November 16, 2011

North China's Hebei province will use a source-tracing system to monitor dairy products, local quality supervision authorities said Tuesday (Nov 15).

The digital source-tracing system will record all raw materials used in every phase of production to improve supervision over the quality of dairy products, said Wang Xiaohua, deputy head of Hebei Provincial Administration of Quality and Technical Supervision.

The source-tracing system functioned well during its trial in a local dairy products factory, according to the supervision authorities.

The source-tracing system is the latest effort by Hebei to guarantee the safety of dairy products after the tainted milk scandal in 2008, Wang said, adding that dairy products made in Hebei met national standards.

The number of dairy products makers in Hebei has slumped from 109 before the scandal to 38 at present.

The locally-based Sanlu Group produced and sold milk tainted with melamine. The contamination killed at least six babies and caused urinary problems, like kidney stones, in more than 290,000 infants.