Fresh questions have been raised about China’s food safety policy after it emerged that officials waited almost a year before going public with its latest probe into alleged melamine contamination in milk. According to local reports, Chinese officials waited 11 months before revealing that they were investigating another alleged case of melamine being used in milk production. Food safety authorities in Shanghai last week announced they had shut down the Shanghai Panda company after discovering... ...Read more »

Two men were executed in China yesterday for their involvement in China’s contaminated milk scandal that killed six babies and made 300,000 ill, according to reports. The men had been sentenced to death earlier this year by a court in the northern city of Shijiazhuang for producing and selling toxic ingredients that ended up in the infant milk powder. Milk producer Geng Jinping was convicted of producing and selling toxic food to dairy companies. Tian Wenhua, former chairman of the Sanlu Group,... ...Read more »

China’s fledgling and buoyant dairy industry was brought to its knees after last year’s melamine scandal but, slowly, there are signs growth is returning to the sector. Beijing has ordered China’s dairies to tighten up their supply chains and the country’s top processors are highlighting those moves to convince consumers their milk is safe. Mark Godfrey reports from Beijing. The marketing gloves are back off in China’s dairy industry. Almost a year on from the melamine... ...Read more »

Two men accused of contaminating China’s milk supply have been sentenced to death by a Chinese court, while the former Chairwoman of Sanlu – the company at the centre of the scandal – will spend the rest of her life behind bars. The criminal contamination of milk with the chemical melamine was discovered in September last year, sparking a spate of recalls around the world. In the aftermath it was discovered that around 294,000 infants had fallen ill as a result of consuming contaminated... ...Read more »

As a Chinese court prepares to sentence those responsible for the melamine milk contamination that rocked China, 213 families have gone to the highest court in search of compensation. The families believe a payout scheme created by the government is not adequate. The criminal contamination of milk powder last year was linked to the tragic deaths of six babies and 294,000 infant illnesses and sparked a spate of consumer level recalls on Chinese dairy products. It was caused by the adding of the chemical... ...Read more »

Confectionery giant Cadbury has withdrawn 11 products made in China, one of which – Chocolate Eclairs – is sold in Australia. Cadbury instigated a precautionary recall of Chocolate Eclairs from retailers shelves yesterday afternoon after preliminary tests revealed melamine, the chemical at the centre of the milk scandal, may be in the product. The company added that Pascal Eclairs, which are made in Australia, were not affected by the recall. The amount of melamine found is not yet known,... ...Read more »

In the wake of the Chinese milk scandal, which has led to the deaths of four babies and made of 54,000 infants ill, international food safety and health authorities are working together to determine the level of melamine in food that will present negligible risks to public health. “Since the identification of the problems in China, food safety authorities all around the world have been working to identify public health threshold levels for melamine,” Dr Geoff Allen, NZFSA (New Zealand... ...Read more »

Following the contamination of Chinese milk products with the chemical melamine, China has removed over 7,000 tonnes of dairy products (primarily powdered and liquid milk) from retail outlets and food standards bodies around the world are testing Chinese milk-based imports and issuing precautionary product recalls. Australian food safety authority FSANZ yesterday instigated a recall of White Rabbit candies after White Rabbit candies in New Zealand and Singapore were found to contain high levels... ...Read more »

The number of infants sickened by tainted milk products has swelled to 53,000 according to the latest reports from the Chinese Government, with China’s Chief Quality Supervisor, Li Changjiang, stepping down in the wake of the scandal. Li is the highest ranking official brought down so far by the dairy product contamination scandal, according to the official news agency of the Chinese Government (Xinhua). Wu Xianguo, the Communist Party chief of Shijiazhuang City – where Sanlu Group, the... ...Read more »