Authorities search for fake infant formula
Print Edition
AUTHORITIES are searching for thousands of cans of fake infant formula — Beingmate and Similac brands — that have entered the market, following the arrest of nine people in connection with the production and sale of the product.
The suspects, including the alleged ringleader, surnamed Chen, have been charged with making and selling fake products, China’s food safety commission said. Another suspect is still being hunted by police.
The network emerged last September after Shanghai police learned from a tipster that fake Similac was being made and sold. In raids carried out in December 2015 and January 2016, police seized more than 1,000 cans of fake Similac, 20,000 empty cans and 65,000 fake Similac trademarks.
Testing found that the fake Similac products met national safety standards, the commission said.
From August 2014 to May 2015, the group bought Similac infant formula at stores for 30 yuan (US$4.64) for a 405-gram carton. Cheap formula was mixed in to give it extra weight and it was repacked into 1,000-gram cans displaying fake trademarks that were resold for 140 yuan, said Yan Zuqiang, deputy director of the Shanghai food safety office.
The wholesaler, surnamed Du, sold the products to vendors in Henan and Anhui provinces for more than 1.6 million yuan, Yan said.
From April to September 2015, the suspects operated in Guangdong Province, where they continued to fabricate Similac trademarks. But this time they cut their costs by packing the cans with New Zealand brands Vitacare and Karicare, and the domestic brands Herds and Yaolan. They were sold for 70 to 80 yuan each, Yan said.
It was found that the group had repacked 11,600 900-gram cans in Shandong and Hunan provinces. Du sold the fake products in Anhui, Henan, Jiangsu and Hubei provinces for more than 1.9 million yuan, Yan added.
According to the commission, three vendors in Hubei, Jiangsu and Anhui voluntarily destroyed 3,300 cans after becoming suspicious of the powder, while Shanghai police have confiscated another 5,000 cans. There are still 3,300 cans of fake Similac powder left unaccounted for, and another vendor in Anhui confessed that 3,600 cans of fake Beingmate brand had been sold.
The latest scandal is a fresh blow to sensitive Chinese consumers, whose trust in baby formula products was eroded by a 2008 case in which six infants died after consuming formula containing melamine, a synthetic polymer commonly used to make items such as eating utensils, bowls and flooring.
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