China has vowed to choke off toxic milk from reaching processors and export markets after an infant powder scandal that has made more than 50,000 children sick and mired the country's trade reputation in fresh crisis.
Milk powder adulterated with the industrial chemical melamine has led to nearly 13,000 Chinese infants being admitted to hospital, 104 of them in a serious condition with kidney stones and agonising complications.
The chemical, which can be used to cheat quality checks, has also been found in candy, buns and carton milk sold to other countries and regions, spreading worry in markets already shaken after a string of "made-in-China" scandals last year.
So far outside the mainland, only one child in Hong Kong has been stricken by illness blamed on the toxic Chinese milk. Another child is a suspected victim.
But with the scenes of sick infants and frantic parents alarming Chinese citizens and foreign companies and consumers, the Commerce Ministry and Agriculture Ministry late yesterday vowed a fresh shake-up of dairy and other products.
Minister for Agriculture Sun Zhengcai said he would wage a "battle" to clean up the merchants blamed for selling adulterated milk on to dairy companies.
"There can be no compromise in fulfilling every task of the clean-up," Mr Sun said, according to a report on the ministry website (www.agri.gov.cn).
He singled out the "milk stations", which collect fresh supplies from often scattered farms. They have been blamed for watering down milk and adding nitrogen-rich melamine, fooling quality checks measuring protein, which is also rich in nitrogen.
Many of these stations were unregistered and unregulated, Sun said. "The intermediate link in purchasing raw milk is basically out of control," he said. "These grave problems and this state of disorder have reached the stage where a clean-up is unavoidable."
The milk scare had had an "adverse effect on the reputation of our products", the Commerce Ministry said in a directive.
"There will be strict inspections of businesses producing and exporting dairy products, food, pharmaceuticals, toys, furniture and other things concerning physical safety."
Markets that have banned or recalled Chinese milk products include Japan, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Taiwan banned all mainland dairy products from Sunday.
Canada has expanded checks for possibly tainted Chinese dairy products and the European Union will this week issue an expert opinion on the whether processed goods with Chinese milk ingredients pose a health threat.
The official warnings came after China's quality chief, Li Changjiang, quit in a growing clamour over executives and officials accused of hiding the milk poisonings from higher authorities in past months.
The Communist Party chief of Shijiazhuang, home to the Sanlu Group which is at the centre of the scandal, has also been fired.
Sanlu began receiving customer complaints about its milk powder as long ago as last December, Xinhua said.
Reuters