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China to publicize results of nationwide milk powder inspection

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-15 10:11

Chinese quality watchdog would publicize the results of a nationwide inspection on baby milk powder in two days, said a senior quarantine official on Sunday.

Li Changjiang, head of the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said more than 150 state-level inspection centers were working round the clock to test samples from all around the country.

During his tour to Hebei provincial inspection center, Li required inspectors to carry out tests seriously and carefully to reach a scientific, accurate and authoritative report. He said the AQSIQ would organize inspections on other kinds of dairy products following the baby milk powder tests.

He urged inspectors to examine every potentially problematic points in the production process and find out the problematic source so as to prevent any contamination.

On Sunday, Li led an inspection group to the Hebei provincial quality inspection center and the laboratory of Hebei entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau. Other teams of officials were heading for Guangdong, and Heilongjiang provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to inspect local diary product companies.

On Saturday evening the State Administration for Industry and Commerce ordered that all the Sanlu brand baby milk powder manufactured before August 6 should be immediately removed from sale as it had caused kidney stones of at least 432 babies nationwide.

The Sanlu Group, a leading Chinese dairy producer based in northern Hebei province, admitted Friday that it had found some of its baby milk powder products were contaminated with melamine, a chemical raw material. It issued an immediate recall of milk formula made before August 6.

The provincial government has ordered a halt of production of the Sanlu Group. Meanwhile, it has ordered local police to try their best to work on the case. Local hospitals were also ready to deal with a possible surge of baby patients.

Hebei provincial Party secretary Zhang Yunchuan said on Saturday night that the company should make proper arrangements for workers to make sure they would have basic living allowances after the halt of production.

In other parts of the country, local authorities also made urgent arrangements. The quality inspection and quarantine bureau of Southwestern Yunnan Province canceled the three-day holidays of the Mid-Autumn Festival and organized a special inspection on local baby milk powder producers.

In northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a major dairy production base in China, local food safety authorities issued an alert on Saturday, calling for relevant government agencies including health, commerce, quality control, agricultural and husbandry offices to take part in a synchronized campaign targeting baby milk powder.

In the northern ancient city of Xi'an, local commerce bureau had seized suspicious milk powder weighing up to 350 kilograms by Saturday. While in the southernmost Hainan province, three babies, who were confirmed to have developed kidney stones from drinking Sanlu milk powder, had been hospitalized.