Chinese milk firm 'knew of contamination six weeks ago'

A Chinese milk company knew their product was contaminated with a dangerous chemical six weeks ago, but did nothing to remove it from shop shelves according to a major shareholder.

The firm, Sanlu Group Co, China’s biggest milk powder producer, continued selling the milk powder after being warned it contained high levels of melamine, a chemical used in plastics that is banned in food products.

At least 432 Chinese babies who were fed Sanlu milk are suffering from kidney stones. One baby reportedly died.

A New Zealand dairy farmers’ group that owns 43% of Sanlu Group said today it had urged the company to recall the product as early as six weeks ago.

Fonterra Co-operative Group said it had urged the Sanlu Group board to call for a full recall of the milk powder on August 2, the day the board was notified - nearly six weeks before the recall action was taken.

A Fonterra spokesman in New Zealand said its three directors on the Sanlu board had been pressing the board to take action since the contamination was first identified.

Sanlu finally ordered a recall on Thursday.

Calls to Sanlu’s head office in Shijiazhuang, a city south-west of Beijing, rang unanswered today.

Chinese officials have defended their response to China’s latest product safety disaster, saying that authorities have detained 19 people and are questioning 78 others about how the banned chemical was added to milk.

The government is sending groups of officials to Hebei, Guangdong and Heilongjiang provinces and the Inner Mongolia region to inspect dairy companies, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said.

The teams will also work with local officials in removing all substandard milk powder from the market, it said in a statement on its website.

China’s health minister blamed Sanlu Group for delays in warning the public about its contaminated product.

Chinese officials said they were not alerted until Monday, even though Sanlu received complaints as early as March and company tests in August found the milk powder contained melamine.

“The Sanlu Group should shoulder major responsibility for this,” Health Minister Gao Qiang said yesterday. He gave no indication of what penalties the Chinese dairy might face but said those responsible would “be dealt with severely”.

The incident was an embarrassing failure for China’s product safety system, which was overhauled in an attempt to restore consumer confidence after a string of recalls and warnings abroad over tainted toothpaste, faulty tires and other goods.

The milk scandal is especially damaging because it involves a major Chinese food company and the government expects such companies to act as industry role models for safety and quality.

Chinese investigators were looking into how and why the melamine was added to milk.

Mr Gao said it might have been done to fool quality tests after water was added to fraudulently increase the milk’s volume. Melamine is rich in nitrogen, and standard tests for protein in food ingredients measure nitrogen levels.

The officials said some tainted powder was exported to Taiwan but none was sent to other foreign markets.

Investigators are probing whether word of the contamination was suppressed, said Vice Governor Yang Chongyong of Hebei province, where Sanlu Group is located.

“We will look into whether government at any level was negligent or whether any officials tried to withhold information,” Mr Yang said. “If we find anyone did this, they will be held accountable.”

Shoddy and fake goods are common in China, and infants, hospital patients and others have been killed or injured by tainted or fake milk, medicines, alcohol and other products.