Latest News:  

English>>Business

City to set up lab to monitor China's scandal-hit dairy giants

(Xinhua)

08:24, March 08, 2013

BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's inland city Hohhot, home to China's two dairy giants Mengniu and Yili, will set up a national-level laboratory to monitor products of the two scandal-hit companies, Hohhot Mayor Qin Yi said Thursday.

"We will use the lab to supervise dairy products produced by the two companies nationwide and make sure they provide qualified products to consumers," Qin said.

Qin said the government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has approved Hohhot's plan of building the lab and the city government is now in contact with China's Ministry of Agriculture and national quality inspection watchdogs for the details.

The mayor did not disclose when the lab will be established and how much the government will spend on it.

Qin said the Mengniu Dairy Company and Yili Industrial Group have more than 100 manufacturing and processing plants across China, taking large market share of the country's combined production of liquid milk and milk powder.

China's dairy industry has been mired in controversy since a notorious scandal in 2008 in which baby formula produced by the Sanlu Group, a domestic dairy company, was found to be tainted with melamine, an industrial compound used to create plastic and resin. The tainted formula led to the deaths of six infants and sickened 300,000 children across the country.

Scandals involving the Mengniu and Yili have further cast a blow on consumers' confidence in Chinese dairy products.

In December, 2011, products manufactured by Mengniu were found to contain high levels of aflatoxin, a carcinogen, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

Last June, an "unusual amount" of mercury, a metallic element that is toxic in high doses, was found in baby formula produced by Yili.

Apart from tightening quality supervision, the Hohhot government will also increase investment and encourage private capital in building grazing land and dairy farms to ensure milk quality from the source, said Qin, on the sidelines of annual session of the 12th National People's Congress, China's top legislature.



We recommend:

Beihai, a Rising Young Star

China's jumbo jet C919 expected to fly

More loans extended to support agriculture

Direct trade in RMB increases in Thailand

Energy trade surplus for US

China seeks economic transformation


Email|Print|Comments(Editor:MaXi、Liang Jun)

Leave your comment0 comments

  1. Name

  

Selections for you


  1. Navel landing ships perform military tasks

  2. Newly-recruited female soldiers in training

  3. 83rd Geneva Int'l Motor Show opens

  4. The best partners during ' two sessions'

  5. Yao Ming, the CPPCC Member

  6. 'Fresh style' in Chinese cities

  7. Grand Canal and Silk Road set for world heritage list

  8. Forever Shangri-la: heaven on earth

  9. Home tax worry addressed

  10. Foreign nuclear deals 'on way'

Most Popular

Opinions

  1. Books for youngsters' the fastest-growing genre
  2. Life of the never-touch-a-pan generation
  3. Chinese films ought to tell Chinese stories
  4. Lei Feng spirit never out of date
  5. Call to relax adoption criteria
  6. China has its own Golden Raspberry Awards
  7. Chinese tourists reflect nation's character
  8. Spoiled brats spring from pampering parents
  9. A smile can succeed where a scowl fails
  10. Reducing income inequality an urgent task

What’s happening in China

Shanghai Disney Resort unveils resort concept

  1. China to develop poverty-stricken city
  2. Electric vehicle buyers will get car plates
  3. Court warns over deceits in online sales
  4. Beijing to control urban expansion: mayor
  5. Professionals called in to halt rising divorce rate