| China Commercial Ministry Spokesperson’s Remarks on Some Countries' Restrictions to Chinese Export Milk and Diary Products |
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| Friday,October 10,2008 Posted: 20:36 BJT(36 GMT) lb |
The Sanlu powder milk incident captured strong attention from the Chinese government, which reacted by activating a nationwide Class-I response to serious food safety hazards. Competent domestic authorities have also taken a number of coordinated measures. The general picture of domestic-produced milk and dairy products is now turning for the better.
On September 22nd, 109 milk and dairy producers plus 207 distributors jointly signed up to a Declaration of Quality and Integrity by Chinese Dairy Producers and Distributors, who made, in the published Declaration, the commitments to protect consumer safety and the interests of dairy farmers, to foster a healthy dairy industry and to rebuild a safety assurance system for dairy products.
During the National Day holiday, the AQSIQ sampled 128 batches of baby formula powder produced by 31 leading domestic brands and no melamine was detected. The sampling results were negative for Yili, Yashili (Guangdong) and the other brands whose products had previously been found to contain melamine. The AQSIQ also sampled 212 batches of powder milk produced by 84 major domestic brands including Yili, Mengniu and Yashili (Heilongjiang). No melamine was found either.
Healthcare institutions have been working hard to save and treat affected children. Babies and infants needing hospitalization were provided free access. No death of affected children was reported across the country after August 4th.
The AQSIQ has adopted stringent measures to tighten the inspection on milk and dairy products for export. As of September 10th, every outgoing shipment of milk and dairy products has been subject to a melamine test. As of September 20th, the test has been expanded to cover every shipment of foods containing dairy-based ingredients. Between September 10th and October 6th, China exported 130 shipments of milk and dairy products to 21 countries/regions, in excess of 3,000 tons. None were found to contain melamine. For milk and dairy products exported prior to September 10th and foods containing dairy-based ingredients exported prior to September 20th, a timely inspection has been required of the companies involved. In the event of a positive test finding, the company in question would be required to contact the importer(s) immediately for the withdrawal from shops and the recall of its problematic products. Meanwhile, China is keeping its major trading partners such as the US, EU, Japan and Korea and the WHO updated about the sampling results in a timely, accurate, open and transparent manner.
Thanks to the strict testing requirements, milk and dairy products exported after September 10th and foods containing dairy-based ingredients exported after September 20th are now perfectly safe for overseas consumers. It is hoped that before any action to ban, restrict, withdraw, recall or destroy Chinese milk and dairy products is taken, countries could abide by the principles under the WTO/SPS Agreement and respect relevant WHO criteria. They should treat Chinese dairy products objectively, fairly and based on facts, and refrain from taking discriminatory actions.
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