China asks tainted food and drug firms to shut down

Mumbai: China moved to improve its product safety image, shutting down a chemical plant linked to dozens of deaths in Panama from tainted medicine and two other companies linked to pet deaths in the US, ahead of a high-level visit by US and EU officials.

The general administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine also ordered the Xuzhou Anying Biotechnology Development Co. and Binzhou Futian Biotechnology Co. which exported a tainted product used in pet food, to shut down.

Xuzhou Anying, also in Jiangsu province, ``unlawfully added melamine in some of its products which could not meet the protein content requirement set in the contracts,'''' the administration said. ``This behavior of adulteration severely violated the feed quality and safety standards.''''

Binzhou Futian, headquartered in neighboring Shandong province, ``added melamine in some of its products which could not meet the protein content requirement ... constituting severe adulteration,'''' the statement said.

Melamine, used in plastics, fertilizers and flame retardants, has no nutritional value but is high in nitrogen, making products to which it is added appear to be higher in protein - a way to cut costs for the manufacturer.

Chinese authorities ordered the closure of the Taixing Glycerine Factory, accused of selling an ingredient used in cold medicine that killed at least 100 people in Panama.

A third company, the Taixing Glycerin Factory, which was accused of selling industrial "TD glycerin," a mix of 15 per cent diethylene glycol and other substances, was also orderd to close.

The diethylene glycol, a thickening agent found in antifreeze, was passed off as harmless glycerin, a more expensive sweetener commonly used in drugs.

The product, which ended up in Panamanian cough syrup and other medicines, killed at least 94 people.

``The food produced by larger companies, which control 90 per cent of the domestic Chinese market, is safe. China will strengthen regulations for the smaller companies that account for about 10 per cent of the market. We will shut down smaller food companies that chronically fail to meet quality standards,'''' the agency''s director Li Changjiang told newspersons.

The closures came months after links between the companies'' products and the deaths became known, but only days before the European Union and US visits.

EU consumer commissioner Meglena Kuneva is slated to visit China next week while on the US Food and Drugs Administration will begin a five-day meeting with officials of China''s food safety agency in Beijing from July 31.

Chinese officials said the sides will discuss setting up a collaborative food safety mechanism.

Beijing is seeking to reassure global customers that it takes food and drug safety seriously amid concerns over chemicals and toxins that have been found in its products.

China, which is under pressure to strengthen regulations after a series of scares ranging from contaminated toothpaste to drug- tainted seafood, has also stepped up announcements about ``substandard'''' US products in the past month and a half as international criticism of Chinese products increases.