Chinese dairy company launches first line of products since tainted milk scandal

October 2nd, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - Swiss food giant Nestli has announced it would stop buying milk from a Zimbabwean dairy controlled by Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace. The Telegraph revealed at the weekend that Gushungo Dairy Estate sells up to a million litres of milk a year to Nestli Zimbabwe's manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Harare.

September 17th, 2009 KOLKATA - Australian dairy brands, Bega cheese and Pauls Zymil easy to digest milk, were launched in Kolkata Thursday and would soon be available in other Indian cities as well, an official said. "The brands will be initially available in eastern and northeastern India, followed by launches in northern, southern and western India," Debraj Sanyal, director iMBiz Pvt Ltd, told reporters at a press meet.

June 25th, 2009 ANAND - Amul has been ranked amongst the top 21 largest dairy businesses in the world as per the findings published by International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN) at the 10th IFCN Dairy Conference 2009 at Stockholm. The IFCN is a network of dairy researchers responsible for analysing global dairy trends and creating knowledge to guide the various stakeholders in the dairy sector covering about 80 countries, over 60 dairy related companies, a number of dairy related institutions and dairy farmers.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The ban on milk and milk product imports from China, which was to have expired June 24, has been extended by another six months, the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said. "The central government hereby extends the prohibition on import of milk and milk products, including chocolates and chocolate products..., for a period of six months from 24 June, 2009, and until further orders," said a DGFT notification.

June 3rd, 2009 China closes 4,000 milk collection stationsBEIJING — China has shut down nearly 4,000 milk collection stations for failing to meet safety standards, nine months after tainted milk products were blamed for sickening hundreds of thousands of babies and killing six children, the official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday. The closures come after the government inspected all of the country's 20,393 milk collection stations since last November, Song Kungang, director-general of the China Dairy Industry Association, said, according to Xinhua.

April 2nd, 2009 ANAND - Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the Amul brand of dairy products, posted a turnover of Rs.6,705 crore (Rs.67.05 billion) in 2008-09, reflecting an increase of around 28 percent, the company announced Thursday in a statement. The federation's turnover has almost doubled over the last three years, the statement said, adding that the group turnover of GCMMF and its dairy 13 cooperatives, all members of the federation, has touched Rs.10,000 crore.

March 4th, 2009 CANBERRA - The Australian and the Indian government agreed Tuesday to resume the trade of Australian milk products for the first time since the suspension of importing goods in 2003. 'India's changing demographics, particularly its growing middle class and urbanization, is creating real potential for the trade growth and Australia is well placed to provide high-value dairy products,' Trade Minister Simon Crean said in a statement while commenting on the bilateral agreement.

February 6th, 2009 PANAJI - India needs to actively pursue a National Milk Vision 2020 in an integrated manner if it is to hold its position as a global milk production giant, former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said here Saturday.

January 21st, 2009 SHIJIAZHUANG - Two men were sentenced to death Thursday by a local court in connection with the China tainted milk scandal in which about 296,000 infants suffered kidney stones and other urinary problems. Zhang Yujun, who produced and sold melamine-laced 'protein powder', was convicted of endangering public security and given capital punishment by the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court, while the other man Geng Jinping was convicted of producing and selling toxic food.

January 12th, 2009 ANAND - Milk farmers from Jammu and Kashmir, who were on a visit to the state of 'white revolution', feel inspired by their Gujarati counterparts for their success in creating Amul as one of Asia's largest milk brand. At least 50 milk producers of Jammu and Kashmir Milk Producers' Co-operative Ltd (JKMPCL) came on a five-day Amul Yatra in the first week of January to study a model of milk production.

January 1st, 2009 BEIJING - Through a New Year text message sent to millions of mobile phone subscribers, a group of Chinese dairy firms has apologised to people for the country's biggest milk scandal that killed at least six babies and made 290,000 ill. 'We are deeply sorry for the harm we have brought to children and to society,' said the message by the dairy firms led by the Sanlu Group, which is at the centre of the tainted milk controversy.

December 30th, 2008 BEIJING - The Chinese government is preparing a 'pre-emptive' monitoring system to ensure food safety to prevent recurrence of the countrywide tained baby food scandal that killed six infants and sickened nearly 30,000. 'It means we will try to rid food problems by early detection, early warning and early intervention,' Su Zhi, deputy general director of health inspection and supervision bureau in the health ministry, said Wednesday.

December 30th, 2008 SHIJIAZHUANG - A court in northern Chiba Wednesday began trial of four senior executives of Sanlu Group, the major dairy producer at the centre of the country's tainted milk scandal that claimed lives of at least six infants. The court in Shijiazhuang, capital city of Hebei province, tried Tian Wenhua, the former general manager of Sanlu, and three other senior executives on charges of 'producing and selling fake or substandard commodities'.

December 26th, 2008 BEIJING - Victims of contaminated milk in China would get compensation from the dairy firms involved in the scandal, China's Dairy Industry Association announced here Saturday. 'The enterprises offered to shoulder the compensation liability.

December 25th, 2008 SHIJIAZHUANG - Six people involved in China's melamine-tainted baby food scandal went on trial Friday in four courts in the northern province of Hebei. Prosecutors charged Zhang Yujun and Zhang Yanzhang, who appeared at the Shijiazhuang intermediate people's court, with compromising public security.