N.Z. dairy giant knew China partner was selling contaminated milk

SYDNEY, Sept. 14 Kyodo - New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra admitted Sunday it had known since last month that its joint venture partner in China was selling contaminated milk, which has reportedly killed one baby and made another 432 sick with kidney damage, but did not publicly disclose the information, the New Zealand Press Association reported.

According to NZPA, Fonterra said in a statement, ''From the day that we were advised of the product contamination issue in August, Fonterra called for a full public recall of all affected product.''

''Consumer safety has always been our number one priority,'' said the company, which is the world's biggest single exporter of dairy products.

Baby milk power products of the joint venture company based in China's northern province of Hebei were found weeks or months ago by the company to be contaminated with melamine, a chemical that can cause kidney stones, but the company did not immediately recall the products.

Chinese officials have reportedly said investigators want to know whether information on the contamination was suppressed.
New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff told NZPA that officials of his government
had been in touch with relevant Chinese agencies since the government was first
informed of the problem by Fonterra on Sept. 5.
''I have had the assurance from Fonterra that they did everything within their
power to ensure the product was recalled and that the local authorities in the
city...where they are operating were fully informed of that problem,'' Goff was
quoted as saying.
''I don't think this is something that is caused by Fonterra, or directly under
the control of Fonterra,'' he said.
Fonterra has a 43 percent stake in the Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., which
reportedly recalled about 700 tons of its baby milk powder after an infant in
the northern province of Gansu developed kidney stones and died.
China's official Xinhua News Aency reported Saturday that at least 432 sick
babies have developed kidney stones from consuming the contaminated milk powder
and that police had detained 19 suspects in the case.
Senior Health Ministry official Gao Qiang was quoted by Xinhua as saying the
melamine, which is forbidden to be used in food processing, was deliberately
added to increase the apparent protein percentage in raw milk or milk powder.
The substance gives the appearance of a high nitrogen level, which is an index
to measure the protein content in food,'' a health expert told Xinhua.
The Hebei provincial government has ordered the Sanlu to cease production,
while the central government has banned the sale of Sanlu brand baby milk
powder on the market.
According to Xinhua, Sanlu began quietly looking into a possible problem with
its milk powder after receiving complaints about it back in March.
After confirming the problem, it took some actions to get the product off the
market but it did not report the problem to the government, nor did it disclose
information to the public.
Melamine, found in fertilizers, cleaning products and plastic dishes, caused a
scare in the United States last year.
A spate of pet deaths there was blamed on melamine-contaminated wheat gluten
and rice protein that were exported from China and found their way into pet
foods.
The practice of adding melamine to animal feed is reportedly widespread in
China though banned.
==Kyodo