'No cases of illness due to tainted NZ milk powder in China

Beijing, Aug 9. No cases of sickness have been reported in China due to the consumption of tainted milk powder imported from New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, the country's food safety authority said today. "The center is making more efforts to carry out examinations over the contaminated products," Li Fengqin, director of the microorganism division of the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment was quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency as saying at a press conference here. On August 2, Fonterra said that some of its whey protein produced in May 2012 was found to be contaminated with clostridium botulinum which has the potential to cause paralysis. Following this China's importers began to recall and seal products produced by Fonterra after the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine named four domestic companies that have imported whey products that may be tainted. The China Food and Drug Administration has also told companies to halt sales of and recall all relevant products. Deng Haihua, spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said the commission has been cooperating with relevant organs in handling the tainted products.