» 07/06/2011 12:49 CHINA China produces the worst milk in the world Chinese milk has a low protein level and high levels of bacteria. “What is produced from garbage is garbage,” one critic says. Ordinary people are concerned in the wake of the melamine-tainted milk scandal. The government lowers safety levels because producers cannot meet stricter standards. Some 70 per cent of milk producers would go out of business if forced to meet them.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Chinese authorities have some of the lowest quality standards in the world when it comes to raw milk production. In mainland China, this leads to the production of milk with the lowest protein content but also with some of the highest levels of bacteria, Bright Dairy president Guo Benheng said.
"Our raw milk standards are almost the world's lowest," Guo told a forum on Sunday. The mainland's standard for the protein content of raw milk is much lower than in the United States and European Union.
“International standards for the dairy industry also require checks for antibiotics and nitrites in raw milk, but China does not even make such requirements," Guo added. "Can we make a very high-end product with a relatively lower standard? In fact, we cannot. What is produced from garbage is garbage."
Guo’s comments could raise more concerns and lead to a loss of confidence among Chinese consumers, already tried by the melamine-tainted milk scandal that killed six newborn children and caused kidney-related damage to an additional 300,000.
In January, the authorities imposed new standards, ordering dairy product manufacturers to obtain new production certificates this year, and said those unable to guarantee product quality would be shut down.
The new national safety standard for dairy products lowered the minimum protein level required for raw milk from 2.95 per cent to 2.8 per cent.
The new standard also set the maximum limit for bacteria in raw milk at two million cells per millilitre.
In comparison, Western nations' dairy standards call for a bacterial count of roughly 100,000 per millilitre of raw milk, and a protein content of roughly 3 per cent.
The Ministry of Health said in a statement that the threshold protein count was lowered because most milk producers could not meet the standard.
Nadamude, secretary general of the Dairy Association of Inner Mongolia, told the People's Daily that 70 per cent of China's dairy farmers would be forced to throw out their milk or even sell some of their cows if stricter standards were imposed.
