China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

[Giuseppe]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Hong Kong: Latest test results of dairy product samples (with tables) [CFS]

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) today (September 23) released the latest batch of results of melamine tests on dairy products.


Results available today showed that of the 71 samples, including milk, milk beverages, frozen confections, milk powder, raw milk, chocolates, cakes, biscuits, creamy candies and three-in-one coffee powder, 69 were satisfactory.

A sample of creamy candy and a sample of cake were found unsatisfactory.

Details are as follows:
* Product - Level of Melamine Detected
1. White Rabbit Creamy Candies (net weight: 227g) - 4.6ppm
2. Four Seas Cake (Strawberry Flavour) (net weight: 160g) - 6.1ppm

Under the Harmful Substances in Food (Amendment) Regulation 2008 which takes effect today, the legal limit for melamine in the above two food items is 2.5ppm.

"We have informed the trade of the test results and asked them to stop selling the products concerned.

No prosecution under the Regulation will be taken as the samples were collected before the commencement of the amendment regulation.

However, we have sent warning letters to the retailers and importers concerned.

The importers will recall the affected products," a CFS spokesman said.

According to the standards of US Food and Drug Administration, the safety reference value (i.e. tolerable daily intake - TDI) for melamine is 0.63mg per kg of body weight per day.

For children under the age of 36 months, as they are more sensitive to melamine, the TDI for melamine is 0.32mg per kg of body weight per day.

"Based on the low level detected, normal consumption will not pose major health effects. However, the public should stop consuming those food items."

On the creamy candy sample which was detected with a level of 4.6ppm melamine, the spokesman said it would be for a three-year-old child weighing 10 kg to eat about three packs (about 130 pieces) of the product a day to have exposure reaching the TDI.

On the cake sample which was detected with a level of 6.1ppm melamine, it would be for the same child to eat about 16 pieces of the product to have exposure reaching the TDI.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and will continue to collect dairy product samples for testing," the spokesman said.

Information on the test results can be found on CFS's website www.cfs.gov.hk.

For enquiries, members of the public can also call CFS?? enquiry number 2381 6096 which operates from 9 am to 9 pm daily.

The enquiry service will be suspended when Typhoon Signal No.8 or above/Black Rainstorm warning is in effect, and will resume two hours after the signal/warning is cancelled.
--

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[Shiloh]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCL58EMBN1tqq6xujZlsaITAFpCQD93CHPJ81

China: 'Out of control' dairy system led to abuse

By TINI TRAN ? 48 minutes ago

BEIJING (AP) ? China's agriculture minister acknowledged Tuesday that the country's milk-gathering system was "out of control" and led to abuses that put contaminated dairy products in stores across Asia, sickening some 54,000 babies and killing four.

At least six Asian countries banned or curbed imports of Chinese dairy products, and the World Health Organization warned of possible smuggling of melamine-tainted infant formula across borders. The European Union told customs authorities to keep a closer eye on food imports from China.

Melamine, used to make plastics and fertilizer, has been found in infant formula and other milk products from 22 Chinese dairy companies. Suppliers trying to cut costs are believed to have added it to watered-down milk because its high nitrogen content masks the resulting protein deficiency.

Since the discovery of tainted milk was made public, China's government has scrambled to respond. Recent days have seen a number of arrests and forced resignations of officials as reports of sickened children spread outside the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong and Macau.

Chinese state television reported that the company at the center of the scandal, Sanlu Group Co., received complaints about tainted formula beginning last December and waited eight months to tell the local government, which then waited another month before informing higher authorities.

Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai told a meeting with the health and public security ministries that the industrial chemical melamine was likely added at stations that collect milk from small individual dairy farmers.

"Since milk stations began only in recent years, the country now has no specific method of supervising them, or clear-cut supervision department. The purchasing process of raw milk is basically out of control," Sun said, according to a summary of his comments posted Tuesday on his ministry's Web site.

"We must crack down on them with the greatest determination and the toughest measures," Sun said in the meeting held late Monday.

A group of 316 Chinese milk producers and retailers issued a joint statement promising to keep the dairy industry clean, state broadcaster China Central Television reported late Tuesday.

Among other things, producers promised to reject sub-standard raw materials, strictly inspect production, and take responsibility for product quality. Retailers also promised closer inspections.

Sanlu had no comment Tuesday about the allegations on state television.

CCTV reported Monday night that an investigation by the State Council, China's Cabinet, found that Sanlu had been receiving complaints about its infant formula as early as December 2007. The dairy company discovered melamine in its milk powder in June but did not report it to city officials until Aug. 2, it said.

"During these eight months, the company did not inform the government and did not take proper measures, therefore making the situation worse," CCTV said.

The Shijiazhuang city government then failed to report the case to the Hebei provincial government until Sept. 9, CCTV said. Sanlu products were recalled from stores two days later and Shijiazhuang's top Communist Party official fired.

Anthony Hazzard, the Western Pacific director of the World Health Organization, said 82 percent of the children made sick by the formula were 2 years old or younger.

The sick included 12,892 babies in hospitals, 39,965 who have received outpatient treatment, and an additional 1,579 patients discharged from hospitals, he said, citing China's Ministry of Health.

Hazzard said countries had been advised to focus particularly on smuggled formula by the International Food Safety Authorities (INFOSAN), a network of 167 countries organized by the WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

He said authorities do not know at this stage what countries may have received the contaminated products.

"I think the greatest fear is if there has been illegal movement of the heavily contaminated products rather than the legal movement of products that may have very low levels of melamine," said Hazzard, speaking in Manila where the WHO's regional headquarters is located.

The head of the Chinese agency that monitors food and product safety stepped down Monday. The resignation of Li Changjiang, who headed the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine since 2001, comes a year after he and the government promised to overhaul the system in response to a series of product safety scares.

New regulations and procedures were introduced in an attempt to restore consumer confidence and preserve export markets after a string of recalls involving tainted toothpaste, faulty tires, contaminated seafood and in March 2007, pet food containing melamine that was blamed for the deaths of dogs and cats in the United States.

According to the Health Ministry, of the 53,000 sickened children, 12,892 remain hospitalized, with 104 in serious condition. Another 39,965 children were treated and released.

