China’s Yili recalls mercury-tainted baby formula

Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, a leading dairy company in China, has started recalling its infant formula after the government’s quality watchdog found high levels of mercury in some of the products.

Officials from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine screened samples from 715 infant formula products from several manufacturers across China, but only Yili products were found to be contaminated with high levels of mercury.

According to the company, this recall affects only QuanYou baby formula produced between November 2011 and May 2012. It also said that it is investigating the source of contamination and will properly dispose of all tainted products.

Mercury in food products can damage the central nervous system and lungs, and may even lead to birth defects.

The recall comes only one day after the government launched a campaign to ensure food safety through increased supervision and stringent punishments.

This is the latest food safety scare to hit the country, which has been plagued by a series of scandals after the tainted milk controversy in 2008, in which 22 dairy companies were implicated for using the industrial chemical melamine in milk and infant formula.

The 2008 scandal led the government to set up a food safety commission, which called for stringent punishments against violations of rules.

Following this, the dairy industry implemented several changes, but it is still vulnerable to scandals due to its fragmented nature and poorly controlled supply chain.

To ensure the safety of milk supply, several Chinese companies are shifting to self-operated farms, most recently Mengniu Dairy, which announced plans to invest CNY3.5bn ($552m) in large-scale farms to gradually phase out sourcing from small dairy farmers to ensure the quality of its milk.