Tainted Milk Sickens 432 Chinese Babies
China's government sought to respond to troubling questions about its food-safety system as new details emerged about tainted baby formula that officials say has sickened more than 400 infants. The scope of China's latest product-quality scandal has widened since it gained national attention last week. Officials said over the weekend that they have now learned of 432 babies who fell ill with kidney problems after ingesting milk powder tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.
The government said Sunday it is dispatching inspectors to examine milk-production facilities across the country. At a news conference a day earlier, Gao Qiang, head of China's Ministry of Health, said officials now suspect that melamine might have been added to milk by dealers before it reached Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., whose milk powder the government has tied to the illnesses. Mr. Gao, who is the health ministry's Communist Party secretary, said dealers might have been diluting the milk with water to increase the volume, then adding melamine, a nitrogen-rich chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers, to fool tests for protein, which measure nitrogen levels.
The case is spotlighting not only continued flaws in food production in China, but also persistent holes in the government's ability to detect and respond to problems in a timely manor. Officials say they have detained 19 people and are questioning 78 others in a sweeping investigation announced Thursday -- more than a month after officials say Sanlu first discovered that its milk powder was tainted with melamine, and several months after initial signs of problems emerged.
Complaints surfaced as early as March that infants were getting sick as a result of ingesting milk powder from Sanlu, a major Chinese milk-powder producer that is 43%-owned by Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd. of New Zealand. Mr. Gao, the health official, said the company investigated the matter and began quietly recalling some of its product but didn't immediately inform the government.
Then in June, a consumer complained to China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine but gave no detailed information, so the agency didn't investigate the matter. Sanlu discovered melamine in its milk in early August, but provincial authorities didn't learn of it until Sept. 8, Mr. Gao said. The government announced that Sanlu was recalling the remainder of its milk powder on Thursday.
Mr. Gao said that experts will be dispatched to treat sick infants, who live in several provinces around China, and that the Chinese government will pay for the infants' care.
State-run media say Sanlu has already withdrawn more than 8,000 tons of its milk powder and is now trying to pull an additional 700 tons off store shelves. Sanlu officials haven't responded to requests for comment since the government's announcement Thursday. In a statement Sunday, Fonterra said it learned of the melamine contamination in August and called for a public recall of the affected product. 'We have continued to push for this all along,' the statement said. Officials say the tainted milk powder was exported to only one overseas market, Taiwan, where a shipment of 25 tons was received in June. The milk powder in Taiwan has been used to make adult products like instant coffee, milk tea and baked goods, and no illnesses have been reported there. As of Sunday, Taiwan's Department of Health said it had traced 70% of the imported powder.
The recall by Sanlu could be one of China's biggest since the government began putting in place mechanisms for food-product recalls last year after a series of other product-safety scandals. While governments and companies in many developed countries have long had systems in place to regulate and enforce product liability, China first issued such rules -- for recalling faulty automobiles -- in 2004. Consumers who are hurt by defective or contaminated products also have little recourse against companies that don't comply with safety regulations. Sanlu was China's seventh-largest milk formula brand by revenue as of last year, with 6.2% of the market, according to market researcher Euromonitor International.
China's health ministry said Thursday it is inspecting baby-formula supplies across the country and that the government has dispatched inspectors to Sanlu's factories to determine what went wrong. It isn't clear if all the affected babies consumed formula made by Sanlu.
Gao Sen and Kersten Zhang in Beijing, Ting-I Tsai in Taipei and Marc Champion in Brussels contributed to this article.
Loretta Chao |
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