Sick cows sold by dairy giant culled in Xi’an
Print Edition
COWS sold by dairy giant Modern Farming Group Co Ltd were culled in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province yesterday after being found to be infected with bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis.
Officials are now investigating how the animals came to be infected and approved for transportation.
Modern Farming Group said yesterday that it has offered documents and information to authorities to aid the investigation.
A total of 42 cows were slaughtered and their carcasses treated and buried deeply underground, thepaper.cn reported.
Both diseases can be transmitted to humans through unpasteurized dairy products.
Modern Farming provides raw milk and cows to other companies and sells dairy produce under its own brand. Food safety officials said there has been no notification to remove any products from the shelves.
The animals were bought by Benben Farming in Shaanxi’s capital Xi’an, from Baoji Modern Farming, a subsidiary of Modern Farming Group, for 1.5 million yuan (US$244,838). Benben slaughters and processes livestock and relative products.
An official with Benben claimed that the contract stated that all the cows had passed quarantine inspections. But when Benben staff went to collect the animals in Baoji City in Shaanxi, on October 20, the official said they were asked to go to nearby Fufeng County to get the certificates.
A driver claimed that a veterinary station in Duanjia Town, Fufeng County, provided quarantine certificates without checking the cows. However, within an hour of the cattle arriving at Benben’s premises in Xi’an, more than 100 officials from the food and drug administration reached the farm.
Following blood tests, the next day the Baqiao Animal Healthy Inspection Institute in Xi’an banned Benben from moving or selling the animals. Tests by the Xi’an Animal Disease Control and Prevention Center found five of the cows had tuberculosis and 37 had brucellosis, it reported. Both are categorized as a Class B infectious disease in China.
Luo Xinzheng, deputy director of Baqiao Agricultural and Forestry Bureau, said they are investigating how these cows became infected.
It was reported that the director of the sales with Baoji Modern Farming, a legal representative of Benben, a director of the Duanjia Town veterinary station, and a veterinarian have been detained by police.
Officials with supermarket chains Carrefour and Walmart said they had not been asked to remove any Modern Farming products from their shelves.
Gu Zhenhua, spokesman of Shanghai Food Safety Office, said the local authority is closely following the situation.
“So far, we have not received information from the state and Shaanxi FDA about the cows and relevant dairy products.”
He added that the two diseases are not uncommon among cattle and Shanghai is strict on inspection on local farms.
Modern Farming is a group member and partly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed China Modern Dairy Holdings Ltd.
It claims to be the largest dairy farming company in terms of herd size as well as the largest raw milk producer in China.
In May last year, Hong Kong-listed Mengniu, China’s largest dairy firm, paid HK$3.18 billion (US$410.22 million) to increase its stake in Modern Dairy to nearly 28 percent.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
