New rules to ensure safe formula for infants
By Xu Chi |
March 5, 2013, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA is working on new regulations to ensure the safety of infant formula, with stricter supervision of the entire chain from production to circulation, an industry official said yesterday.
Zhou Bohua, director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, told Xinhua news agency that the stricter measures would counter improper practices by breeders, milk powder producers and salespeople, ensuring people's access to safe milk powder products.
He admitted that a lack of administration and supervision in the dairy industry was to blame for past food safety scandals, Xinhua reported.
In the 2008 baby formula scandal, six babies died and about 3,000 were sickened after consuming melamine-tainted milk powder products.
The topic of infant formula hit the headlines again recently when Hong Kong imposed a limit on the amount of baby formula people could take through customs. It was also a much discussed topic among members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference yesterday.
Macau limits
Exceeding the limit of milk powder for infants under the age of three years - two cans, or 1.8 kilograms - could result in fines of up to HK$500,000 (US$64,500) and even jail terms of up to two years.
On Sunday, it was reported that 45 people had been detained in Hong Kong for trying to take a total of 178 cans of baby formula and 1.2 kilograms of loose milk powder through customs. The detainees were 26 Hong Kong residents and 19 people from the mainland.
Political advisers from Macau told reporters yesterday that the special administrative region might impose its own limits on milk powder if there was a shortage of baby formula in the city.
They said residents have expressed worries that people might now travel to Macau for formula instead of Hong Kong.
An official told a press conference in Beijing that 99 percent of formula produced on the mainland was safe.
Zhou Bohua, director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, told Xinhua news agency that the stricter measures would counter improper practices by breeders, milk powder producers and salespeople, ensuring people's access to safe milk powder products.
He admitted that a lack of administration and supervision in the dairy industry was to blame for past food safety scandals, Xinhua reported.
In the 2008 baby formula scandal, six babies died and about 3,000 were sickened after consuming melamine-tainted milk powder products.
The topic of infant formula hit the headlines again recently when Hong Kong imposed a limit on the amount of baby formula people could take through customs. It was also a much discussed topic among members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference yesterday.
Macau limits
Exceeding the limit of milk powder for infants under the age of three years - two cans, or 1.8 kilograms - could result in fines of up to HK$500,000 (US$64,500) and even jail terms of up to two years.
On Sunday, it was reported that 45 people had been detained in Hong Kong for trying to take a total of 178 cans of baby formula and 1.2 kilograms of loose milk powder through customs. The detainees were 26 Hong Kong residents and 19 people from the mainland.
Political advisers from Macau told reporters yesterday that the special administrative region might impose its own limits on milk powder if there was a shortage of baby formula in the city.
They said residents have expressed worries that people might now travel to Macau for formula instead of Hong Kong.
An official told a press conference in Beijing that 99 percent of formula produced on the mainland was safe.
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