China says most tainted milk products recently discovered have been recalled and destroyed

China says most tainted milk products recalled

BEIJING — Most of the contaminated milk products that resurfaced in China recently have been recalled and destroyed, the Health Ministry said Saturday.

Earlier this week China declared a new food-safety campaign after melamine-tainted milk products from an earlier scandal showed up repackaged in several places around the country, exposing weaknesses in the country’s promise to stop such problems from happening again.

“As of now, most of the tainted milk products have been recalled and destroyed, and none has entered the market or been exported,” said a statement posted on the Health Ministry’s Web site.

The statement was from the National Food Safety Rectification Office.

State media reported on Feb. 8 that officials recalled 170 tons of tainted milk powder in the northern region of Ningxia and said almost 100 tons had not yet been found. Two dairies were closed.

The original milk scandal in 2008 sickened hundreds of thousands of children, and at least six died.

China ordered tens of thousands of milk products laced with the industrial chemical melamine burned or buried. But the government did not carry out the destruction itself.

The statement on the ministry Web site said some companies did not fulfill their responsibilities and some hid tainted milk products or fabricated test reports to avoid inspections.

Melamine is added to watered-down milk to make it appear rich in protein in quality tests that measure nitrogen, found in both the melamine and protein. Health problems from the chemical include kidney stones and kidney damage.

Tainted dairy products have recently been found in China’s largest city, Shanghai, and in the regions of Shaanxi, Shandong, Liaoning, Guizhou, Ningxia, Jilin and Hebei.