From Reuters, via the Washington Post:
China’s latest food safety problem, involving the addition of the industrial chemical melamine to milk to cheat in quality tests, has caused public outrage and put the spotlight back on deficiencies in industry oversight and weak regulatory bodies.
China has already said the city government in Shijiazhuang, home to the Sanlu Group whose contaminated milk sparked a recall now spread worldwide, sat on a report from the company about the tainting for more than a month, while Beijing hosted the Olympic Games.
“Please can the government increase control and coordination of the media, to create a good environment for the recall of the company’s problem products,” the People’s Daily cited the letter from Sanlu as saying.
“This is to avoid whipping up the issue and creating a negative influence in society,” it added.
Read also a Los Angeles Times editorial on this issue, and a previous CDT post about the first lawsuit brought against Sanlu by parents of a sick baby.
