FDA warns ethnic Chinese communities against illegal Chinese baby formula

12 September 2008

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an advisory after dozens of children fell ill, with at least one fatality, due to the formation of kidney stones that formed after the child was fed a brand of baby food of Chinese origin, Sanlu, made by China's best-known producer of infant formula, Sanlu Group.

 Following the news Sanlu today issued a recall of  700 tons of its formula and has promised its own inquiry apart from the Chinese government's investigation.

Federal officials have now warned consumers to avoid buying any infant formula imported from China. The warning is directed at the Chinese American communities, particularly in Southern California which has one of the largest ethnic Chinese population in the US.

Import of Chinese-manufactured baby formula is illegal in the US. However, federal officials cite at least one case where a Chinese brand was found in a New York store in 2004.

Janice Oliver, a deputy director at the US Food and Drug Administration's Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition said the FDA was concerned that there could potentially be some formula that has made its way to markets in these ethnic Chinese communities illegally. However, there is no evidence of the tainted formula having made it to the shelves of US stores.

The FDA has strict regulatory control over baby food formula, and it permits a total of six companies to distribute it across the US. Moreover, none of the firms import their ingredients from China.

The contaminant in the Chinese baby formula is melamine, a substance that was found in tainted pet food that sickened and killed thousands of dogs and cats in the US last year.