17 Harmful additives banned

Chinese health  ministry bans 17 harmful substances in food

BEIJING – China has published a list of 17 acids, chemicals and other substances that have been banned as food additives, amid a four-month safety campaign following a scandal over tainted milk.



A Chinese customer browses through various instant noodles at a supermarket in Zhengzhou, Dec. 16. China has banned 17 substances as food additives as part of a four-month safety campaign launched following a scandal over tainted milk. – AFP

Illegal items posted on the Chinese health ministry’s list include boric acid, a chemical used as an insecticide or flame retardant that is known to be added to noodles or the skin of dumplings to increase their elasticity.

Formaldehyde, applied to dried seafood to improve its appearance, but also commonly used as a disinfectant, was another dangerous substance on the banned list, published on the ministry’s Web site late on Monday.

Some of the substances, such as the carcinogenic dye Sudan Red 1, had already been banned by the government, but this was the first official compilation of illegal food additives in China.

In a related story, Chinese police are investigating 27 cases of melamine-laced animal feed, state media said Monday, three months after the industrial chemical was detected in milk, triggering a worldwide food scandal.

The Ministry of Agriculture examined 22,700 batches of feed throughout the country, and found 545, or 2.4%, were found to contain excessive melamine, the official China Daily reported.

Twenty-seven cases had been transferred to police for further investigation, the report said, citing Wang Xiaohong, a top official at the ministry’s National Feed Office.

The government said this month at least six children may have died in China after drinking milk laced with melamine, a chemical normally used to make plastic, and a further 294,000 suffered kidney-related problems.

The scandal, which came to light in September, caused international concern and led to recalls and bans of Chinese-made dairy products around the world.

The melamine was mixed into watered-down milk so dairy products would have the appearance of higher protein content.

The scandal widened when eggs sent from the mainland to Hong Kong were also discovered to contain melamine in October, with the chemical similarly added to chicken feed to give it the appearance of more protein.

China is the largest feed and feed additive exporter after the US, with output estimated to be 131 million tonnes this year, according to the China Daily.

This prompted authorities to launch a four-month food safety drive at the beginning of December to try to restore confidence in the “Made-in-China” brand.

The government said when it announced the campaign that it would start out softly, with companies urged to correct their own shortcomings. But officials would soon begin raiding food producers deemed high-risk and carry out random checks, it warned.

Banned food additives

The list of banned food additives on Monday also included sodium thiocyanate, used in the manufacture of textiles, and added to milk and dairy products to keep them fresh.

Anthony Hazzard, a regional adviser for food safety in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Western Pacific office, said the list could prove useful in reducing the illegal use of such chemicals, by raising awareness.

But he told AFP it was more efficient to have a list of additives that could be used in food rather than an unending list of ones that could not.

As part of the crackdown, the health ministry also published on Monday the names of additives that could easily be abused when added to food products.

It mentioned leavening agents as one such substance, used to make cakes and dough sticks, which could leave excessive aluminium residues if added in excessive quantities.

But the ministry warned the lists were not exhaustive.