Over the last few months, fake infant formula has been in the spotlight as rumors of fake infant formula surfaced.  The authorities have confirmed that thousands of infant formula products masking as Similac and Beingmate were sold in seven provinces.   While the gang and ringleader have been apprehended, some of their fake products are still unaccounted for.

The gang had been producing fake infant formula since 2014. When arrested, the Shanghai police seized:

• 1,000 cans of fake Similac
• 20,000 empty cans to be filled
• 65,000 fake Similac labels to be pasted

The police confirmed that at least 3,300 cans of Similac are unaccounted for, while a vendor has also admitted to selling at least 3,600 cans of fake Beingmate infant formula.

Unlike the 2008 milk scare, when the infant formula produced by Sanlu Group was found to contain melamine, these cans of fake infant formula are not deadly.  The ring mixed authentic Similac and Beingmate with a cheaper domestic brand.

However, China-based parents are still wary of locally manufactured infant formulas. Instead, families have resorted to purchasing imported formula brands from reliable vendors.

Many international families will bring cans of infant formula from their home visits and vacations. Some will have friends buy them from their trips abroad (daigou).  Others even have friends and relatives send in a shipment every few months.

Perhaps due to the recent arrests, China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) has drafted its strictest infant formula regulations yet. CFDA published the new food and safety law on June 6^th, as a follow up to their 2015 edition. The new regulations will be effective as of October 1^st, 2016.

Highlights of the 2015 Registration Measures and new Food Safety Law regulated:

• Both domestic and foreign produced infant formula must be registered with CFDA.
• Domestically produced infant formula must be screened during registration.
  • Must provide a product sample
  • Indicate authentic origin:
    • Raw material
    • Food additive
    • Formula
  • Avoid ambiguous terminology:
    • “imported milk source”
    • “from foreign pastures”
    • “imported milk”
    • “ecologic pasture”
    • “imported raw materials”
  • No exaggeration, false advertising, or wrong labeling:
    • “no additives”
    • “good for brain”
    • “protect intestinal tracts”
    • “improves immunity”

Highlights of the 2016 Registration Measures:

• No distinction between regulations on import and domestic infant formula. Imported infant formula subjected to the same quality screening process upon registration as domestic products.
• Each company is limited to three formula brands and nine product formulas, which is important because…
  • China sells over 2,000 different infant formulas, but only has…
  • 103 infant formula powder manufacturing enterprises
  • The new regulation will reduce the formula market by two thirds
  • A quarter of milk powder companies are expected to go out of business
• Import formula brought in through cross-border e-commerce retailers will also require the new permit
• Dairy enterprises have one year to adjust. They must receive their permit by January 1^st, 2018.

The CFDA aims to control the quality of both domestically produced and foreign import infant formula.  In good time, too, as China now encourages more births with the second child policy.

Photo: Flickr

The safety of baby milk in China has once again come under scrutiny, following news that six people have been arrested for selling counterfeit formula.

The six are accused of producing cheap milk powder and repackaging it as “Similac”, a popular US brand. Authorities hurried to reassure parents that this was not a repeat of the 2008 scandal, when six children died and two men were executed for their part in selling contaminated formula. The Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration announced that they had tested the formula and that it posed no risk to children. Abbott Laboratories, the makers of Similac, issued a statement saying that this case had come to light in December 2015 and that all the fake product had been traced and recalled by the end of last year.

Nonetheless this news will alarm families, particularly following the recent revelations about black market vaccine sales. As with the vaccine issue, the statement from Abbott reveals that this problem was known to the authorities months before any announcement was made, once again preventing parents from making informed choices. It is now eight years since the last formula scandal made international headlines, yet China still cannot guarantee the integrity of supplies.

We will be following this story as it develops.

Photo: ProjectManhattan

Beijing scientists are hard at work on developing an even more scientific replication of breast milk on the belief that Western formulas may not fit the nutritional needs of Chinese infants, the China Daily reports.

No, the prime motivation wouldn’t be to capitalize on a massive market dominated by expensive Western imported baby formula, and also one rife with counterfeit goods and the occasional melamine scandal, but rather for the good of mankind the Chinese people.

And the announcement would have nothing at all to do with this news from earlier this week that China would place new restrictions on the importation of foreign milk powder.

Funded by the city government to the tune of RMB 10 million and conducted by Beijing dairy giant Sanyuan Foods Co (who will toss in 10 million of their own), the study will track the nutritional components of Chinese mothers’ breast milk and develop a database for the purpose of developing a new formula designed just for Chinese babies.

With the resolute decision long held by dairy industry scientists worldwide that a mother’s breast just ain’t up to the task of feeding an infant (just like those pesky narrow birth canals that are practically crying out for a C-section), scientists hope a Made-for-China version of breastmilk backed by rigorous scientific research can make billions of RMB restore the credibility of local formula in local mothers, an estimated 72% of which are almost entirely dependent on formula for feeding their children 4 months after birth (but we’re crying B.S. on that number in Beijing — we guess it’s closer to 90%).

