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Safety issues for two milk brandsPosted by Eric Mu on Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 4:08 PM
 Shenyang Evening News February 12, 2009 China's quality supervisor recently barred Mengniu, a major dairy manufacturer, from putting an additive called OMP (Osteoblasts Milk Protein) into one of its products. The company, which has been marketing the concept that the OMP in its high-end "Deluxe" milk has the effect of improving the human body's absorption of calcium, responded on its website with a statement claiming, "OMP is safe and FDA-approved." In the statement, Mengniu denied the charge that the OMP is in fact IGF-1 (Insulin-like growth factor 1), a human hormone that plays an important role in childhood growth and continues to have anabolic effects in adults. Fang Zhouzi, a science writer who crusades against fraud, first raised questions about OMP in 2007. Fang believes that OMP is IGF-1 and said in an interview with the Xinmin Online that the government should "investigate the carcinogenic effects of OMP, and whether milk contains the advertised amount of OMP." IGF-1 isn't cheap, so in Fang's view, Mengniu is either poisoning its customers by adding OMP, or cutting costs and claiming that its milk has the benefits of added OMP without actually using the additive. Dumex, another dairy brand, is also facing safety questions. Xinhua reports:
The article refers to reports in "overseas media" about 48 Chinese infants who allegedly suffered kidney illnesses after drinking Dumex milk powder. Links and Sources
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Comments on Safety issues for two milk brands
From Hong Kong: Wellcome supermarket has already pulled Milk Deluxe off its shelves, although oddly not Milk Deluxe OMP, which is apparently an entirely different product and not sold in HK.
I think Chinese Government should take a more serious approach to deal with this Milk problem...
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And once again a New Zealand company is involved. The OMP is produced by Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company, based in Waikato.
http://tinyurl.com/brsd7u
That article says nothing about IGF-1, but it does mention Tatua had problems with traces of melamine- thanks to a faulty filtration process they say they've fixed- appearing in some of its products.
What is it with us Kiwis and dodgy Chinese milk?
From Beijing: I feel outraged, does anybody know whethere there is any milk in China that I can buy at all? It seems this market of dairy products in China is a whole mess and there is absolutely no one knows what's really going on, there are dodgy businesses under every table! I currenly live in China and I don't want to get poisoned! MengNiu has been bombarding the public with advertisements after Sanlu's bankrupcy, in a manner that they were so eager to prove that they were so out of the league of Sanlu. Then suddenly one day, it's contaminated just the same! Anything trustable left in China?
Maybe the outrage was a little premature; the Ministry of Health has deemed OMP safe. However, it is clear that Mengniu still acted improperly by using the additive without approval: link