Baby formula and other milk products have been pulled from stores around the country and Chinese dairy products have been recalled or banned in Bangladesh, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

A total of five children outside the Chinese mainland ? in Hong Kong and Macau ? have been diagnosed with kidney stones after drinking Chinese-made milk products and Hong Kong regulators found tainted cake, officials said Tuesday.

A 16-month old child in the southern Chinese gambling enclave Macau was diagnosed after being fed Nestle milk powder made in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province, the government said in a statement. No government tests have found melamine in Nestle milk products, and Switzerland-based Nestle said its milk products sold in China and Hong Kong are "absolutely safe" and that none are made from tainted milk.

European Commission spokeswoman Nina Papadoulaki said national customs authorities across the EU were asked last week to step up checks on imports of "composite products," such as bread or chocolate, to ensure they contain no traces of contaminated milk. She said the EU's 27 member states do not import baby formula or other dairy products from China.

One of China's biggest milk producers, China Mengniu Dairy Co., saw its stock price plummet slightly more than 60 percent in Hong Kong trading Tuesday after its products were found tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.

Mengniu, China's No. 1 dairy producer in total volume, said only a small portion of its products were contaminated and blamed the contamination on "the illegal acts of some irresponsible milk collection centers and raw milk dealers."

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Macau baby drinking Nestle formula found with kidney stones

Wednesday, 24 September 2008

A 16-month-old baby in Macau who had been fed with Nestle baby formula produced in mainland China was confirmed to suffer from kidney stones yesterday.

According to the Health Bureau (SSM) press statement, the infant was found by a private laboratory to have kidney stones and afterwards was taken to Conde de S?o Janu?rio Central Hospital for a urine test, ultrasound and bladder scanning for confirmation.

The baby is now being taken care of at the paediatrics ward.

The Nestle baby formula for one year-olds or above, produced in mainland China's Heilongjiang, was revealed by the Hong Kong media last week as containing melamine.

The SSM has taken the powder the baby was using as well as other formulas of the same brand for further testing.

Parents who have been feeding or used to feed their children with the same formula were urged to take their children for health checks at nearby health centres.

On the other hand, health centres have already started sending medical staff to schools with no stationed doctors for conducting tests on those 10,000 students who participated in the milk program last year.

It was estimated that about 1,000 students can have their urine tested every day and to date 774 children had received urine dipstick tests.

Of which, 27 students have been sent to receive urine sediment microscope screening and 11 of them had completed the procedures.

At this stage six students have then been arranged to receive ultrasound screening and three of them had finished the tests with no signs of kidney stones were found, the SSM said.

The health department said students who failed in the urine dipstick tests did not necessarily mean their kidneys have problems as the results could be affected by other urinary system diseases such as infections, tuberculosis, dehydration or vulva inflammation.

To date, the SSM said 295 children had been taken by parents to hospitals or transferred by health centres for urine tests.

Of which, 14 needed to receive the urine sediment microscope screening and four of them had completed the checks without needing to undertake further testing.

In addition, as of September 23 the SSM hotline had received 126 calls of inquiries and complaints. Eighty of them inquired about urine tests while 43 related to concerns of dairy products.

According to TDM news, the SSM began the health checks yesterday by sending three nurses to Chan Sui Ki Perpetual Help College in Estrada da Vitoria where 120 second year primary school students from three classes had their urine tested.

The health centre in Areia Preta also said that they had conducted the same test for about 80 students in Hoi Fai School in the Border Gate area, TDM said.

http://www.macaudailytimesnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16617&Itemid=28

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Hong Kong: No new cases of renal problems related to tainted milk received [CHP]

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health today (September 24) did not receive any new reports from the Hospital Authority and private doctors of renal problems related to the consumption of melamine tainted milk products, a CHP spokesman said.


Meanwhile, up to 1pm today, the CHP hotline 2125 1133 had received a cumulative total of 3,561 enquiries from members of the public.

1,076 callers claimed that they or their children had consumed milk products which were confirmed to have been adulterated with melamine, and 312 of the affected persons, 159 males and 153 females aged from two to 60, claimed to have symptoms of renal problems including dysuria and changes in the frequency of urination.

They have been advised to seek medical attention as soon as possible to ascertain if they were suffering from renal disease,'' the spokesman said.

The remaining 2,485 callers had no history of exposure to melamine adulterated milk products and just asked for general health advice.

The CHP hotline, which operates from 9am to 5pm daily, caters for individuals who have consumed milk products contaminated with melamine or those who are experiencing renal symptoms.
--

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[Giuseppe]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Hong Kong: Latest test results of dairy product samples (with tables) [CFS]

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) today (September 24) released the latest batch of results of melamine tests on dairy products.


Results available today showed that of the 67 samples tested, including fresh milk, milk beverages and soya milk produced locally, milk powder, creamy candies, evaporated milk, condensed milk and raw milk, 66 were satisfactory.

The unsatisfactory sample was White Rabbit Creamy Candies (net weight: 454g, expiry date: November 20, 2009) and the level of melamine detected was 16ppm.

Under the Harmful Substances in Food (Amendment) Regulation 2008 which took effect yesterday (September 23), the legal limit for melamine in the creamy candies is 2.5ppm.

"The creamy candies whose test result was announced today were the same brand of creamy candies found to contain melamine yesterday. We have already informed the trade upon announcing the test results yesterday and asked them to stop selling the products concerned. The importer has recalled the affected products. No prosecution under the amendment regulation will be taken as the sample was collected before its commencement. However, we have sent warning letters to the retailer and importer concerned," a CFS spokesman said.

According to the standards of the US Food and Drug Administration, the safety reference value (i.e. tolerable daily intake - TDI) for melamine is 0.63mg per kg of body weight per day. For children under the age of 36 months, as they are more sensitive to melamine, the TDI for melamine is 0.32mg per kg of body weight per day.

"Based on the level detected, the public is advised to stop consuming the creamy candies," the spokesman said.

On the creamy candy sample which was detected with a melamine level of 16ppm, the spokesman said a three-year-old child weighing 10kg would have to eat about half a pack (about 40 pieces) of the product a day toreach the TDI.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and will continue to collect dairy and other concerned product samples for testing," the spokesman said.

Information on the test results can be found on CFS's website www.cfs.gov.hk.

