Chinese babies fed fake formula die

Dozens of babies in eastern China have died from malnutrition after being fed fake milk formula with virtually no nutritional value.

The deaths prompted demands from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for a “thorough investigation and severe punishment” of the formula’s manufacturers, according to the official China Daily.

The State Food and Drug Administration sent an investigation team to the impoverished inland province of Anhui to trace the origin of the formula and find those responsible.

Up to 200 babies who were fed the formula developed what doctors called “big head disease”, causing the infants’ heads to grow abnormally large while their bodies wasted away.

Some babies died within three days of being fed the formula, while others were in hospital after parents discovered their children were sick.

The report said that from April last year, about 50 to 60 babies died from malnutrition after being fed the formula. That number could rise once investigations are completed.

The fake formula was purchased from shops in Fuyang, a city in Anhui where farmers scrape by on incomes of a couple thousand yuan (about €180) a year.

Some formula contained less than 0.035 ounces of protein per 3.5 ounces, about 1/18th of the standard content, said a specialist with the Fuyang Health Department’s Food Supervision Bureau.

Important minerals such as iron and zinc were completely missing, said the specialist

Local officials who raided markets in Fuyang over the weekend seized thousands of bags of suspect formula, including products without health board approval stamps or those that had passed their use-by date.

Inspectors recorded at least three dozen different brands of fake formula.