China finds tainted children's snacks
BEIJING -- Chinese inspectors found excessive amounts of additives and preservatives in dozens of children's snacks and seized hundreds of bottles of fake human blood protein from hospitals, officials said yesterday.
China's dismal health and safety record -- both within and outside its borders -- has increasingly come under the spotlight as its goods make their way to global markets. Major buyers like the United States, Japan, and the European Union have pushed Beijing to improve inspections.
China accused the media of hyping the problems.
"I think it would be better if the media would stop playing up this issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.
"China has taken measures and enacted relevant legislation regarding inspection and monitoring of its food export process. China has been very responsible in this regard to ensure the good quality and safety of its exports," he said.
Inspectors in southwest China's Guangxi region found excessive additives and preservatives in nearly 40 percent of 100 children's snacks sampled during the second quarter of 2007, according to a report on China's central government website.
The snacks -- including soft drinks, candied fruits, gelatin desserts, and some types of crackers -- were taken from 70 supermarkets, department stores, and wholesale markets in seven cities in the region, it said.
Only 35 percent of gelatin desserts sampled met standards, the report said, while two types of candied fruit had 63 times the permitted artificial sweetener content.
The report did not say whether any snacks were recalled or if any manufacturers faced discipline. Calls to the Guangxi Industrial and Commercial bureau rang unanswered yesterday.
Some 420 bottles of fake blood protein, albumin, were found at hospitals in Hubei province but none had been used to treat patients, Liu Jinai, an official with the inspection division of the provincial food and drug administration, said . No deaths or illnesses were reported.
A state media report last month centered on an inquiry in the northeastern province of Jilin, where 59 hospitals and pharmacies sold more than 2,000 bottles of counterfeit blood protein. One person died from use of the fakes, state media said.
Albumin is a primary protein in human plasma.
