Economy
Tainted milk passed safety test
By Ma Lie in Xi'an and Wang Yan in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-10 07:03
 |
Large Medium Small |
Food quality watchdog gave green light to poisoned product
Food quality supervisors in Shaanxi province are under fire after they declared that a recently seized batch of melamine-tainted milk products was safe.
An executive from Zhenmei Company, in Guangdong province, which purchased 3 tons of tainted milk powder last October from the Lekang Company in Shaanxi, said the product had been declared safe by quality inspectors.
However, the powder was found to contain the industrial chemical melamine during an investigation that began last Monday.
The managing assistant from Zhenmei Company surnamed Liu told China Daily yesterday that the quality report was issued by the local quality supervision and inspection bureau in the city of Weinan, Shaanxi province.
"Yes, we did provide a quality report of the milk powder produced by Weinan Lekang Milk Company, but the report was a commissioned test report, instead of a random sample test report," said Zhang Hongsen, director of the food management section under Weinan quality supervision bureau.
The development came as Vice Premier Li Keqiang said a new food safety campaign would be launched this year, mainly targeting illegal food additives, unsafe agricultural products, illegal slaughtering of livestock and risky food.
Addressing the State Council Food Safety Commission, which held its first plenary meeting yesterday in Beijing, Li asked for a thorough investigation and severe punishment for companies or individuals found to have broken the country's food safety laws.
Meanwhile, Zhang said the bureau's product quality supervision and inspection institute received the milk product sample from Lekang Company and provided a "commissioned test report" after it was examined on Sept 30, 2009.
According to Zhang, the commissioning party that sent the sample should be responsible for the sample being representative of the product.
"In accordance with the regulations issued by the national and provincial departments concerned, the quality supervision organ is responsible for the test data and result on the sample sent by the commissioning party, while the commissioning party is responsible for the sample being representative," Zhang said.
The quality official said it is possible the company had received a qualified test result on the sample and then used the test report to sell its melamine-tainted milk powder.
However, Dong Jinshi, a food safety expert and vice president of the International Food Packaging Association, said the issue reveals flaws in the food safety inspection system.
"A qualified test result from the quality test doesn't equal qualified products," he said.
The Weinan quality supervision bureau received a report on Jan 6 from Fujian province that milk-based candies made by a local company were tainted with melamine and the milk powder had been bought from Lekang Company, said Zhang.
"We soon reported the case to local government and seized 4.5 tons of milk powder from the company on Jan 6. Then on Jan 7, Zhang Wenxue, general manager of Lekang Company, confessed that his company made the milk-tainted milk that was sold to Guangdong province," he said.
A police investigation found Lekang Company bought 10 tons of expired milk powder in September and October in 2009 from Ma Shuanglin, a farmer in Weinan, and then mixed the powder to produce 32.5 tons of melamine-tainted milk powder, of which 28 tons were later sold to a firm in Guangdong province.
Police said one of the Guangdong firms sold 25 tons of the melamine-tainted milk to a food company in Fujian province, which used 10.4 tons to produce milk-based candies.
Police arrested Ma Shuanglin, Zhang Wenxue and another manager of Lekang Company on Feb 2, and further investigations are taking place.
(China Daily 02/10/2010 page5)
