China clears Danone, milk products of melamine
Filed under: Banned Foods, China Product Safety, Dangerous Foods, Is it Safe?, Melamine, china
China clears Danone, milk products of melamine
By AUDRA ANG – 12 hours ago
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese quality investigators have found that milk products from a unit of France’s Groupe Danone SA are melamine-free, and also said an unapproved additive used by one of China’s largest dairies is safe but was used illegally.
The separate investigations into the products of Danone’s Dumex Baby Food Co. Ltd. and Mengniu Dairy Group Co. underscore the government’s chronic problems with policing product quality. Melamine-contaminated milk was linked to the deaths of at least six Chinese babies and illnesses of nearly 300,000 others last year.
In a statement released over the weekend, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision said it had tested 932 batches dairy products produced by the Dumex subsidiary since mid-September “and all are melamine-free.”
It also said no melamine, an industrial chemical used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizer, was found in more than 1,700 batches produced before mid-September, when the dairy scandal broke.
“Our valued consumers can continue to use our product with confidence,” Dumex said in a statement. “Now more than ever, we remain committed to providing products of the highest quality to our loyal consumers.”
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said a panel of experts had reviewed OMP, a milk protein added by Mengniu to its premium Telunsu line and declared that "consumption ... is not hazardous to health."
However, the ministry said that OMP is not a government-approved additive and Mengniu "promoted its function in an exaggerated manner."
"Law enforcement and inspection departments will further deal with the illegal actions of Mengniu," the ministry said, without giving any details.
It said the company had stopped using OMP and was in the process of getting official approval.
Telephones were not answered at Mengniu's media department on Monday.
Last year's milk scandal, over nitrogen-rich melamine that was added to milk to fool protein tests, was China's worst food contamination crisis. It also exposed loose controls over large companies like Mengniu and Yili Industrial Group Co., whose products were recalled.
Both companies had been exempt from government inspections under waivers given to companies deemed to have proper quality controls, which have since been scrapped.
EU, China sign safety agreement -more protection for consumers
EU, China sign safety agreement
17.11.2008
China and the EU have agreed to beef up safety measures in response to a wave of large-scale safety scares relating to Chinese products.
The centrepiece of the plan, signed today by Meglena Kuneva, the European commissioner for consumer affairs, and Wei Chuanzhong, a deputy minister responsible for product safety, are measures designed to make it easier to trace dangerous food and consumer products.
Some 50% of all products withdrawn from the EU market for safety reasons are of Chinese origin, and Chinese authorities are unable to trace the manufacturer of just under half of these dangerous goods, the European Commission said. Those figures indicate that the problems extend beyond the range of Chinese products – toys, pet food and toothpaste – pulled from European shelves in the “summer of recalls” in 2007. However, there is particular concern about toys, as around 85% of toys on the EU market are made in China. Since 2007, the Chinese authorities have stepped up safety measures, auditing exporters and, as a result, revoking the export licences of 701 companies. However, Kuneva said “it is clear we must do more”. The signing of the memorandum of understanding today signals that intention “at the highest political level”, she said, stressing that “we are strongly in favour of open and competitive markets, with all the benefits in terms of price and choice they bring for the consumer, but never at the expense of safety”. Under the agreement, China will be obliged to inform the Commission and the US authorities four times a year of its plans to improve its systems that trace dangerous goods back to the manufacturer. The Commission and China – together with US authorities – will also meet in 2009 to take stock of the progress made and set new political priorities to improve product safety, Kuneva said. There is no indication that these will become annual meetings. In another step agreed today, the Commission will allow the Chinese authorities immediate access to information contained in the Commission's Rapid Alert System for Feed and Food (RASFF) database on dangerous Chinese food products found in Europe. The intention is to make it easier for Chinese authorities to trace the source of contaminated products. Today's agreement has been given added urgency by the scandal of milk tainted with melamine, which officially left nearly 13,000 Chinese infants ill. Unofficial figures suggest the number was substantially higher. There are no known cases of melamine contamination affecting people in Europe, but traces of the plastic resin have been found in some products, including White Rabbit candy sold in the UK. In Slovakia, three to four times the legal limit of melamine was found in chocolate biscuits and snacks that had yet to be commercialised. In addition, in mid-October the Italian authorities seized one tonne of smuggled Chinese milk powder suspected to have been contaminated. Overall, figures from the Commission's Rapid Alert System for dangerous consumer products (RAPEX) – a classification that does not include food items – indicate that fewer products withdrawn from the market are now of untraceable origin. In 2006, the figure was 17%; in 2007, it fell to 10%. The day also produced a consensus, though no formal agreement between the Commission, China and the US, that there should be an international “convergence” of safety standards for products such as toys and electrical appliances, a view that chimes with a recent call from the European Parliament for strict international standards on product safety. Speaking at a safety conference held in Brussels today, Nancy Nord, the chairwoman of the US consumer-product safety commission, said that the need to meet many different standards in international markets posed a significant “challenge” for exporting countries such as China. Singapore finds melamine in White Rabbit candies; Chinese dairy products now banned across Asia and Africa Melamine found in white rabbit candies
Converging safety standards
Melamine in White Rabbit Candy
Looks like our earlier warning to not eat or drink anything with dairy content for the time being bears repeating. Singapore has now found traces of melamine in White Rabbit candies, wildly popular throughout Asia. The Straits Times reports:
Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said samples of White Rabbit-brand Creamy Candy imported from China were contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical that can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure.
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Authorities on Friday suspended the sale and import of all Chinese milk and dairy products after finding melamine in samples of a Yili-brand yogurt bar and Dutch Lady-brand strawberry milk manufactured in China. The ban includes milk, ice cream, yogurt, chocolate, biscuits and candy, as well as any other products containing milk from China as an ingredient.
'Retailers and importers have been instructed to recall these products and withhold them from sale,' the AVA said in a statement.
'Consumers who have bought the affected products are advised not to consume them.'
This would be the second time in the short history of this blog that the quality of White Rabbit candies has been called into question. In July 2007, we reported that traces of the cancer-causing agent formaldehyde were found in the candies which are produced in Shanghai by the Guan Sheng Yuan Group.
Meanwhile, the melamine scandal continues to widen around the region:
* Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety has found traces of melamine in Nestle Dairy Farm Pure Milk. And in the first reported case outside of the mainland, a three-and-a-half-year-old Hong Kong toddler has been diagnosed with kidney stones after being fed with Yili milk daily for the past 15 months.
* Public health officials in Taiwan have announced their findings of melamine-tainted instant coffee, milk tea and chicken-and-corn soup. The import of all such products into Taiwan has been banned with immediate effect, including instant coffee made by the popular Taiwan brand Mr Brown in China.
* In Japan, Marudai Food Co. issued a voluntary recall of five China-made products, saying they may contain the toxin melamine
* China ally Myanmar has announced it would "seize and destroy imported Chinese baby formula to safeguard against poisoning by the toxic chemical melamine".
* Brunei has ordered a blanket ban on all China-made milk products and dairy items.
* Malaysia has imposed a "level six import ban" on all Chinese dairy products.
* Bangladesh has also started on a crackdown and ban on three brands of Chinese-made milk powder.
* In Africa, Tanzania and Gabon were the first to impose bans on Chinese dairy products and Burundi has just joined them in the ban.
By Kenneth Tan in News
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