Synutra Investigated for Tainted Milk in China
Commerce authorities in east China are investigating the firm after it was reported that a baby in the rural Jiangxi province suffered from diarrhea and uncontrollable shaking after drinking milk formula by Synutra, Xinhua said.
The baby boy died late last Saturday in a pediatric hospital, according to an online post which quoted the baby's family, Xinhua reported.
Authorities have sealed the batch of Synutra products in the county of Duchang, where the case was reported, and sent samples for testing, Xinhua said quoting officials with the county's bureau of industry and commerce.
The mother of the baby told Xinhua that the baby's twin sister, who was also sick, was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday.
Calls to Synutra's investor relations department were not answered, but the firm said in a statement posted on its Chinese website on Wednesday that it does not know what caused the baby's death and that milk powder does not usually cause convulsions or diarrhea.
This is the latest food scandal to have hit China. Last month, Mengniu Dairy said it destroyed dairy products found by a government quality watchdog to have contained a cancer-causing fungi.
In 2008, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 became ill from powdered milk laced with melamine, an industrial chemical added to low quality or diluted milk to fool inspectors by giving misleadingly high readings for protein levels.
From the January 13, 2012, Prepared Foods' Daily News.
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