China candy back from tainted milk scare

SHANGHAI – China’s iconic White Rabbit candy is back in production after being pulled out of stores around the world last month in the wake of the country’s tainted milk scandal, a state-run newspaper reported Tuesday.

The popular, vanilla-flavored sweets are sold in more than 50 countries, including the United States. But production stopped last month when its Shanghai-based maker said the candy may have been contaminated by melamine, an industrial chemical at the center of the scandal.

Chinese officials have accused milk suppliers of adding melamine to certain batches of milk to boost protein readings with its high nitrogen content. The contamination has been blamed for killing four babies and sickening more than 53,000 children in China.

Dozens of countries worldwide have banned Chinese milk products.

The latest is Senegal, which said Monday its ban was a preventative measure.

The White Rabbit announcement comes a day after China’s Cabinet promised to overhaul its “chaotic” dairy industry and acknowledged it suffered from a lack of oversight.

At a meeting of the State Council, or Cabinet, the government said it would punish companies and officials involved in the contamination of milk products.

Unlawful “elements” and companies had put profit above people’s lives, a notice about the meeting on the government’s Web site said.

Testing continues on milk and milk-related products in China, and the maker of White Rabbit candy said its new batches of candy will undergo government quality testing.

Guan Sheng Yuan Co. said White Rabbit candy production has resumed because the company is now using a safe supply of powdered milk, but China Daily noted that the company did not say where the raw milk for the powder came from.

Parent company Bright Foods (Group) Co. Ltd. has been the main milk supplier for the candy, but previous tests on its milk have shown melamine contamination.

Guan Sheng Yuan Co. did not say when White Rabbit candy would go on sale again, the newspaper said. The company could not be immediately contacted Tuesday.

The head of China’s quality watchdog said the country was increasing checks on its exports to ensure they conformed to the food safety standards of recipient countries, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Part of the agency’s cleanup effort was the deployment in mid-September of more than 5,000 inspectors to check dairy factories. The inspections are covering all dairy producers across the country to monitor the entire production process around the clock. -AP