Chinese candy maker denies Formalin claims

BEIJING (AP) – A Chinese candy maker denied Philippine claims that one of its products was tainted with formaldehyde, as Beijing sought to contain a wave of allegations that has hammered its reputation as a food and drug exporter.

The denial came as a Chinese freelance television reporter was detained for faking a hidden-camera report about the use of chemical-soaked cardboard to fill meat buns that had heightened outrage and concern.

Shanghai-based Guan Sheng Yuan Co. said it sent samples of its “White Rabbit” milk candy to a lab for testing after it was listed among Chinese products banned by the Philippine Bureau of Food and Drugs because of its formaldehyde tainting.

“Guan Sheng Yuan Co. makes this pledge to society: Absolutely at no point during the manufacturing of White Rabbit milk candy are preservatives added,” the company said in a statement posted on its Website late Wednesday.

Rivals have made numerous counterfeit versions of the popular candy, the company said, calling the Philippine food and drug bureau “irresponsible” for not checking the candy’s authenticity, and threatening to sue. Formaldehyde is used in resin production and is well known as a preservative and embalming fluid.

Officials at the Philippine Bureau of Food and Drugs did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

The speed and severity of Guan Sheng Yuan’s response underscored concerns that the deteriorating reputation of Chinese food exports could spread to some of the country’s best known brands.

Reporter detained for fake story on buns

Meanwhile, Beijing Television apologized to the public during an evening news broadcast Wednesday and said the creator of the allegedly fake news report, identified only by his surname, Zi, had been detained by police but did not say when. A copy of the broadcast was obtained by AP Television News on Thursday.

“He used deceptive means to get the footage on the air,” said news anchor Wang Ye, without giving specifics. “The Beijing Public Security Bureau has taken the criminal suspect, Zi, into custody and he will be severely dealt with according to law.”

Zi’s footage appeared to show a makeshift kitchen where people made fluffy buns stuffed with 60 percent cardboard that had been softened in a bath of caustic soda and 40 percent fatty pork.

Beijing Television explained an investigation revealed in mid-June that Zi brought meat, flour, cardboard and other ingredients to a downtown Beijing neighborhood, and had four migrant workers make the buns for him while he filmed the process. It said Zi “gave them the idea” of mincing softened cardboard and adding it to the buns.

The newscaster said the station was “profoundly sorry” for the fake report and its “vile impact on society.” The station vowed to prevent inaccurate news coverage in the future.

The news report – along with a spate of real food scares involving toxic fish, tainted pork and egg yolks colored with a cancer-causing dye – have harmed China’s reputation as an exporter and alarmed people at home.

In an apparent attempt to reassure key trading partners, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promised the speaker of Japan’s lower house of parliament that China would “make an effort to improve the quality of exports.”

Japan is one of a growing list of countries either banning or rejecting Chinese exports after toxins and chemicals that do not meet their standards were found in products such as juice and toothpaste.

A five-day meeting between teams from the US Department of Health and Human Services and Chinese food safety authorities was scheduled to begin July 31 in Beijing, said Li Yuanping, who heads the import and export safety bureau at the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Tensions were triggered last month after the US Food and Drug Administration announced it would seize Chinese catfish, basa and dace, as well as shrimp and eel, after repeated testing turned up contamination with drugs that have not been approved in the United States for use in farmed seafood.

BOC alert on China imports

The Bureau of Customs has been put on alert on all arriving imports from China following the government’s ban on some food products that have been reportedly found to contain an embalming chemical.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said he has created a special committee that would monitor and coordinate entry of items from China and likewise alerted all 15 major port districts in the country to be on the look-out for the banned items as smugglers could sneak them in through wrongful declaration in the entry permit.

“We are exerting more efforts in checking shipments coming from China. You see smugglers could misdeclare these banned products as something else. But considering our current system in inspecting cargo, we can assure the public that these dangerous items would not pass the Bureau of Customs without detection,” he stressed.

Morales said they have been closely coordinating with the Bureau of Food and Drugs to further strengthen measures in preventing entry of the banned products. The Customs committee on banned products is headed by Priscilla Bauzon, deputy collector for assessment of POM.

Among the banned products were Milk Candy, Bairong Grape Biscuits and Yong Kang Foods, and the popular White Rabbit candy. These items have been in the local market for several decades now. These products were reportedly found to contain formalin, a cancer-causing chemical used for embalming.

Based on the order by the BFAD, the product distributors are given 15 to 30 days to pull out their merchandise. Consumers are also enjoined to help rid the market of these unsafe products by reporting any adverse effects of their intake of the China-made sweets through the BFAD hotline, tel 842-5606.

Morales explained all arriving shipments of these products would be temporarily put on hold: “The importers can file entry. But if there is an existing ban, the shipment would normally not be cleared by BFAD for release.”

“Even before the ban on these products was issued, we already have here a standing advisory on regulated items like food and agricultural products. We are extra-careful in releasing these imports since they require clearances from the Department of Agriculture or BFAD,” he added.

The BOC earlier forged an agreement with the Department of Agriculture and its line agencies to curb the illegal entry of regulated food products, particularly vegetable and meat products, through the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement that seeks to curb technical smuggling in its earlier stages and protect the local market from unsafe products and crack down on illegal importation. – With Edu Punay