Top Chinese doctors have been asked to perform urgent research into cures for babies suffering kidney stones and kidney failure after drinking the formula, the ministry also said. Doctors across the country were ordered to report any further cases of babies with kidney difficulties.
China's Ministry of Health announced a nationwide investigation Friday into the safety of all infant formulas as a team of investigators from six government agencies descended on the powdered milk factory that produced formula now linked to one baby's death and kidney problems in at least 50 more.
The producer of the suspect formula, the Sanlu Group, recalled 700 tons of its formula after determining on Thursday that it had been contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical, according to the official China Daily newspaper. The discovery of contaminated infant formula in China is a setback for the country's efforts to reassure its own citizenry and overseas buyers that the "made in China" label is trustworthy after a series of incidents involving items from toxic toy beads to poisonous cough syrup.
Contamination with melamine is especially embarrassing for the Chinese authorities. Pet food made from Chinese ingredients laced with melamine sickened thousands of pets last year in the United States, many fatally, and the Chinese government promised at the time that it would prevent melamine from entering food products for people.
The death of the baby from tainted infant formula reminded people of the deaths four years ago of 13 infants who had been given substandard formula that carried the Sanlu brand but had been produced by counterfeiters.
The Health Ministry promised "serious punishment" Friday for those found responsible for the presence of melamine in the Sanlu formula. The majority of the babies who have fallen sick had definitely drunk the Sanlu formula, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site.
China also reported the problem to the World Health Organization, in an attempt to improve its reputation for transparency in health issues. China hid the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, for four months in late 2002 and early 2003, drawing international criticism when the disease spread to Hong Kong and then elsewhere in the world.
Melamine, an ingredient of plastics and fertilizers, is sometimes added in China by dishonest merchants to animal feed. The melamine causes a common test of animal feed to show that the feed contains more protein than it actually has.
According to Xinhua, the official news agency, doctors and investigators showed up Friday at Sanlu's factory from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine; the Ministry of Agriculture; the Ministry of Public Security; the Ministry of Health; the State Administration for Industry and Commerce; and the State Food and Drug Administration.
Sanlu ordered its recall and promised its own investigation after determining that samples of its formula manufactured before Aug. 6 had been contaminated with melamine.
Sanlu officials did not answer calls to eight phone numbers at the company's headquarters in Shijiazhuang, in Hebei Province. It was not clear what production changes were made on Aug. 6 that prompted the company to conclude that formula produced after that date was safe.
There have been reports of babies' developing kidney stones and kidney failure in at least seven provinces, with a spate of cases in Gansu Province in western China first setting off the recall.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration said that no infant formula from China had been approved for import. But the agency advised consumers to be cautious, because limited quantities might have found their way into some Asian grocery stores.
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