20 Nov, 2008 – Safety measures in the discredited Chinese dairy industry will be strengthened at every level as the Government seeks to restore its reputation, Beijing has declared.
A National Development and Reform Commission official said: “The crisis has put China's dairy industry in peril and exposed major problems existing in the quality control and supervision of the industry."
Details released by China’ Cabinet said the Health Ministry would overhaul the quality and safety standards of dairy products. The Agriculture Ministry would draw up procedures and standards to detect melamine, and initiate a traceability system to keep track of the flow and delivery of dairy goods.
The move to put safety measure into place has come following the discovery of the tainting of hundreds of products with the industrial chemical melamine in China. The scandal began in powdered milk in one region but spread both throughout China and the world to cover goods as diverse as yoghurts, sweets, animal feed and eggs. The incidents highlighted widespread practices of adding the chemical to falsely mimic higher protein levels.
Now government chiefs plan to step up regulation of milk collection stations where dairy farmers sell their raw milk, and at which much of the initial tainting is thought to have taken place. Official have promised to "firmly crack down on and outlaw illegal milk vendors, firmly crack down on any illegal acts involving adulteration," according to the NDRC.
By the end of next year milk stations nationwide would be required to meet standards on hygiene, testing methods, operational procedures and personnel, it said.