China vows
to clean up dairy industry, more children ill
Source of Article: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jgvvOLjDHNvC7dHJQCjSbez9sWaA BEIJING (AFP) — Prime Minister Wen Jiabao
presided over a meeting of the cabinet, which called for immediate efforts to
clean up the nation's "chaotic" dairy industry as more than 5,000
food safety inspectors were deployed, state press said. Authorities in "The direct cause of this incident is illegal production, greed and
ignoring of people's lives," the cabinet said in a statement after the
meeting, according to the official Xinhua news agency. "Order in The cabinet said every effort should be made to "restore the
reputation of the nation's food industry, enhance consumer confidence and
ensure public health." So far, the tainted milk has sickened more than 53,000 children and
exposed the nation's lax food safety standards -- leading to import curbs on
some Chinese products in countries around the world. Melamine, when added to watered-down milk, makes it appear to be richer in
protein than it is. In the capital A health ministry spokesman suggested the number of children affected with
kidney stones, caused by ingesting melamine, could go up. "We have the latest number of cases around the nation," he told
AFP, "but for the time being, we are not releasing it to the public and
the press." He refused to give a reason. The dairy inspectors will check how raw materials and food additives are
used, supervise sample testing and do quality control, the People's Daily
said. State media meanwhile urged authorities to dole out harsher penalties for
those implicated in the milk scandal and in any other future food safety
concern. "From this and many other previous scandals, we see a need for the
authorities to be harsher toward violators," the China Daily said in an
editorial. The newspaper said the government should come up with stern measures to
teach businesses the "significance of being honest." So far, at least 27 people have been arrested over the scandal, according
to previous Xinhua reports. Six suspects were detained over the weekend in northern The Beijing News called for the public to play a part in supervising food
safety. "It is only with the eagerness of public supervision that one can
make up for the potential oversight of government monitoring and the
unreliability of companies' self-discipline," the paper said in an
editorial. The milk scandal continued to make waves around the world, with a number
of countries banning or restricting milk products from The European Union recently banned all imports of Chinese milk-related
products for children such as biscuits and chocolate on top of a
long-standing embargo on Chinese dairy products like milk and yoghurt. In |
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