For enquiries, members of the public can also call CFS's enquiry number 2381 6096 which operates from 9am to 9pm daily.
--

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[Treyfish]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Chinese rush hospitals as toxin fear grows

LI Yang spent most of yesterday pacing up and down the entrance to Ward 7 in the Beijing Children's Hospital.
His eight-month-old son, Li Jinqi, was clinging to life, racked with fever as medical staff grappled with the fluid that has accumulated in his kidneys.
"He's been lively, even naughty, since he was born, until about six weeks ago," Li said. "'Then he started getting fever. We kept taking him to the small clinic in the neighbouring village, and the doctor there treated him for colds."
Then Li and his wife began reading reports of milk powder being poisoned with melamine, a nitrogen-rich chemical used in plastics and fertiliser that boosts the apparent protein content of milk products that have been diluted to increase profit.
Li, a driver for a pharmaceutical company in Zhuozhou, 60km south of Beijing, said that as soon as their son was born, they fed him mostly powdered milk, relying less on breastfeeding.
"We are just peasants. We don't have much knowledge -- all of us peasants trusted advertisements," he said.
The ads told Li milk powder was more nutritious than mother's milk. "We thought we were doing the right thing," he said.
They bought the Yashili, Shengyuan and Sanlu brands. Sanlu has the highest level of melamine.
The head of New Zealand company Fonterra, which owns 43 per cent of Sanlu, yesterday admitted the Chinese brand would not recover.
"Sanlu has been damaged very badly by this tragedy," Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier said, as he announced Fonterra's annual results. "The brand cannot be reconstructed."
He said he was "appalled" by claims Sanlu received complaints about its infant formula as early as December 2007, but failed to alert authorities until last month.
Fonterra, which trades dairy products in 140 countries, would introduce "more comprehensive testing for every conceivable poison ... round the world" in milk it purchases, Mr Ferrier said, adding: "You can never be 100 per cent absolutely certain against a criminal contamination of your supply chain."
Such promises are of little use to Li and his family.
A week ago he and his wife took their son to their local hospital. When told the baby had a build-up of fluid in his inner organs, Li rushed him to the capital, hoping he would receive better treatment there.
Fearing his son was already in a critical condition, Li was too worried to wait in line all day and instead paid a professional queuer 80 yuan (about $14), to join the line for a ticket entitling the holder to enter the hospital for testing and admission.
"There were so many sick babies and parents worried about milk poisoning," Li said. "I had to do something."
The line was even longer yesterday. Babies were crying. Parents clutched tubes of their baby's urine for testing. Guards shouted at people to "stay in the queue".
While baby Li's condition improved in the days after he was admitted, the fever returned yesterday. The doctors are not sure if he has a kidney stone -- the ailment that has most troubled the 53,000 babies treated for milk powder poisoning.
"If a baby is found with a kidney stone, the treatment will be free," said Li. But because his baby has different symptoms, he has to pay. He earns 1000 yuan ($174) a month, and had to pay eight times that as a deposit before the hospital would admit his son.
Li said his wife was now breastfeeding their son at the hospital, where she too is staying. "We don't even trust the powdered milk the hospital provides. We're afraid all the powder brands have chemicals in them -- it's just a matter of how much." :tiphat: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24397393-25837,00.html

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

China milk scandal deplorable, says WHO [Alertnet]

China milk scandal deplorable, says WHO

25 Sep 2008 05:45:52 GMT

Source: Reuters

* UNICEF and WHO urge enforcement of quality standards
* Mothers urged to breast feed infants
* Vietnam, Nepal and France ban Chinese milk products

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG, Sept 25 (Reuters) -

The World Health Organisation and UNICEF said on Thursday China's contaminated milk powder scandal was "deplorable" as more countries in Asia and Europe banned imports of Chinese milk products.


Beijing is battling public alarm and international dismay after close to 13,000 Chinese children crowded hospitals, ill from infant milk formula tainted with melamine, a cheap industrial chemical that can be used to cheat quality checks.

"Deliberate contamination of foods intended for consumption by vulnerable infants and young children is particularly deplorable," the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, said in a joint statement.

But the two agencies said Beijing's plan to overhaul its food safety would help prevent a recurrence of such incidents.

"We are confident that swift and firm actions are being taken by China's food safety authorities to investigate this incident fully."

"We also expect that following the investigation and in the context of the Chinese government's increasing attention to food safety, better regulation of foods for infants and young children will be enforced," the two organisations said in a statement.

The WHO and UNICEF also urged mothers to breast feed their infants, a need further underscored by "alarming examples" of tainted formula scandals in China and around the world.

China's poor track record in coming clean on past product safety scandals including toys, toothpaste, pharmaceutical ingredients and pet food ingredients has seriously dented the country's credibility.

MORE BANS, RECALL
Despite China's reassurances its milk products are now safe and the situation was under control, several countries continued to take steps against milk imports from there. In Europe, France banned all food items containing Chinese milk products as a precautionary measure. The European Food Safety Authority is expected to announce this week whether processed items containing milk products from China pose a risk.

In Asia, Vietnam and Nepal halted sales of all Chinese milk products and would now carry out stepped up testing of such imports. Vietnam health officials warned tainted Chinese milk may have been sold in its remote, impoverished central region.

South Korea started from Wednesday to recall products with melamine after the Korea Food and Drug Administration found tainted rice cookies made for a South Korean confectionary by one of its divisions in China.

Singapore said it had tested melamine in five more products including two Dutch Lady fruit-flavoured milk products.

Kraft Foods took out a full-page advertisement in Singapore's Straits Times newspaper to say its Oreo products are safe and do not contain milk ingredients sourced from China.

Global coffee giant Starbucks said it had started using fresh milk from a Hong Kong milk supplier in 55 of its stores in southern China, ditching its usual China supplier.

In the latest update by China's quality control agency on its website (www.aqsiq.gov.cn), it said 235 samples of carton milk and drinking yoghurt produced since Sept. 14 and sold across the country had shown no signs of the toxic chemical melamine.

Nitrogen-rich melamine can be added to substandard or watered-down milk to fool quality checks, which often use nitrogen levels to measure the amount of protein in milk.

The chemical is used in pesticides and in making plastics.

So far, four deaths have been blamed on kidney stones and agonising complications caused by the toxic milk.

