Beijing, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese government on
Wednesday launched a major campaign to reform its dairy industry in an attempt
to restore consumer confidence.
The State Council wants to upgrade the entire
industry from cow breeding to final sales.
Reports on testing milk are posted on
shelf at a supermarket in Shijiazhuang, capital city of north China's
Hebei Province Sept. 27, 2008. Six Chinese central agents had jointly
issued an urgent notice demanding thorough checks on all milk powder and
liquid milk products made before Sept. 14, Xinhua has learnt on Tuesday.
(Xinhua/Gong Zhihong) Photo
Gallery>>>
The tainted milk powder scandal was a major food
security incident. It not only damaged the health of babies and children, but
also hurt China's national image, said an official with the National Development
and Reform Commission (NDRC).
"The crisis has put China's diary industry in peril
and exposed major problems existing in the quality control and supervision of
the industry," said the official.
According to the campaign, the Ministry of Health
will revise the quality and safety standard of dairy products, and the Ministry
of Agriculture will draft an examination standard for checking of melamine and
other poisonous elements in animal feedstuff. The two tasks are required to be
finished within a year. An interim quality standard was set up shortly after the
scandal.
Before the new standard take effect, dairy producers
and sellers should follow existing national standards or the requirement of
Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) and International Diary Federation (IDF).
The State Council asked local governments to supply
necessary instruments and devices to quality control and agricultural
departments, so as to ensure regular examination of dairy products.
Subsidies would be paid to cow farmers and loans be
granted to dairy companies, to help them weather the current crisis.
A tracking system will be established to record the
flow and delivery of dairy products. Dairy companies are also required to meet
the production standard GB 12693 within three years, or risk stopping
production.
The guideline also set periodical target that the
operation of the industry be recovered to normal production by the end of 2008.
The production and sales of the industry has been
damaged severely after the crisis. As an example, Sanlu Group's Daily sales has
lost 20 percent, averaging 50 tonnes, compared with before the scandal, said Cao
Zhanwu, marketing director of Xingtai Sanlu Dairies Co. Ltd.
By the end of October next year, related laws,
regulations and quality standards should be established, and measures be taken
to push forward standard production in the industry, said the State Council.
The goal is to have well-bred cows and a
mass-producing dairy industry by the end of October, 2011.
The guideline was formulated collectively by the
NDRC, the central bank and 11 other ministries, commissions and departments.
BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua)
-- China's top legislature on Thursday started to review a draft law on food
safety, which sets stricter food quality standards and demands greater
government responsibility.
The draft, which was revised after the recent
contaminated dairy products scandal, would ban all chemicals and materials other
than authorized additives in food production. Full story
HOHHOT,
Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- China will provide 180 million yuan (26.4 million U.S.
dollars) in subsidy to dairy farmers in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a
senior official said on Wednesday.
The subsidy was aimed to help farmers who were badly
hit in the tainted milk scandal and sometime had to dispose of raw milk, said
Guo Qijun, vice chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional People's
Government. Full story
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. (Xinhua
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
BEIJING, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council issued a series of quality
control regulations for dairy products on Thursday. The move was prompted by the
country's contaminated milk scandal.
The regulations tighten control of how milk-yielding
animals are bred, how raw milk is purchased and the production and sales of
dairy food.
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.
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.
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.
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).
