Stay away from Chinese milk products, says BFAD

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/19/2008 5:57 PM

The Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) on Friday advised mothers to stop buying Chinese milk products following reports that four children have died amid a China health scandal.

"I would advise the parents or mothers it’s better to probably buy milk brands from reputable companies…For the moment, stay away from [milk] products coming from China,” BFAD Director Leticia Gutierrez told ABS-CBN News Channel.

Gutierrez said that while Chinese milk brands are not available in Philippine market, she has instructed BFAD inspectors to collect samples from different milk distribution outlets for testing. The samples will be brought to the BFAD laboratory for testing of presence of toxic chemical melamine, a chemical normally used in plastics but which can be used to mask low protein levels in foods.

“For the last two days, the inspectors have gone around and they’ve not found any milk powder manufactured by Sanlu group,” she said.

At least four babies have died and some 6,244 other infants have become sick after consuming melamine-contaminated milk products. The scandal snowballed late this week, with the government admitting that melamine had been discovered in regular milk and other dairy products such as ice cream, leading to mass recalls across the country.

The Chinese government’s quality watchdog has released an initial list of milk manufacturing companies using the deadly toxin.

The companies were:

1 Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co
2 Shanghai Panda Dairy Co Ltd
3 Synutra International Inc
4 Shanxi Gucheng Dairy Co Ltd
5 Jiangxi Bright & Hero Dairy Co
6 Baoji Huimin Milk Co Ltd
7 Mengniu Dairy
8 Duojiaduo Dairy Industry (Tianjin) Co Ltd
9 Guangdong Yashili Group Co Ltd
10 Hunan Peiyi Dairy Co
11 Heilongjiang Qining Dairy Co
12 Shanxi Yashili Dairy Co Ltd
13 Shenzhen Jinbishi Milk Co Ltd
14 Guangzhou Shien Dairy Co
15 Guangzhou Jinding Dairy Co
16 Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co
17 Ausmeadow Nutriment Co Ltd
18 Qingdao Suncare Nutritional Technology Co Ltd
19 Xi'an Baiyue Dairy Co Ltd
20 Yantai Leilei Dairy Products Co Ltd
21 Shanghai Bao'anli Dairy Co Ltd
22 Fuding Chenguan Dairy Co Ltd
as of 09/19/2008 5:57 PM

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