China Investigates Tainted Baby Formula

HONG KONG — China’s Health Ministry announced on Friday a nationwide inquiry into the safety of all infant formulas, as a team of investigators from six government agencies descended on the milk powder factory that produced formula now linked to one baby’s death and kidney problems in at least 50 more.

The producer of the suspect formula, the Sanlu Group, recalled 700 tons of its formula after determining on Thursday that it had been contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical.

The official Xinhua news agency cited Zhao Xinchao, the vice mayor of Shijiazhuang, in Hebei Province, where Sanlu is based, as saying that the police have already questioned 78 people, including dairy farmers and milk dealers. The police suspect that some of them may have diluted milk with water so as to increase the total volume for sale to Sanlu, and then added melamine to disguise the dilution, Mr. Zhao told the news agency.

A common industrial test for the protein content of dairy products or animal feed gives an inaccurately high reading if melamine is present.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration said that no infant formula from China has been approved for import. But the F.D.A. advised consumers to be cautious since limited quantities might have found their way into some ethnic grocery stores.

The police suspicion in China that dairy farmers used melamine could also force a broader examination of foods imported from China that contain milk. The discovery of contaminated infant formula in China is a setback for the country’s efforts to reassure its own citizenry and overseas buyers that the “made in China” label is trustworthy after a series of episodes involving everything from toxic toy beads to poisonous cough syrup.

Source: The New York Times