Baby milk by Wyeth given the all clear

By Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-27 08:59

Powdered milk products made by US firm Wyeth are safe, China's food safety agency said Thursday.

Despite complaints from about 20 families that their children had developed kidney stones after drinking milk made by Wyeth, its products do not exceed the approved standard for melamine content, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said in a statement.

Xi Qing, director of public relations for Wyeth China, said yesterday that the company welcomed the AQSIQ's announcement.

"We are glad they looked closely at our products before drawing a conclusion," he said.

Chinese standards state that baby milk formulas must contain no more than 1 mg of melamine per kilogram of product, while other dairy goods, including milk, should contain no more than 2.5 mg per kilogram.

Months after the Sanlu milk scandal, in which thousands of infants contracted kidney stones, experts and the public continue to puzzle over why so many youngsters, even those fed only "safe" milk, have been hit by the ailment.

Some health experts have said the condition could be more to do with families' lifestyles than contaminated milk products.

Wyeth is the second foreign firm to face charges of excessive amounts of melamine in its products, after Dumex, a unit of French food company Danone.

Two people have been sentenced to death for their roles in the melamine-laced milk, while the ex-chairwoman of Sanlu Group, which was at the heart of the scandal, was jailed for life.

More than 300 children were still in the hospital at the end of December, according to the Ministry of Health.