Fonterra has been forced to publicly defend the quality of its products amid allegations that Chinese customer and infant formula maker Synutra, whom Fonterra supplies, has sold milk powder that has caused premature breast development in three girls. The New Zealand dairy giant yesterday confirmed it is a supplier to Synutra but said it “remains 100% confident about the quality of its products”. According to reports, parents and doctors in Hubei have voiced fears that milk powder produced... ...Read more »

An auction of the company at the centre of last year’s melamine dairy contamination has found a buyer, with Sanyuan buying Sanlu for 617 million yuan (A$145 million), China news agency Xinhua reported. Beijing-based dairy producer Sanyuan Group won the bidding for all valid assets and stake ownership of Sanlu Dairy Group, which was declared bankrupt last month by a Chinese court. The auction came after Tian Wenhua, the former Sanlu Chair, was jailed for life and fined $3.6 million for her role... ...Read more »

Sanlu, the company at the centre of the recent melamine scandal in China, has been declared bankrupt by a Chinese court. The Intermediate People’s Court of Shijiazhuang issued the bankruptcy order at the first meeting of Sanlu’s creditors yesterday. Sanlu Group debts had climbed above the value of their assets in the wake of the scandal, with the group forced to borrow 902 million yuan (A$201 million) to pay the medical fees of children made ill by its melamine tainted baby formula and... ...Read more »

The world’s biggest dairy exporter Fonterra, which owned 43 per cent of Sanlu Group – the company at the centre of China’s melamine scandal, has advised of their shock at the alarming findings of a Chinese court, which last week sent the former Chairwoman of Sanlu to prison for the remainder of her life while sentencing two others to death. Another who was involved in the deliberate contamination milk powder, which lead to the deaths of at least six infants and almost 300,000 illnesses,... ...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 »

Fonterra, which owns 43 per cent of Sanlu – the company at the centre of the melamine scandal in China, has denied reports it is looking to sell its stake, according to ABC Online. News reports have suggested the New Zealand dairy co-operative has been in talks to sell its share of the company in the wake of the scandal which has led to the death of four babies and the illness of about 54,000 infants. It has been considered a “criminal contamination”, with over 20 people arrested... ...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 »

Fonterra’s Chief Executive Andrew Ferrier has told media today that he has been “frustrated” with the handling of the contaminated milk issue by Chinese authorities. A baby milk formula produced by Sanlu, a company which NZ dairy giant Fonterra has a 43 per cent share in, has reportedly been responsible for two deaths and over 400 cases of illness amongst infants. The Sanlu Board and Fonterra were made aware of the contamination of the formula on August 2, when a trade recall was... ...Read more »