Toxins found in tainted milk brand product

A batch of milk produced by Mengniu Group has tested to have excessive aflatoxin, a cancer-causing substance, over the weekend. Provided to China Daily The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on Saturday published the result of a random check of 200 dairy products in 21 provinces, and two products, including one manufactured by Mengniu, were found to contain excessive aflatoxin. Despite the company's declaration on Monday that the entire tainted batch was destroyed in its branch plant in Meishan, Sichuan province, before it could reach the market, Cai, a college student in Zhejiang, said she was still confused as to whether the milk she had bought was safe to consume. While the national standard allowed a maximum of 0.5 micrograms carcinogenic content in a kg of milk, the official test found 1.2 micrograms of the toxic substance in the Mengniu sample. The sample product was a 250 ml pack of pure milk produced on Dec 18, according to the test result published on the website of the general administration. Aflatoxin is virulent in terms of toxicity and is classified as a first-class carcinogen by the World Health Organization. "Experiments on animals have demonstrated a strong carcinogenic effect of the substance, and studies about epidemic diseases indicate that the content of the substance in food is relevant to the incidence of liver cancer," said Fan Zhihong, associate professor with China Agricultural University's college of food science and nutrition engineering. She also says the carcinogen can accumulate in the human body, and is resistant to heat. "It dissolves when the temperature reaches nearly 300 C, which means high temperature disinfection or pasteurizing (a common disinfection method used in the dairy industry) cannot kill it at all." Dairy experts said the source of the problem might be traced to cattle feed being contaminated by aflatoxin. "Cattle feed, such as corn, rice and soybean, will produce the poison after having been stored for a long time," said Wang Dingmian, chairman of the Guangzhou Dairy Association. It is mandatory to have the carcinogen levels in raw milk and end products tested by manufacturers. Lu Jianjun, a spokesman for Mengniu, said: "We inspect every batch obeying the country's requirement." A batch of milk produced by Mengniu Group has tested to have excessive aflatoxin, a cancer-causing substance, over the weekend. Provided to China Daily The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on Saturday published the result of a random check of 200 dairy products in 21 provinces, and two products, including one manufactured by Mengniu, were found to contain excessive aflatoxin. Despite the company's declaration on Monday that the entire tainted batch was destroyed in its branch plant in Meishan, Sichuan province, before it could reach the market, Cai, a college student in Zhejiang, said she was still confused as to whether the milk she had bought was safe to consume. While the national standard allowed a maximum of 0.5 micrograms carcinogenic content in a kg of milk, the official test found 1.2 micrograms of the toxic substance in the Mengniu sample. The sample product was a 250 ml pack of pure milk produced on Dec 18, according to the test result published on the website of the general administration. Aflatoxin is virulent in terms of toxicity and is classified as a first-class carcinogen by the World Health Organization. "Experiments on animals have demonstrated a strong carcinogenic effect of the substance, and studies about epidemic diseases indicate that the content of the substance in food is relevant to the incidence of liver cancer," said Fan Zhihong, associate professor with China Agricultural University's college of food science and nutrition engineering. She also says the carcinogen can accumulate in the human body, and is resistant to heat. "It dissolves when the temperature reaches nearly 300 C, which means high temperature disinfection or pasteurizing (a common disinfection method used in the dairy industry) cannot kill it at all." Dairy experts said the source of the problem might be traced to cattle feed being contaminated by aflatoxin. "Cattle feed, such as corn, rice and soybean, will produce the poison after having been stored for a long time," said Wang Dingmian, chairman of the Guangzhou Dairy Association. It is mandatory to have the carcinogen levels in raw milk and end products tested by manufacturers. Lu Jianjun, a spokesman for Mengniu, said: "We inspect every batch obeying the country's requirement."