said. -Rick Alberto