Infant illnesses force Sanlu baby-formula recall

(CCTV.com)
Updated: 2008-09-15 17:02

Authorities are cracking down hard on those who violate standards for food quality, and fail to report problems in good time.

This follows a massive recall of an infant food formula produced by San Lu Group, which has led to kidney stones in hundreds of young children. Production has now halted. And the country's leading dairy producer is under a thorough investigation.

Production has now halted. And the country's leading dairy producer is under a thorough investigation.

This is China's second high profile case in four years involving contaminated baby food, and regulators are calling it "a severe food safety accident".

There are now 432 confirmed cases of infants developing kidney stones after drinking the powdered milk, with one of these actually dying from fatal complications.

Investigations put the blame on San Lu company, both for falling short of quality standards, and also for failing to inform consumers in good time.

Gao Qiang, Vice Health Minister

Gao Qiang, Vice Health Minister, said, "San Lu Group did receive complaints about its baby milk powder in March, before conducting internal investigations that actually confirmed the problem. It also took action to recall some of the product. But San Lu took a long time, before it reported the incident to the government. It also did not release its findings to the public. For these reasons, Sanlu should bear a large part of the responsibility."

Tests point to the main contaminant being melamine, a chemical substance rich in nitrogen. Regulators believe the chemical was added to the infant formula to push up levels of protein in order to meet relevant standards.

For the moment, it is still unclear whether it was San Lu itself, or San Lu's supplier of raw materials, who was responsible. But regulators say they're launching a thorough investigation, to examine the entire chain of production.