China on alert for leather protein in milk supply

BEIJING - CHINESE state media say the government will spot check the country's fresh milk supplies for the industrial chemical melamine and another toxic substance extracted from leather scraps.

Both of the substances - melamine and leather-hydrolysed protein - are used in watered-down milk to make it appear to have normal amounts of protein.

The China Daily newspaper reported on Friday that the Agriculture Ministry warned milk producers recently that it will carry out 6,450 spot checks on fresh milk this year.

The tests will look for trace amounts of melamine, the chemical found to be widely used in Chinese dairy products in 2008 and blamed for killing six children and sickening more than 300,000.

The paper says 30 per cent of the checks will also look for leather-hydrolysed protein. -- AP

Source: ST Online

China rice laced with heavy metals from pollution

BEIJING - UP TO 10 per cent of rice grown in China is contaminated with harmful heavy metals stemming from pollution linked to the nation's rapid industrialisation, a report said.

This week's edition of the New Century magazine cited studies showing that large amounts of Chinese rice have been tainted with heavy metals like cadmium for years but that little has been done to highlight the dangers.

'During China's fast-paced industrialisation, activities such as mining have sprung up everywhere, releasing into the environment chemical elements like cadmium, arsenic, mercury and other harmful heavy metals,' the report said.

'These harmful heavy metals have spread through the air and water, polluting a rather large area of China's land ... a complete chain of food contamination has existed for years.'

The report cited academic studies since 2007 focussing on several rural villages in southern China near mines and industrial areas where health problems such as bone diseases have emerged, mostly among the elderly.

Of the major grains, rice has the strongest tendency to absorb cadmium, which often seeps into water used for irrigation near mines, especially lead, tin and copper mines, the report said. -- AFP

source: ST Online

Civil servant paid for doing nothing

FUZHOU - A FREELOADING civil servant has become the target of Internet slurs after netizens discovered he had been paid for more than seven years without working a single day.

Sarcastically dubbed 'China's most capable civil servant', Jiang Jinxiang was recommended to a post in the urban construction supervision branch in Longyan city of East China's Fujian province in October 2003.

Though he never showed up for his job, his salary was still punctually deposited into his account every month - for the next 89 months.

When reached by China Daily on Friday, Mr Jiang claimed he was never aware his post had been transferred to the urban construction supervision branch.

'I was never notified about my 'new job'. I thought the money was payment during my suspension from a previous post,' Mr Jiang said.

Lack of transparency in the payroll system in some government departments has long been blamed for a series of payment errors in the country.

Source: ST Online CHINA DAILY/ANN