(Additional reporting by Tan Ee Lyn in Hong Kong, Kevin Lim in Singapore, Francois Murphy in Paris, Ho Binh Minh in Hanoi and Gopal Sharma in Kathmandu; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
---
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG132511.htm">Reuters AlertNet - China milk scandal deplorable, says WHO</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Hong Kong: SFH on buyout scheme for live poultry trade and dairy products incidents [SFH]

[see below for remarks about melamine-tainted dairy products - IOH]

Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, at a stand-up media session in the West Wing lobby of Central Government Offices today (September 25):


Reporter:
(about the effectiveness of the buyout scheme)

Secretary for Food and Health:
Our main policy is to ensure that there is no live poultry staying overnight in our markets. This ex-gratia payment scheme is mainly to deal with the traders that cannot survive with this particular policy. About 70% of the trade have decided to take up the scheme now. About 30% of the retailers and about 50% of the local farms remain. With the adjustment in the import of Mainland live chickens, I think we are able to maintain a certain level of supply of live chickens and at the same time ensure that those chickens are being slaughtered in a much more hygienic and better environment.

''In controlling avian influenza, this is an effective policy (no overnight stocking of live poultry at retail level) which is able to continue for some time. As I have said many times, we need to ensure segregation between humans and poultry eventually and some sort of centralised poultry slaughtering plant is required. We now expect that local farms will produce roughly only about 5,000 or 6,000 chickens a day, the scale of this poultry slaughtering plant will be much smaller than what we have already planned. We think that the planning and implementation can be done a bit earlier.

Reporter:
(about the buyout scheme)

Secretary for Food and Health:
We set the target of 80% first as an aim that we can reduce a large amount of retailers and live chickens in the market. With a percentage of 72%, we feel that a similar effect can be achieved. I don't think in such policy, you can achieve the exact percentage that you plan.

Reporter:
(about dairy products incidents)

Secretary for Food and Health:
Most of the milk powder baby formula in Hong Kong are not produced on the Mainland. There are only three brands that are produced on the Mainland, but they are all international brands. On September 12, we already tested these three brands and proved that they were safe. In the last week or so, we repeatedly tested those milk powder and proved that they were safe. I think at the moment, for those that are sold in Hong Kong market, we can assume that they are reasonably safe. We are still testing regularly. Since the regulation on control of melamine was introduced and gazetted on Tuesday, this is also the responsibility of the trade to ensure that all their goods are safe and do not contain melamine exceeding the legal limit.

Reporter:
(about dairy products incidents)

Secretary for Food and Health:
If you look at the reports from the Mainland, those milk or milk products produced after September 14 would be reasonably safe. Of course it is still important for each market to test its own products. Whether those milk products that are produced before September 14 would be used for manufacturing other types of milk-related products, such as biscuits, cakes and chocolate, it depends on where they go. That is the reason why we cannot simply ban Mainland products. Products that travelled to other territories and countries might be used for manufacturing other products that are shipped to Hong Kong.

Reporter:
(about services provided by designated clinics)

Secretary for Food and Health:
It is still too early to say. In the last two days, we have examined more than 3,000 children in public hospitals. So far, we have only discovered four cases. Three of them actually came from the Mainland. They are children born in Hong Kong but lived on the Mainland. Their exposure might be different from Hong Kong children. As I have said earlier, it is still too early to define the treatment protocol and screening protocol. One of the tasks that we have to concentrate in the coming days is to ensure that we are giving the right screening procedures for children to get the most accurate diagnosis and to make sure that we do not do anything too excessive as well.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
--

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[FrenchieGirl]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

AUSTRALIA - Call for White Rabbit lollies recall
24/09/2008 5:24:00 PM.

http://livenews.com.au/articles/2008/09/24/Call_for_White_Rabbit_lollies_recall

Australian retailers have been asked to remove the Chinese lolly White Rabbit from sale after New Zealand tests showed they may contain traces of a toxic chemical linked to several deaths in China.

The illegal additive melamine has been found in Chinese milk formula, believed to be responsible for 54,000 babies falling ill and four of them dying.

Australian food regulators on Wednesday issued a formal request to wholesalers and importers to voluntarily withdraw White Rabbit brand lollies from shops pending further results of testing for melamine.

The milk-based sweets are imported from China, and sold in retail packs through Asian retailers, supermarkets and restaurants.

"Testing in New Zealand released late today has confirmed that this product contains sufficiently high levels of melamine which may, in some individuals, cause health problems such as kidney stones if consumed in high quantities over a long period," a statement from Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) said.

"Anyone who has the product should not consume it. It is unlikely that there could be a problem if consumed in small amounts but people with concerns about the consumption of this product should seek medical advice."

The Australian state and territory agencies will be working closely with wholesalers and importers to facilitate the voluntary withdrawal.

Australia does not import infant formula products from China and has not imported full-dairy products, such as yoghurt or condensed milk, from China since March 2007.

FSANZ and state and territory agencies are continuing to monitor the situation.

 

[FrenchieGirl]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

ITALY - http://www.canarias7.es/articulo.cfm?Id=110023 (article in Spanish, Google translate)

24/09/2008 Updated 24/09 at 18:01

Italy recommended to avoid Chinese restaurants and strengthens controls on their products

Rome
The Italian government announced today that it has strengthened controls on food products from China to certify that do not contain milk or their derivatives, and advised not to eat in Chinese restaurants.

Under Secretary for Health, Francesca Martini, explained that the imported goods will be examined from China, although they are accompanied by the necessary documentation.

These measures came after it was detected levels of melamine in liquid milk sold by three major Chinese dairy brands, which for the moment has caused kidney damage to almost 53,000 children in this country, of which four died.

Martini said that these products will have sixty days to pass the checks, after which, if the merchandise has not passed the examinations, will be destroyed.

She explained that the Carabineros (military police) are carrying out checks around the country to detect illegally imported products business in ethnic food or Chinese establishments.

"The investigation will include integrating food, drink and cereal powder, soy protein and rice, spicy sauces, biscuits, chocolate and sweets," said Martini.

The consumers' association Codacons asked the Government to subject all Chinese restaurants from Italy to controls to ensure that no contaminated products supplied, and the possibility that in some cases closing the establishment of a preventive manner.

