Low dairy standards 'a risk to health'
By Zhang Xuanchen |
June 18, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S dairy industry has the lowest quality standards in the world and that's posing health risks for consumers, an expert said yesterday.
The current maximum safety limit for bacteria in raw milk, for example, or the Standard Plate Count, is set at 2 million cells per milliliter in China, while it is 100,000 cells in the European Union and the United States, China Business News reported yesterday.
Wang Dingmian, director of the Guangdong Provincial Dairy Association, called the standard "a shame on the whole industry," adding that it was determined by large dairy companies and government officials without regard to academic opinion, the newspaper said.
Wei Ronglu, an official with the Dairy Association of Western China, told the newspaper that the safety limit was far below that proposed by industry experts. "Experts had no say in making the rules," said Wei, who took part in formulating the National Dairy Standard on four occasions.
In addition, Wei said, the lack of restrictions governing the processing of dairy products had given rise to the abuse of additives.
Last year, the Ministry of Health increased its baseline of bacteria count in raw milk from 500,000 to the current 2 million cells per milliliter, and lowered the minimum standard of protein content from 2.95 to 2.8 percent.
This sparked controversy, according to an earlier report in the Guangdong-based Time Weekly.
Some experts said the lower standards would damage product quality and nutrition, setting back the progress of China's dairy industry.
The weekly quoted an expert as saying most of those setting the standards were representatives of dairy firms.
In response, the authorities said they set a loose standard for fear that a stricter one would squeeze small and medium-sized dairies out of business.
Nearly 70 percent of China's raw milk providers are grass-root farmers who can't afford the high cost of adhering to stricter standards, said an expert in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Nearly half of China's 1,176 dairies were ordered to cease production after failing to obtain new licenses required by the country's quality inspection agency in April.
In a village in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, farmers had to dump 750 kilograms of milk produced by 120 cows into the river every day as their buyer didn't want it anymore.
The buyer, surnamed Wang, said the dairy company refused to purchase the milk because it didn't meet quality standards, yesterday's National Business Daily reported.
The requirement that every dairy producer has to apply for new license was issued last November, as the country bid to shore up a milk industry badly affected by the baby milk health scandal in 2008.
The current maximum safety limit for bacteria in raw milk, for example, or the Standard Plate Count, is set at 2 million cells per milliliter in China, while it is 100,000 cells in the European Union and the United States, China Business News reported yesterday.
Wang Dingmian, director of the Guangdong Provincial Dairy Association, called the standard "a shame on the whole industry," adding that it was determined by large dairy companies and government officials without regard to academic opinion, the newspaper said.
Wei Ronglu, an official with the Dairy Association of Western China, told the newspaper that the safety limit was far below that proposed by industry experts. "Experts had no say in making the rules," said Wei, who took part in formulating the National Dairy Standard on four occasions.
In addition, Wei said, the lack of restrictions governing the processing of dairy products had given rise to the abuse of additives.
Last year, the Ministry of Health increased its baseline of bacteria count in raw milk from 500,000 to the current 2 million cells per milliliter, and lowered the minimum standard of protein content from 2.95 to 2.8 percent.
This sparked controversy, according to an earlier report in the Guangdong-based Time Weekly.
Some experts said the lower standards would damage product quality and nutrition, setting back the progress of China's dairy industry.
The weekly quoted an expert as saying most of those setting the standards were representatives of dairy firms.
In response, the authorities said they set a loose standard for fear that a stricter one would squeeze small and medium-sized dairies out of business.
Nearly 70 percent of China's raw milk providers are grass-root farmers who can't afford the high cost of adhering to stricter standards, said an expert in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Nearly half of China's 1,176 dairies were ordered to cease production after failing to obtain new licenses required by the country's quality inspection agency in April.
In a village in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, farmers had to dump 750 kilograms of milk produced by 120 cows into the river every day as their buyer didn't want it anymore.
The buyer, surnamed Wang, said the dairy company refused to purchase the milk because it didn't meet quality standards, yesterday's National Business Daily reported.
The requirement that every dairy producer has to apply for new license was issued last November, as the country bid to shore up a milk industry badly affected by the baby milk health scandal in 2008.
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