New Tainted Milk Scandal Hits China

The Ministry of Health announced July 13 at a press conference that the National Food Safety Inspection Office discovered 25,000 tons of tainted milk powder in February, which authorities failed to destroy after the tainted milk scandal in 2008.

Chinese authorities have seized thousands of kilograms of dairy products after samples in the Northwestern provinces of Gansu and Qinghai showed high concentrations of melamine.

Melamine is the same substance that killed six babies and left another 300,000 infants ill in the 2008 tainted milk powder scandal. The ingestion of melamine is known to cause kidney stones and kidney damage.
 
According to Xinhua News Agency, the owner of the Dongyuan Dairy Factory in Qinghai and a production manager were detained after tests showed some of their products had 500 times the legal limit for melamine. The tainted products were initially discovered because Dongyuan sent samples of the milk powder to a food safety lab, which they purchased from Hebei Province.
 
Some of the material was believed to be milk powder that was slated to be destroyed just after the 2008 crackdown on tainted milk. The officials at the press conference failed to give a clear answer on whether the milk powder was produced prior to the 2008 tainted milk scandal.

According to Chen Rui, deputy bureau chief of Food Safety Coordination and Supervision Bureau, the National Food Safety Inspection Office is not responsible for destroying the tainted milk.