 

[FrenchieGirl]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

SPAIN - "White Rabbit" lollies were found in Seville and the authorities have been informed.

http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idtipusrecurs_PK=7&idnoticia_PK=546719 (original article in Spanish, Google translate)

25/9/2008 12:52 h POLLUTION BY MELAMINE

Facua Health warns that there are sweets in Seville Chinese White Rabbit
MORE INFORMATION
The contamination with melamine from Chinese milk for babies now extends to the sweets
EUROPA PRESS
MADRID

Facua-Consumer Action has today informed the Spanish Agency for Food Safety at the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, the General Secretariat of Public Health and the Department of Consumer Affairs of Andalusia that has located in the Sevilla sweet Chinese White Rabbit Creamy Candies brand, withdrawn in the UK and other countries outside the EU before suspected to be contaminated with melamine, a substance that has caused the deaths of four babies in China and tens of thousands of sick children.

The consumer organization has informed the authorities for its withdrawal to pre-determine whether or not they are contaminated, as well as the location of the importing companies that have introduced in Spain.

The candy, manufactured by the company Shanghai Guan Sheng Yuan Food, have been located in a store of food import Seville run by citizens of Chinese origin.

Overprinted on a label on the packaging of the sweets indicated in French that the product has been imported by Paris SA Store.

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Hong Kong: New case of renal problems related to tainted milk [CHP]

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health this afternoon (September 25) received notification from the Hospital Authority of a confirmed case of renal problems related to the consumption of melamine tainted milk products.


This is the fifth confirmed case reported to the CHP.

The case involved a 10-year-old boy living in Hong Kong. He also had travel history to the Mainland. It was reported that he had history of consumption of milk products adulterated with melamine in Hong Kong and during his stay on the Mainland. He has no symptoms of renal problems. His parents took him to a Hospital Authority special assessment centre today for a medical check-up and renal stones were found in his left kidney. He has been admitted to Princess Margaret Hospital for treatment and is in stable condition.

To 1pm today, the CHP hotline 2125 1133 had received 5,437 enquiries from members of the public since it was set up on September 21.

''A total of 1,666 callers claimed that they or their children had consumed milk products which were confirmed to have been adulterated with melamine, and 506 of the affected people, 270 males and 236 females aged from one to 71, claimed to have symptoms of renal problems including dysuria and changes in the frequency of urination.

''They have been advised to seek medical attention as soon as possible to ascertain if they are suffering from renal disease,'' the spokesman said.

The remaining 3,771 callers had no history of exposure to melamine adulterated milk products and just asked for general health advice.

The CHP hotline, which operates from 9am to 5pm daily, caters for individuals who have consumed milk products contaminated with melamine or those who are experiencing renal symptoms.
--

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[FrenchieGirl]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

More information on the firms involved in the Chinese dairy scandal - http://karakhoja.multiply.com/journal/item/8694/ST--Danish-Swedish_dairy_recalls - (site is slightly slow to load)

THE STRAITS TIMES

Sep 17, 2008

Danish-Swedish dairy recalls

The products are made by its Chinese partner.

STOCKHOLM - DANISH-SWEDISH dairy group Arla Foods said on Wednesday several milk powder products made by a Chinese partner would be recalled after they were found to be contaminated with the chemical melamine.

'Arla Food's Chinese joint venture partner Mengniu Dairy is one of the dairies in China that has products that have shown traces of melamine in tests,' the company said in a statement.

'The products in question will be recalled from the market and production at Mengniu Arla's milk powder plant (in Hohhot in Mongolia) will be halted for the time being,' it added.

[...snip...]

Companies named in China baby powder scandal

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine website (www.aqsiq.gov.cn) named the firms in order of the prevalence of melamine contamination found in samples of their product, as follows:

1 Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group
2 Shanghai Panda Dairy
3 Synutra International Inc
4 Shanxi Gucheng Dairy
5 Jiangxi Bright & Hero Dairy
6 Baoji Huimin Milk
7 Mengniu Dairy
8 Duojiaduo Dairy Industry (Tianjin)
9 Guangdong Yashili Group
10 Hunan Peiyi Dairy
11 Heilongjiang Qining Dairy
12 Shanxi Yashili Dairy
13 Shenzhen Jinbishi Milk
14 Guangzhou Shien Dairy
15 Guangzhou Jinding Dairy
16 Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co
17 Ausmeadow Nutriment Co Ltd
18 Qingdao Suncare Nutritional Technology Co Ltd
19 Xi'an Baiyue Dairy
20 Yantai Leilei Dairy Products
21 Shanghai Bao'anli Dairy
22 Fuding Chenguan Dairy

 

[FrenchieGirl]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Countries should test Chinese dairy products - WHO

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LP78188.htm

25 Sep 2008 14:49:45 GMT
Source: Reuters

GENEVA, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) urged national food safety authorities on Thursday to test Chinese dairy products for health risks before slapping on import bans or recalls.

Governments around the world have reacted with alarm after thousands of Chinese children were sickened from drinking infant milk formula tainted with melamine, a cheap industrial chemical that can be used to cheat quality checks.

More than a dozen countries in Asia, Africa and Europe have responded by banning imports of Chinese dairy and others from Australia to Yemen have recalled products on fears that the potentially lethal milk has made its way to their markets.

"We see mass recalls but would suggest it would be better for national food safety authorities to do the testing first," WHO spokeswoman Sari Setiogi told Reuters in Geneva.

"It would be wise for countries to do health risk assessments before taking any further action such as recalls or import bans on Chinese dairy products," she said.

The WHO, a United Nations agency, is expected to issue a statement later on Thursday or Friday on the issue.

India on Thursday announced a three-month ban on Chinese milk and milk products, becoming the largest and most populous country to impose such a measure.

The European Union also proposed tests and restrictions on Chinese food products containing powdered milk. A spokeswoman said EU authorities would test 100 percent of products from China containing more than 15 percent milk powder, and would ban all products for children containing any proportion of milk. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

 

[Treyfish]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

China milk poisoning spread to the United States and Chinese concerns over
<SMALL>(Boxun Beijing on September 25, 2008 reprint)</SMALL> <!--bodystart-->
Source: Voice of America
China milk poisoning incident, the pollution spread to the United States, Chinese imports of related products in the supermarket shelves after another, the United States of Chinese consumers have begun to worry, I do not know to eat into the belly of the product will not cause problems.

