China: Dairy knew weeks before recall

A Chinese dairy which sold milk powder linked to kidney stones in babies and one death knew weeks before it ordered a recall that the product contain a banned chemical, the health ministry said today, as the number of sick infants rose to 432.

A ministry statement gave no indication why Sanlu Group Co, China’s biggest milk powder producer, failed to warn consumers immediately.

In August, Sanlu’s testing “revealed melamine in the baby milk powder and showed that it was contaminated”, a ministry statement said. It did not say when Sanlu alerted authorities about its findings. The dairy ordered a recall on Thursday of 700 tons of formula made before August 6.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported today that Sanlu had also been ordered to stop production.

A New Zealand dairy co-operative that owns part of Sanlu said Friday it believed none of the tainted powder was exported.

However, officials in Taiwan said they had seized thousands of pounds of milk powder produced by Sanlu after Beijing authorities notified them the product was tainted.

Kidney problems in infants were reported as early as mid-July but authorities failed to launch a food safety investigation, Xinhua said in a separate report. Another news report said the dairy received complaints as early as March.

Investigators are questioning 78 people about the contamination, which occurred when dairy farmers added melamine to the milk, possibly to make its protein content appear higher, Xinhua said. Melamine is rich in nitrogen, and standard tests for protein in bulk food ingredients measure nitrogen levels.

The incident reflects China’s enduring problems with product safety despite a shake-up of its regulatory system following a spate of warnings and recalls about tainted toothpaste, faulty tyres and other goods.

The biggest group of victims is in China itself, where shoddy or counterfeit products are common. Infants, hospital patients and others have been killed or injured by tainted or fake milk, medicines, alcohol and other products.

The number of infants suffering kidney stones after being fed Sanlu formula has risen to 432, Xinhua said. It did not give a breakdown of where in China the cases were.

Sanlu buys milk from a nationwide network of suppliers that includes 60,000 family farms, according to the company’s website.

It was China’s second high-profile case in four years involving harmful baby formula.

In 2004, more than 200 infants suffered malnutrition and at least 12 died after being fed phoney formula that contained no nutrients. Some 40 companies were found to be making phony formula and 47 people were arrested.