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Beijing Promises Better Food Standards As Crisis Spreads
Beijing (AFP) Oct 25, 2008 Premier Wen Jiabao pledged Saturday that China's food exports would meet international norms and win the trust of people globally, promising lessons would be learnt from the nation's milk scandal. Wen pledged Chinese food exports would "comply with the standards of importing countries," adding China would "seriously draw lessons" from the milk contamination scandal that led to the deaths of four babies. "We will use our actions and high quality of our food products to win the trust and confidence of Chinese people and people around the world," he told reporters at the end of a summit of Asian and European leaders in Beijing. Four babies died of kidney failure and at least 53,000 children fell ill this year after consuming milk powder and other dairy products in China contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine. Chinese dairy products around the world also were recalled or banned after they were found to be tainted, dealing another blow to the "Made in China" brand already tarnished by a string of safety scandals in recent years. Wen said China had made great efforts to improve its food safety system after the scandal erupted last month. "After the incident, we took prompt measures to work out regulations on product safety in the dairy industry," Wen said. He pointed to a new law on food safety that is currently before China's parliament as evidence the nation was seeking to improve its dairy industry. China's parliament on Thursday began debating the draft law, which aims to prevent any cover-ups by health authorities and make them directly responsible for approving additives in processed foods. Consumers began complaining about milk products in March of this year, but local health departments failed to respond until September, leading to accusations of a cover-up. The health ministry has not reported any new fatalities since last month, but has said that the four infant deaths so far linked to the milk scandal occurred between May and August, before the scandal was made public. More than 3,650 infants were still in hospital as a result of the contamination -- three of them in serious condition -- the government said on Thursday. Wen said Saturday that responsibility, and particularly legal liability, needed to be laid out in "every process and every link" of the food industry, "so as to ensure the health and safety of the general public." Authorities would, meanwhile, prosecute those found responsible for the incident. More than 40 people have so far been arrested in northern China -- the heart of the country's dairy industry -- for their alleged role in the scandal. Some have been accused of illegally adding melamine, normally used to make plastics, into watered-down milk to make it appear higher in protein, while others have been caught for allegedly selling the chemical. Wen reiterated that his government was partly to blame for the milk scandal, as it was responsible for regulating the industry at the heart of the crisis. "This is not only a problem of companies and enterprises, this is also a problem and task for the government, in particular in the field of regulation and management," he said.
Hong Kong steps up testing of China food imports after egg scare The city's Centre for Food Safety (CFS) will now test pork, farmed fish and offal products imported from China, government health secretary York Chow said, according to ATV news. Chow said the centre would step up its testing of eggs imported from the mainland to see if they contained traces of the industrial chemical, the report said. The CFS revealed Saturday that melamine had been found in a brand of eggs. The chemical is at the centre of a toxic milk scandal which has rocked China's dairy industry but this was the first example of eggs testing positive in Hong Kong. Four children have died and 53,000 fallen ill in China after drinking milk or milk products laced with melamine, which is usually used in making plastics. A total of 10 Hong Kong children have fallen ill with kidney stones after drinking melamine-tainted milk products. Some Chinese manufacturers had been using the chemical to make watered-down milk appear to have a higher protein content. An array of China-made foods and drinks have been removed from store shelves around the world since the contamination first came to light.
Thailand withdraws three more snacks in melamine scandal Chinese biscuits Hajuku and Koala and Julie's peanut crackers were found to contain more than the permitted limit of melamine. "All three products contained more melamine than FDA standards allow," Food and Drug Administration (FDA) secretary-general Pipat Yingseree said in a statement. The products join Julie's cream cheese biscuits and Mali condensed milk which were withdrawn from sale in Thailand earlier this month. China's prime minister said Saturday his country would ensure its food exports meet international standards in future, in the wake of the melamine scandal. "We will use our actions and high quality of our food products to win the trust and confidence of Chinese people and people around the world," Wen Jiabao told reporters in Beijing. Four babies died of kidney failure and at least 53,000 children fell ill after consuming melamine-tainted milk powder and other dairy products in China this year, according to official figures.
Kyrgyzstan finds melamine in flour from China: official "In the flour brought to Kyrgyzstan from China, according to preliminary data, melamine was found," Zholon Omkeyev, the head grain inspector in the Kyrgyz Agriculture Ministry, said in a press conference. The melamine was detected in a shipment of wheat delivered to Kyrgyzstan on September 30, and Kyrgyzstan has sent samples to a laboratory in Russia to confirm the presence of the chemical, Omkeyev said. China's milk scandal broke last month, when it emerged that melamine, normally used to make plastics and glues, had been added to baby milk formula and other dairy products to make them appear richer in protein. Some 53,000 children have fallen ill and four have died in China after consuming milk with melamine, which has also been found in Chinese food products exported to countries as Thailand, Italy and the Czech Republic. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
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China debates tighter food safety law spurred by milk scandal
Beijing (AFP) Oct 23, 2008China's parliament began debating a bill Thursday aimed at improving food safety, as the government said more than 3,600 babies made sick in the country's tainted milk scandal remained in hospital. |
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