Chinese imports containing creamer or plant protein component of a variety of foods may be contaminated melamine, the mood has spread panic in the United States, California's Chinese community. Southern California Chinese-owned stores have all been related to the product removed from the shelves, and sell all kinds of local production of tea shops have clearance from the use of the creamer was purchased from the United States, no pollution.

Taiwan belang well-known brand names as three-in-one coffee-brewing coffee powder in Taiwan, mainland China found containing melamine contamination of the creamer, over the past few days is also under the emergency aircraft, and all over the United States to initiate a recall.
U.S. importers Miguel Cheng-Chung Chen in the company's 24 news conference, said: "Brown's three-in-one coffee and coffee powder 2 in 1 problem in Taiwan has opened a news conference in mind, the same day in the United States to open End Head office in Taipei news conference to call back right away, we have San Miguel Foods for the sake of responsible, we have recovered Sunday, to the best of our social responsibility. But I must stress that our canned coffee belang do not have any problem. "


U.S. company San Miguel Cheng-Chung Chen

Cheng-Chung Chen said, their coffee over the past 25 years has been used in Australia, New Zealand's milk, only in April this year due to higher prices of imports to China a number of milk powder, just did not expect to add a melamine industrial raw materials.

Cheng-Chung Chen said that they accepted the return, but believe that if they drink four cups a day is not over the long-term users, should not fall ill.

Other local tea industry also self-ching, such as marketing of the nation's Ten Ren tea (Chinese tea known as Tien-fu) on the claim that China does not use the creamer.

However, reliance on Chinese-owned supermarket to buy food for Chinese consumers did not stop worrying because, according to reports, in addition to contaminated baby milk powder, there are all kinds of related products, such as rabbits toffee, Xingren Cha, sesame paste, Corn soup, instant soup, pudding, sauce, yogurt, such as the use of meat-or vegetable protein creamer products.

Meng Li lives in Park City, the Miss Li said: "I do think the consumer is a very helpless because we do not know what to buy in the end there is no problem, wait until all the news out to know what to eat, all of the above problems, However, all-you-can have a body there is no way. I think this has been too much, the things involved too much, and I usually do not drink milk, do not drink three-in-one, two in one of the things I Or are likely to eat poisonous things, and the existence of these things where I do not know. "

Miss Hao took the baby to a Chinese supermarket to buy food

Often view the Internet messages related to the Miss Qian of the Chinese product is not assured, that she poisoned last year in the United States now poisoned pet Chinese baby, I do not know who the next victims, she said: "It really do not know Chinese mainland also What is the black heart, it is difficult to buy. "

With a baby on the Chinese-owned supermarket to buy food Miss Hao said: "Fortunately, we have the local milk in the United States, but I think parents still have to be careful. If you have eaten nothing about it. What is the news as soon as possible Friends and family notice what can only be a good way to do nothing. "

It was reported that Los Angeles, many Chinese express delivery business operators have recently increased their business because many Chinese immigrants invited by the Chinese relatives and friends up to supermarkets to buy milk powder sent to the United States.

In the past few days the U.S. Federal Drug and Food Bureau (FDA) in the Chinese Web site posted a warning to remind consumers not to buy Chinese imports of dairy products, as well as Chinese living in big cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Seattle and other places in Asia 1000 The supermarket operator who, with Chinese production and testing of the creamer or vegetable protein products. But the FDA so far has not found any melamine contamination.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao of China has powdered milk poisoning incident, to say the emphasis on business without conscience, a recent visit to the United Nations in his speech, Wen once again expressed sorrow and solemn assurance that China will fundamentally improve China's product quality and food safety situation, Chinese food not only in line with international standards and to comply with the standards of the importing country.

China State Administration of Quality supervision, Inspection and Quarantine General Administration of all customs clearance operations Secretary Li Yuanping visit to Los Angeles this summer, he pointed out that the punishment has been sold to the United States melamine pet food manufacturers of Chinese businessmen, he said: "As the Chinese government has a specific export products And food regulatory system, so in recent years, the pass rate has remained at 99%. Last year, China's food exports to the United States is the passing rate of 99.21 percent over the same period the U.S. Food exports to China and the passing rate is 98.98 percent. Chinese food exports The passing rate slightly higher than the United States:tiphat: http://74.125.93.104/translate_c?hl....shtml&usg=ALkJrhhUNiocYwfLIQE6eA7ndqWSFU2osQ

 

[FrenchieGirl]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG4858.htm

Shanghai fears grow in China milk powder scandal

26 Sep 2008 04:48:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
By James Pomfret

HONG KONG, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Up to five percent of young infants in Shanghai could have kidney stones after drinking tainted milk formula, local media reported on Friday, as publicity surrounding the scandal is muted by China's manned space mission.

Beijing is battling public alarm and international dismay after thousands of Chinese children were hospitalised, sick from infant milk formula tainted with melamine, a cheap industrial chemical that can be used to cheat quality checks.

"A recent citywide health check of children under three years old showed about five percent were diagnosed with symptoms of possible kidney stones after being fed contaminated powdered milk," the China Daily reported.

The paper did not give an estimate of the number of children who might be affected.

The European Commission proposed on Thursday tests and restrictions on Chinese food products containing powdered milk as UNICEF and the World Health Organisation called China's growing milk scandal "deplorable".

In Hong Kong, the government said a fifth child was suffering kidney problems related to drinking tainted milk. The 10-year-old boy was found to have kidney stones.

In Shanghai, the producer of China's popular White Rabbit Creamy Candies said it would stop domestic sales of such sweets as a "conscientious decision to protect consumers", Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying.

The candy's producer, Guanshengyuan, had earlier recalled its exports to more than 50 countries after the White Rabbit sweets tested positive for melamine in Singapore and Hong Kong.

The number of known children hospitalised after consuming toxic formula tainted with melamine remained at 13,000, with China's Health Ministry not having provided any updated casualty figures for close to a week.

At least four infants have died.

Hong Kong's health department said in its latest tests on mainland milk products that none of 105 samples had been found to be contaminated with melamine.

Nitrogen-rich melamine can be added to substandard or watered-down milk to fool quality checks, which often use nitrogen levels to measure the amount of protein in milk.

The chemical is used in pesticides and in making plastics.

