A senior Chinese agriculture official pledged to crack down on the nation’s unsupervised milk-gathering system, which he conceded was “out of control” and had led to abuses.
The government has been scrambling for days to show it is tackling the problem after tainted baby formula sickened nearly 53,000 Chinese infants and killed four. Recent days have seen a number of arrests and forced resignations of officials, while state media reported on Monday night that the company at the center of the scandal was aware of a problem as early as last December.
Yesterday the WHO also warned of possible smuggling of the tainted infant formula across borders.
Chinese Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai (孫政才) told a meeting with the health and public security ministries that the industrial chemical melamine was likely added to milk at stations that collect milk from individual dairy farmers.
“Since milk stations began only in recent years, the country now has no specific method of supervising them, or clear-cut supervision department. The purchasing process of raw milk is basically out of control,” Sun said, according to a summary of his comments posted yesterday on his ministry’s Web site.
“We must crack down on them with the greatest determination and the toughest measures,” Sun said in the meeting held late on Monday.
Melamine, used to make plastics and fertilizer, has been found in infant formula and other products from 22 Chinese dairy companies.
Sanlu Group Co had no comment yesterday about reports on China Central Television (CCTV) that the company had received complaints about its infant formula last December.
A man who answered the telephone in the company president’s office referred all questions to the media department. There, a temporary worker promised to respond after informing her superiors but declined to give her name.
CCTV said that an investigation by the State Council had found that after receiving complaints for several months, Sanlu discovered melamine in its milk powder in June, but did not report it to city officials until Aug. 2, just days before the Olympic Games.
“During these eight months, the company did not inform the government and did not take proper measures, therefore making the situation worse,” CCTV said.
The Shijiazhuang City Government then failed to report the case to Hebei provincial authorities until Sept. 9, CCTV said. Sanlu products were recalled from stores two days later and Shijiazhuang’s top communist party official was fired.
Anthony Hazzard, the Western Pacific director of the WHO, said yesterday that 82 percent of the children made sick by the formula were aged two or younger.
Hazzard said countries had been advised to focus particularly on smuggled formula by the International Food Safety Authorities, a network of 167 countries organized by the WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization.
He said authorities did not know at this stage what countries may have received contaminated products.
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