Chinese dairy Sanlu Group knew about the contamination of its milk powder for eight months before telling authorities, a state investigation has found.
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Four babies have died, some 13,000 have been hospitalised and thousands of others have received medical treatment after consuming milk formula contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine.
Though other brands have since been found to contain melamine, Sanlu is the country’s biggest formula producer and has been linked to most of the cases.
The firm first received complaints about babies falling ill after drinking its milk powder in December 2007, said a report from state media Xinhua, posted on the State Council’s website today (23 September). It then identified melamine in its products in June this year but waited until 2 August before alerting the local authorities.
“The leaders of Sanlu have committed crimes,” said the State Council, adding the scandal was a warning to the whole food industry.
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By GlobalDataThe government of Shijiazhuang, the city where Sanlu is based, is also guilty of delaying a recall of the milk formula, the Council claimed. After being alerted to the problem in August, it waited until 9 September before revealing details to the provincial government.
“They violated national rules for food safety emergencies,” said the Council.
The nationwide safety scare has now spread to other dairy products and around the world with Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Bangladesh, Gabon, Burundi and the Philippines all either banning Chinese dairy products or testing them for melamine.
The ministry of agriculture said today it would work with other departments to inspect and register milk collecting stations around China. It is thought that the melamine was added by milk collectors to pass off diluted milk as quality product. It also plans to enhance supervision of milk collectors and hygiene levels.
The ministry of commerce urged regional authorities to report quality and safety problems and said it would carry out strict inspections of all firms producing goods for export.
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, which owns 43% of Sanlu, has not commented on how the issue will affect its relationship with the Chinese firm. Sanlu’s manager has already been dismissed.