In Taiwan, Pizza Hut stopped providing packets of powdered cheese that come as a condiment with its pizzas after it learned from the supplier that the product contained melamine.

She added that Pizza Hut's pizzas in Taiwan were not affected because they use cheese from the United States and New Zealand.

A day after a spate of countries in Europe and Asia announced precautionary bans on imports of Chinese milk products, coverage of the scandal has been scaled back to make room for China's successful launch of its third manned space mission.

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Taiwan News, Website Editorial Staff
2008-09-26 11:12 AM

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Pizza Hut?s cheese contained melamine, Pizza Hut (必勝客) told the public at 9 am on Sep 26.
Central News Agency
+ Enlarge This image

Pizza Hut?s cheese contained melamine, Pizza Hut (必勝客) told the public at 9 am on Sep 26. Central News Agency

After reports of Pizza Hut?s cheese containing melamine, Pizza Hut (必勝客) told the public at 9 am on Sep 26 that they had sent the products voluntarily for examination and found melamine in to-go cheese packs up to 70 parts per million. Pizza Hut now ceased the offer of such product and urged their customers to throw away any left cheese packs.

According to Pizza Hut, the product comes from Kai Yuan Company, and they notified health departments and stop offering the packs as soon as the result came out.

Pizza Hut emphasized that melamine is only found in to-go cheese packs, not in cheese used in store. It is estimated that there are 65 thousand packs circulating right now, total of 1.3 million kilograms in weight. The remaining cheese packs should be tossed away immediately.

by Taiwan News, Website Editorial Staff

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

"Up to five percent of young infants in Shanghai could have kidney stones after drinking tainted milk formula"

This could be true, since melamine is so widespread in milk, for some time already.

This could mean there are many many more children with kidney problems all over China, not only the 54.000 mentioned so far.

I cannot imagine how many.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

China toxic milk victims seen to rise by 10,000

Fri Sep 26, 2008

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese provinces have reported nearly 10,000 additional cases of children who have developed kidney illnesses after drinking toxic milk formula in recent days, local media reported on Friday.

Attention on the growing scandal in China was at least temporarily overshadowed by the launch late on Thursday of China's third manned space mission, which is set to include the technologically ambitious nation's first space walk.

But Beijing is battling public alarm and international dismay after thousands of Chinese children were hospitalized, sick from milk formula tainted with melamine, a cheap industrial chemical that can be used to cheat quality checks. Four have died.

The Ministry of Health has not issued a fresh count of infants suffering kidney problems and complications since Sunday.

It said then that 12,892 were in hospital, 104 with serious illness, and close to 40,000 others were affected but did not need major treatment.

However more recent counts from province-level health authority numbers across the country showed that at least another 9,959 cases have been diagnosed this week with illnesses linked to the toxic milk.

Much of that rise was in Hebei, the northern province that is home to Sanlu Dairy group, which made the contaminated formula that sparked the broader milk scandal.

The Hebei Daily (hbrb.hebnews.cn) said Hebei province alone had diagnosed 13,773 cases up to Thursday, an increase of 4,794 on four days earlier.

Shao Mingli, head of the State Food and Drug Administration, warned his staff that the government would not tolerate cover-ups or reporting delays, after local officials sat on news for at least a month -- if not longer -- that Sanlu's milk was suspect.

"Under no circumstances turn a deaf ear to people's complaints and pretend they do not exist," he told a meeting, according to the transcript of a speech on the watchdog's website (www.sda.gov.cn).

CONTAMINATED POWDER

Millions across China watched the launch of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft on live television on Thursday and images of the rocket blasting off dominated official newspapers.

But the health and political fallout from children poisoned with melamine is hardly likely to disappear soon.

There are no numbers available yet for China's big commercial hub, Shanghai, but state media said many infants there may have been affected.

"A recent city-wide health check of children under three years old showed about five percent were diagnosed with symptoms of possible kidney stones after being fed contaminated powdered milk," the China Daily reported.

The count of recent provincial-level numbers indicated 1,019 additional children were hospitalized this week. But the statistics did not make clear if those cases were included in or separate from the larger number diagnosed with kidney damage.

The count from provincial sources showed no new deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) representative in China said effective medical help made many more deaths unlikely.

"We don't expect a large increase in the number of deaths, because we have to remember that a child usually doesn't die from a kidney stone itself, but from its complications," WHO representative Hans Troedsson told a news conference in Beijing.

"... the treatment has been shown (to be) effective in China," he said.

The Maldives became the latest country to pull Chinese dairy products from its shelves.

"Our inspectors have gone out, plus we are warning the public on TV and radio," said Moosa Anwar, director-general at the Maldives Food and Drug Authority.

Hong Kong's government set up a taskforce on Friday that will find ways to manage the huge numbers of children turning up for kidney examinations and to cope with mainland Chinese who are traveling to Hong Kong to have their children checked.

Five cases of children made sick by drinking tainted milk have been reported in Hong Kong.

Taiwan media reported three cases involving four children and an adult with kidney stones or signs of calcification in the kidneys. In one case, a 3-year-old girl and her 2-year-old brother were found to have kidney stones after drinking milk made with powder from China, the Liberty Times reported.

The European Commission proposed on Thursday tests and restrictions on Chinese food products containing powdered milk. UNICEF and the World Health Organization called China's growing milk scandal "deplorable."

In Shanghai, the producer of China's popular White Rabbit Creamy Candies said it would stop domestic sales of such sweets, Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying.

The candy's producer, Guanshengyuan, had earlier recalled its exports to more than 50 countries.

Nitrogen-rich melamine can be added to substandard or watered-down milk to fool quality checks, which often use nitrogen levels to measure the amount of protein in milk. The chemical is used in pesticides and in making plastics.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE48P3VM20080926?sp=true

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Melamine use "rampant" in China feed business

Thu Sep 25, 2008

HARBIN, China, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Use of the industrial chemical melamine, which has made thousands of Chinese infants sick through tainted baby formula, is rampant among farmers and feed-ingredient manufacturers, a Chinese feedmill owner said.

"It is like a chain," said Sun Erwu, who owns a feedmill in Hebei province, the centre of the milk-powder scandal.

"If cows are fed with poor feed and produce lower-protein milk, dairy plants will not accept the milk, so many add melamine," Sun told Reuters on the sidelines of a grains conference.

