The EU wants an explanation about a widening Chinese dairy scandal that has made thousands of infants ill, a senior health official said today, as global cafe giant Starbucks pulled some milk from its Chinese stores.
Fears that the scandal was much bigger than first thought appeared to be well-founded when a government quality watchdog said nearly 10 per cent of milk samples from three major dairies were found to be contaminated with potentially deadly melamine.
Thousands of panicked parents have crowded hospitals and demanded explanations from the Chinese government since officials and the Sanlu Group, China's biggest maker of infant milk powder, said last week that babies were sick with kidney stones and complications after drinking toxic milk powder.
At the latest count, 6,244 children have become ill. Four have died and 158 are suffering "acute kidney failure".
Quality officials stressed that most Chinese milk was safe, trying to shore up public trust already shaken by a litany of food scares involving eggs, pork and seafood in recent years.
Robert Madelin, director-general for health and consumer protection at the European Commission, said the EU did not import Chinese infant milk powder, and there had been no reports of health problems in the bloc from other Chinese dairy products.
But with foreign consumers watching China again grapple with toxic food and claims of delays and cover-ups, Madelin told reporters in Beijing he expected an account of what went wrong.
"We are trying to establish the facts. We are discussing all aspects of this crisis bilaterally with our colleagues in China," Mr Madelin said.
"On the governance aspects, we are also asking questions, and we will learn the truth probably about the same time you do."
After a nationwide check, China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine blamed two of China's top dairy producers, the Xinhua news agency has reported.
Almost one-tenth of liquid milk batches from Mengniu Dairy and Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd contained melamine, which is banned in food.
Several samples of milk from the Bright dairy group also had the substance, used in making plastics, the agency found.
The chemical compound melamine is rich in nitrogen, an element often used to measure protein levels. By adding melamine to diluted milk, dealers can fool quality checks.
Starbucks said its 300-plus cafes in mainland China had pulled milk supplied by Mengniu. Starbucks said no employees or customers had fallen ill from the milk.
Yili, a Beijing Olympic Games sponsor, already faced a recall in Hong Kong, where authorities found eight of its 30 products, including ice-cream and yoghurt ice bars, contained melamine.
In Singapore, the government food watchdog advised retailers to pull Yili yoghurt ice bars from their shelves.
Reuters