Anlmal,Plant and Flsherles Quarantine and Inspection Agency

Tainted Chinese food forces Seoul to act on labelling The government and the ruling party yesterday put forward a package of measures to secure food safety across the nation amid rising concerns over melamine-contaminated food products imported from China. Among the measures is a food-labeling system that orders all food imports to mark the country-of-origin and disclose whether a company sells a product from a second company under its own brand. The government will publicize names of recalled products and establish a system allowing consumers to receive news about the harmfulness of a specific product. It will also increase the examination rate for imported goods from the current 20 percent to 30 percent and strengthen the punishment for firms found to have manufactured or import dangerous food. Such manufacturers will be forced to close their doors after being given two warnings. The government will collect fines equaling up to 10 times their profits. As part of the plan, manufacturers will be obliged to state the number of calories, saturated fat and sodium on each of their products. "The ruling party will establish a separate committee under the group to promote food safety and a special committee will be formed at the National Assembly level as well," said Rep. Ahn Hong-joon of the Grand National Party. "Through this plan, we will work to reform the management and supervisory systems for all food products, including imported ones." The GNP will hold a meeting of its top decision-making Supreme Council, joined by senior government officials, including the health minister and the head of the Korea Food and Drug Administration, to discuss further details today. Yesterday, the highest-yet melamine contamination rate of 271.4 parts-per-million was found in the Chinese-made snack Misarang Coconut, imported by Haitai Confectionary and Foods Co., a leading local confectionary. Last Thursday, another Haitai soft cake product, also imported from China, was discovered to have 137 ppm of melamine, while JNJ International's Milk Rusk biscuit was found to contain 7 ppm of melamine. Vegetable Cream Powder F25, a powered coffee creamer imported by Yuchang F.C. Corp., was also included on the government's banned-product list, as it contained 1.5 ppm of melamine. The creamer was used for instant coffee mixes and was supplied to local coffee shops and to vending machine operators, according to the KFDA. State food safety authorities said they expect to find an additional five-10 snack products tainted with melamine throughout their investigation, which was initiated on Sept. 18. Currently, they are checking 428 local products that are made with milk products from China, aiming to end the examination by Friday. The nation's food watchdog banned imports of Chinese-made food products containing powdered milk and 305 products were taken off shelves until they were completely investigated for melamine contamination last week. Melamine, an industrial chemical, is sometimes added to the milk formula by suppliers or manufacturers to artificially inflate the protein level reading. Health authorities said ingesting a small amount of the chemical poses no danger, but when consumed in large doses it could cause kidney failure and possibly death. Infants are the most vulnerable group. Earlier on Saturday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promised to improve food safety and instill business ethics in the midst of a growing scandal over Chinese milk products tainted with melamine. "We plan not only to revitalize the food industry and the milk powder industry, but we will try to ensure that all China-made products are safe for consumers and consumers can buy with assurance," Wen said at the World Economic Forum held in Tianjin, China. So far, the deaths of four infants have been blamed on bad milk and about 54,000 children have developed kidney stones or other illnesses after drinking the toxic baby formula. In Hong Kong, five children were reported ill after drinking tainted milk last week. Its government created a taskforce on Friday to find ways to manage the large number of children requesting kidney examinations and to cope with the number of mainland Chinese visiting Hong Kong to take advantage of its superior health care facilities. Chinese powdered milk products have been banned or recalled in numerous countries across the globe, including Bangladesh, Canada, France and Japan. By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldm.com) http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/