A higher-up in Sanyuan was clear to point out that forumula could never fully replicate the nutritional profile of mother’s milk, but they’ll work damn hard to make the next best thing.

As evidence of their dedication to tackling this pesky problem, city bean counters pointed out that the RMB 10 million for reverse-engineering breastmilk is "much greater than funding for unmanned aerial vehicles and all-electric vehicles research."

Well that’s good to know, I guess. Meanwhile, expecting and new moms can choose to not wait for all of this research to result in a marketable product and learn why good old fashioned breastfeeding is really the best choice for your child here.

Image: The Age

Starting from October, parents in Beijing and Jiangsu province will be able to buy baby formula from vending machines in 20 designated pharmacies, according to an announcement by the China Association of International Trade Center (which falls under the Ministry of Commerce). There are plans to expand the vending machines to another 20,000 pharmacies nationwide by 2015.

Xu Jing, head of the center, was quoted in China Daily as saying that the purchase and distribution of milk power in the pharmacies would be conducted by the Ministry of Commerce. To guarantee quality control, sales will be only be permitted through the machines; that means no purchases can be made at the pharmacy counter.

Many Chinese mothers still debate whether to continue feeding their children milk powder after a string of heartbreaking local and foreign scandals. This move by the Ministry Commerce is designed to boost their confidence in food safety. 

But how safe is the new distribution system? The latter should help filter counterfeit and unlicensed milk powder, but neither the deadly 2008 domestic Sanlu incident or the more recent international Fonterra scandal could be blamed on sales channels. Rather, they were caused by improper manufacturing processes and the poor quality of the milk source. What’s more, both companies were registered and legally allowed to process milk powder. Can distributing milk formula through pharmacies prevent similar incidents from happening in the future?

Choosing a baby formula is never easy in China. My sister, who also happens to be a pharmacist, recently thought of giving up milk power for her 2-year-old. She frequently switches brands to offset the risk, but the downside is that her daughter’s body does not take well to constant change. 

We don’t know whether selling milk power in pharmacies will do much to improve safety, but she figures that at least her pharmacy is more likely to maintain an air-conditioned environment (under 25°C) that will be favorable to milk powder storage.

Photo courtesy of  Yangtse Evening News
 

Hong Kong and Australia aren’t the only place that have been reeling from the surging demand for milk powder from the Chinese Mainland – the BBC reports that UK retailers, including Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons, have now also begun restricting customer purchases of such brands as Danone’s Apatamil and Cow & Gate as well as Nestle’s SMA milk powder. These measures are being spun as a "precautionary measure" to ensure supplies do not run low and manufacturers insist that "no shortages are anticipated."

Shanghai residents are on edge over the outbreak of A(H7N9) virus (a.k.a. The Bird Flu) but there is some encouraging news – a 4-year-old boy who was diagnosed with the illness has recovered, according to the WantChinaTimes (VPN needed). 

"From a clinical point of view, the boy has recovered," said Wu Fan, director of the Shanghai Disease Control and Prevention Center. His recovery proves that not every human infection of H7N9 is severe, Wu said. The boy will need to remain in the hospital for further observation, Wu added. The boy’s temperature is normal and he has no respiratory symptoms, said Yu Hui, director of the infectious disease department of the Children’s Hospital affiliated with Fudan University, where the boy is being treated.

Finally Reddit fans with kids take note: the site now has a new ChinaParenting board consisting of "Basically advice, stories and what-have-yous about being a parent in China whether foreign or Chinese.. anything goes" and including this thread on "Cross-Cultural Naming Conventions."

Public concern over milk powder has lingered since the melamine crisis first emerged in 2008. Since then a booming gray market for imported formula has emerged in China thanks to domestic middlemen who have been reportedly cleaning stores out of their stock in places as far away as Germany and Australia.

In Hong Kong parallel traders can make as much as "HK$10 for every tin of formula they [bring]across the border, meaning they earn HK$100 for each of the typical(ly) 20 trips they make each day." The problem has become so rampant local authorities have introduced measures to search and restrict the amount of baggage Mainland visitors can take out of the territory. 

In the meantime prices have risen for formula exported from New Zealand "following a clampdown by [domestic]authorities on illegal exports" and thus raising concerns that formula brands from other countries may follow suit (although any ensuing price hikes may have more to do with rising oil prices than restrictions in supply).

This is bad news for families like mine – my wife hasn’t been able to breastfeed our 9-month-old son since she stopped lactating a few months ago and we are now entirely dependent on formula. The case was the same for our now 5-year-old daughter – when she was a baby the average cost of a 728g can was around RMB 150-200 in retail stores (which was already high enough considering how much less these brands were priced in their countries of origin).

Nowadays prices have risen an additional RMB 100-200 for the same amount in stores – prices online are often lower but you take your chances with the sourcing and delivery – and we are now obliged to shell out around RMB 1,000 a month on formula alone. Fortunately we can afford it, but the prices seem over the top considering the same amount can be purchased back home in the US for around $20-25 (RMB 150-175).

This phase will soon pass for us as our son transitions to solids but it appears that ridiculously expensive prices for formula are here to stay in China.