Nitrogen-rich melamine can be added to substandard or watered-down milk to fool quality checks, which often use nitrogen levels to measure the amount of protein in milk. The chemical is used in pesticides and in making plastics.

"Farmers have no idea what melamine is. They only know if they add it, their milk will not be refused."

China has stepped up testing for melamine in feed after milk powder tainted with the chemical made more than 54,000 infants sick and at least four infants died, the latest in a series of health scandals to blight China's food industry.

Sun said he was not surprised when his meal was found to contain melamine as it was so widely used in Hebei and neighbouring Shandong province. He said he was the victim but was fined 30,000 yuan ($4,400) nevertheless.

"I have long wanted to test my products, but to test for melamine is expensive and it takes a long time," he said, adding that testing one sample would cost more than 1,000 yuan ($145) -- and then the laboratory cannot pinpoint the contamination to one ingredient in the meal.

"Soymeal can be contaminated, so can corn gluten meal and cottonseed meal -- suppliers add melamine into all these supplements," said Sun.

Adding melamine to lower-protein cottonseed meal could mean a profit of 1,000 yuan more per tonne as melamine can make the protein level look as high as that of rich soymeal, he said.

The cheating was done by milk dealers and milk-collecting stations, which add melamine to milk to increase protein level to the 3 percent requested by dairy plants, said Sun, who sells his feed to dairy cow farmers.

Still, many farmers, which have small numbers of dairy cows, were victims as they were unware that melamine was added by dealers at collecting stations, he said.

China said on Wednesday the tainted milk scandal had been brought under control and recently tested liquid milk samples showed no traces of a toxic chemical.

"There is no problem," Xiang Yuzhang, the national quality watchdog's chief inspection official, told reporters in Beijing.

"It has been brought under control, more or less. There are no more problems in the market. As far as I know, there will be no more bad news."

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSPEK166968

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation

Hong Kong: First meeting of Expert Group on Melamine Incident convened (with photo) [SFH]

The Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, today (September 26) convened the first meeting of the Expert Group on Melamine Incident to follow up matters arising from the incident. Dr Chow said that the Expert Group brought together different academics, clinical, public health and food safety experts, from both the public and private sectors, to assess the health and food safety effects of melamine exposure in the medium to longer term and make recommendations on the appropriate follow up and surveillance of those who have been affected.


The terms of reference of the Expert Group includes:

1.To ensure that the manpower and supporting facilities of the public healthcare system can provide appropriate medical assessment and treatment for those citizens affected by the melamine incident, to formulate effective procedures and methods for medical assessment and treatment and to propose follow-up measures on medical and health services;

2.To assess the impact of the incident and ensure effective monitoring and inspection on dairy products and related food in order to protect the health of citizens;

3.To make proposals on the practical and expeditious means to legislate to prohibit import and sale, and order recall of problem food;

4.To consider the most effective method, timing and content, etc to disseminate information to the public; and

5.To closely monitor the situation and development of the incident, including the situation regarding Hong Kong children residing in the Mainland coming to Hong Kong to seek medical services, and to put in place effective response measures at schools, border control points and private medical service organizations, etc.

Three sub-groups are formed under the Expert Group to look into different issues, namely the Health Services Sub-group, the Treatment Sub-group and the Food Safety, Supply and Control Sub-group.

The Health Services Sub-group will study and assess the impact of melamine contaminated dairy products and related food on citizens, particularly children including Hong Kong children residing in the Mainland, and other high-risk groups; and ensure that the manpower and related supporting facilities of the public healthcare system can provide appropriate medical assessment and treatment for affected citizens.

It will conduct regular review of the situation and service demand; The Treatment Sub-group is responsible for formulating effective procedures and methods for medical assessment and treatment, and proposing follow-up measures on medical and health services; making reference to the treatment experience in the Mainland and overseas, and conducting medical research on local cases.

The Food Safety, Supply and Control Sub-group will work out the strategy for effective monitoring and inspection of dairy products and food contaminated by melamine; study the problem of the contamination of food by melamine in Hong Kong, and conduct risk assessment in regard to the impact of the incident on general food safety.

At a media session after the meeting, Dr Chow said: "We have already contacted the Mainland Ministry of Health to arrange for experts from Hospital Authority (HA) to visit the Mainland very shortly to learn from their experience and to exchange clinical views in treating affected children. "I hope a preliminary report can be completed in two to three weeks for submission to the Chief Secretary for Administration.

"In addition, starting from tomorrow, the Centre for Food Safety and the Hospital Authority will release health information everyday.Information will include test results on food and updates on the services of the HA designated clinics and special assessment centres."

The membership list of the Expert Group on Melamine Incident is as follows:
Chairman:
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow

Vice Chairman:
Permanent Secretary for Food and Health (Health), Ms Sandra Lee

Non-official members:
Dean of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Professor Fok Tai-fai
Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President, The University of Hong Kong Professor Tam Kwong-hang, Paul
Paediatric Surgery & Paediatric Urology Division Director of Minimally Invasive Centre, Union Hospital Dr Yeung Chung-kwong
Chief of Service / Consultant Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine Princess Margaret Hospital Dr Chiu Man-chun
Deputy Chief of Service / Consultant Urologist Department of Surgery, Tuen Mun Hospital Dr Man Chi-wai
Consultant, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Princess Margaret Hospital Dr Chow Chun-bong
Consultant (Quality & Risk Management), Hospital Authority Dr Lui Siu-fai
Chairman of Advisory Council on Food and Environmental Hygiene Professor Yuen Kwok-yung
Member of Advisory Council on Food and Environmental Hygiene Dr Lo Chi-kin
Chairman of Expert Committee on Food Safety Professor Kwan Hoi-shan
Member of Expert Committee on Food Safety Professor Chan Yan-keung, Thomas
President of Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades Mr Wong Ka-wo, Simon
Member of Expert Committee on Food Safety Mr Allen Ho
Representatives of Hospital Authority
Representatives of Consumer Council

Government representatives:
Representatives of Food and Health Bureau
Representatives of Department of Justice
Representatives of Education Bureau
Representatives of Security Bureau
Representatives of Department of Health
Representatives of Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
Representatives of Government Laboratory
Representatives of Immigration Department
Representatives of Information Services Department (Representatives of other bureaux and departments will attend as necessary.)
--

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