China "tainted milk" kills 3
BEIJING: Three people died and 34 were left ill in
northwestern China from food poisoning believed linked to tainted
milk, the government said, in what is the country's latest food
safety scare.
A preliminary investigation showed victims in the
city of Pingliang suffered nitrite poisoning after drinking milk, a
local government statement said.
Nitrite is a chemical used to make dyes and to
preserve meats.
Two suspect dairy farms have been shut down and are being
investigated, said the statement issued on Thursday. Pingliang is
in Gansu province.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
nitrite poisoning can result in nausea, dizziness, respiratory
distress, loss of consciousness and seizures.
Such safety incidents are routine for China's notoriously
scandal-prone food industries, with the dairy sector a particular
area of concern.
The dairy industry was rocked in 2008 when at least six babies died
and another 300,000 became ill from milk tainted with the
industrial chemical melamine.
Melamine had been added to give the appearance of higher protein
levels.
Authorities said at the time that all suspect milk powder had been
confiscated or destroyed and promised to clean up the industry, but
melamine-tainted products have continued to reach the market.
In July last year, authorities announced they had found 25,000
tonnes of tainted milk powder earlier in 2009.
Last month, the country's largest meat processor was forced to
apologise when clenbuterol was found in some of its pork products.
The illegal additive can lead to dizziness, heart palpitations and
profuse sweating.
Other recent scandals have involved contaminated red wine, bleached
mushrooms, fake tofu and recycled cooking oil.
-AFP/wk