China’s Health Ministry on Friday announced a nationwide inquiry into the safety of all infant formulas, as a team of investigators from six government agencies descended on the milk powder factory that produced formula now linked to one baby’s death and kidney problems in at least 50 others.
The producer of the suspect formula, the Sanlu Group, recalled 700 tons of it after determining Thursday that it had been contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical.
Contamination with melamine is especially embarrassing for the Chinese authorities. Pet food made from Chinese ingredients contaminated with melamine killed at least 16 pets and sickened thousands more last year in the United States, and the Chinese government promised at the time that it would keep melamine out of food products for people.
For the Chinese, the death of a baby from tainted infant formula also brings to mind a national scandal four years ago in which 13 infants died after drinking substandard formula that carried the Sanlu brand name but had been produced by counterfeiters.
Top Chinese doctors have been asked to perform urgent research into treatment for babies suffering from 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 problems.
