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Three dead in the latest Chinese milk scare

Another dairy food safety scare has hit China, after milk tainted with nitrate kills three people and causing 35 others to fall seriously ill.

According to reports from state media, the victims were poisoned after drinking milk from two dairies in the Gansu Province, in the north-west of the country. The nitrate that was detected in the milk is a chemical used in the curing of meat.

Of the 35 have become sick as a result of drinking the milk, most are children under 14; one is in a critical condition, the others are stable.

Chinese authorities have sealed off the two offending farms and the senior managers are under investigations.

In recent years China has been rocked by numerous contaminated milk scandals and this latest report comes just days after the licenses were taken away from more than half the dairies operating in the country.

In 2008 China was struck by the melamine-tainted milk case, which killed six children and made around 300,000 people sick. Consequently consumer confidence in domestic milk products has dropped dramatically, causing a strengthening of preference for imported products.

According to Rabobank analysts, China became the world’s largest dairy importer during 2010, with Chinese buys dominating Fonterra’s GlobalDairyTrade auction.

 

Image courtesy of www.theepochtimes.com
 

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