BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's Health Ministry
has issued new safety standards for dairy foods following the scandal of
melamine-contaminated milk products that sickened thousands of babies.
The industrial chemical was intentionally added to
diluted milk to make it seem high in protein content. More than 50,000 babies
were sickened as a result of consuming contaminated milk powder.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Wang Xuening,
deputy director of the ministry's Health Supervision Bureau, released new rules
for the dairy industry.
Wang said a maximum of one milligram of melamine per
kilogram of infant formula was the new limit.
A maximum 2.5 milligrams per kilogram was allowed for
liquid milk, milk powder and food products containing at least 15 percent milk.
"Melamine is neither a raw food material nor a food
additive," he said. "Deliberately adding the chemical to food items is
prohibited. Once such cases are spotted, they will be investigated according to
law."
Melamine is used to make plastics and food packaging
materials. When asked why China allowed any melamine at all dairy products, Wang
said it was impossible to have "zero levels". The chemical can seep into food
from its packaging.
"The limits mainly aim to curb the deliberate adding
of melamine," he said.
According to the standards of the Unites Stated Food
and Drug Administration, the safety reference value (tolerable daily intake, or
TDI) for melamine is 0.63 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day.
A child weighing 30 kilograms would have to drink
around 1.2 kilograms of milk powder containing 15 milligrams of melamine per
kilogram a day to have exposure reaching the TDI.
In tests by China's quality watchdog, the State
Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), last
month, Sanlu products had the highest content of melamine, at 2,563 milligrams
per kilogram, out of the 109 baby formula producers tested.
The Sanlu Group, a leading dairy producer based in
the northern Hebei Province, admitted on Sept. 12 it had found some of its baby
milk powder products were contaminated with melamine.
Contaminated baby formula has killed at least three
infants and left more than 53,000 with urinary tract problems, including kidney
stones. About 13,000 infants are still being treated in hospitals.
So far, 27 people have been arrested over the
scandal.
Chinese police arrest 14 more people in milk
scandal
SHIJIAZHUANG, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Police in north China's
Hebei Province arrested 14 more people in connection with the country's tainted
milk scandal, putting the total arrests in the province at27.
Cao Aiping, Hebei Provincial Public Security Department's
deputy director told Xinhua that police had questioned 91 people which generated
27 arrests, since the first 13 arrests on Sept. 29.
Chinese health officials reopen probe into alleged infant melamine
death
URUMQI, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities in northwest
China have reopened an investigation into one of the four infant deaths
suspected to be related to the consumption of milk products tainted with
industrial chemical melamine.
The health department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
reported the death, which was attributed to kidney stones, on Sept. 18. Since
then the death toll from the contaminated milk has been widely reported as four.
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Qu Ruie (R), a supervisor to the
Dongfang Dairy Company, supervises the inspecting process of milk in
Xi'an, north China's Shannxi Province, Oct. 4, 2008. Calling China's
diary production and circulation "chaotic" and admitting government
supervision "gravely absent", the State Council is planning an overhaul
and recovery of the nation's diary industry. (Xinhua Photo)
Photo
Gallery>>> |
China finds new liquid milk products
not contaminated
BEIJING, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The latest tests on Chinese
liquid dairy products found no traces of melamine, the country's top quality
supervision agency said on Tuesday.
It was the seventh investigation on the chemical, which is
often used in plastic and is banned in food manufacturing, following the tainted
baby formula scandal that broke out last month.
China's cabinet lays groundwork for
"clean-up," recovery of dairy industry
BEIJING, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Calling China's dairy
production and distribution "chaotic" and admitting government supervision
"gravely absent", the State Council is planning an overhaul for the recovery of
the nation's dairy industry.
The State Council, China's Cabinet, held an executive
meeting Monday on the nation's milk powder industry and approved draft
regulations on quality control for dairy products.
Inspectors posted to dairy factories
for 24-hour supervision
BEIJING, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's quality supervision authority has dispatched
more than 5,000 inspectors to carry out round-the-clock scrutiny at dairy
factories in an effort to restore consumer confidence in the wake of the scandal
over the melamine contamination of milk.
Wang Yong, director of the General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ), told Xinhua that the
government would strive to ensure all dairy products manufactured after Sept. 14
were melamine-free and safe.
China quality watchdog: New liquid
milk supplies melamine free
BEIJING, Oct.4 (Xinhua) -- The latest sample test detected no melamine in newly
supplied liquid milk on China's market, the country's quality watchdog said
Saturday.
Samples of 609 batches of liquid milk from 27 cities
across China were found free of melamine, said the General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).
Full story
China central gov't to subsidize dairy
farmers after tainted milk
scandal
BEIJING, Oct. 4
(Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Agriculture said Saturday it had made an
emergency rescue plan with the Ministry of Finance to give special subsidies to
the country's dairy farmers, who have suffered from shrinking demand after the
tainted milk scandal.
Fewer dairy farmers were dumping raw milk as government
support policies to shield them from losses paid off, said the ministry in a
statement on its website. Full
story
