China Issues Quality Control Regulations on Dairy Products

China has put in place a series of quality checks to tighten control of dairy products.

The move was prompted by the country's recent contaminated milk incident.

The regulations tighten control of how milk-yielding animals are bred, how raw milk is purchased and the production and sales of dairy foods.

According to the regulation, there will also be more severe punishments on people who violate safety standards and quality control departments that fail to fulfill required checks. Relevant officials will also be punished if dairy food safety incidents occur.

In the mean time, consumer confidence in domestic dairy products is recovering.

A Beijing consumer said she is confident about the quality of dairy products, after she visited the factory of Mengniu, one of China's leading dairy producers.

"I feel the quality of dairy products is now back to normal. By visiting the factory, we have seen every stage of production, including the disinfection and packaging stages."

According to latest statistics from the Ministry of Commerce sales of baby formula and liquid milk have climbed back to 80% and 70% of the regular sales respectively.