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Trust in Chinese food exports drops over milk scandal: state media
Beijing (AFP) Dec 2, 2008 International confidence in Chinese food exports has dived since the scandal erupted over contaminated milk in China, with dairy items the worst affected, state press reported on Tuesday. China exported just over 1,000 tonnes of dairy products in October, down 92 percent from a year earlier, the China Daily reported, quoting figures from the customs administration. In September, authorities acknowledged that the industrial chemical melamine had been routinely mixed into watered-down milk to give it the appearance of having higher protein content. Government figures published late Monday revealed that milk and dairy products contaminated with melamine, which is normally used to make plastic, had sickened 294,000 children and may have killed six others. The chemical can lead to severe kidney problems if taken in excessive amounts. Chinese dairy products around the world were recalled or banned after they were also found to be tainted with melamine, although no related deaths overseas have been reported. The milk scandal has had a flow-on effect for other Chinese food exports, according to government data published by the China Daily. Exports of agricultural products from major ports in the country had slowed dramatically since the scandal erupted in September, it said. The growth in exports of meat and other agricultural products from Qingdao, a major port in east China, fell to 1.9 percent in October from an average of 15 percent in the first nine months of the year, according to the newspaper. Export growth in agricultural items from Yantai, another big port in the area, dropped from 12 percent in September to 3.2 percent in October. "The tainted milk scandal has dealt a heavy blow to the 'made-in-China' label, and the global financial crisis has worsened the situation," the report quoted Zhao Xinzhi, an official with the Yantai foreign trade and economics bureau, as saying. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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China says 294,000 children fell ill from tainted milk
Beijing (AFP) Dec 1, 2008China said Monday that a total of 294,000 children had fallen ill from consuming dairy products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, with 154 of them still in serious condition. |
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