| ■ China Closes Thousands of Milk Inspection Stations | 2009.06.08 |
| The Chinese government has closed more than 3,900 substandard milk collection stations in the wake of last year's contaminated-milk scandal that killed at least six children and left about 300,000 other children with kidney and urinary problems. State media reported that all of China's 20,393 milk stations were inspected between November 2008 and April this year, and 3,908 were shut down because of lack of proper equipment or poor hygiene, Agence France Presse reported. Last year's scandal, which involved milk laced with the industrial chemical melamine, led to worldwide recalls and bans of Chinese dairy products. Milk collection stations became the focus of attention after investigators learned that middlemen had added melamine to diluted milk in order to make it seem to have a higher protein content, AFP reported. |