Abbott Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was administratively punished by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision for the production and operation of food contaminated by packaging materials, containers, means of transport, etc.
Specific penalties include: confiscation of illegal gains of more than 3.437 million yuan, confiscation of 16,225 cans of illegal food, and fines of more than 9.093 million yuan.
Is the fine of more than 9 million yuan actually "mitigated"?
On May 17, the reporter noted from the administrative penalty information disclosed by the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Bureau that Abbott Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was investigated by the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Bureau on February 3, 2021.
The cause of the incident was a supervision and sampling inspection by the State Administration for Market Regulation on December 1 last year.
In the Yinzhou Wanda store of Ningbo Children's Wang Children's Products Co., Ltd., the sampling staff conducted a supervision and sampling inspection of the "Abbott Platinum Youenmeili Infant Formula 0-6 months old 1 stage" (batch number: 18042NT, production date: June 3, 2020, specification: 900 grams / can, production enterprise: Abbott Ireland) imported and distributed by the parties.
After inspection, the actual measured value of the vanillin project of the above batch of products is 171.6 μg/kg.
According to China's national mandatory standard for food safety "Standards for the Use of Food Additives", infant formula foods under 6 months of age shall not add any food spices.
After investigation, the above batch of products was produced by Abbott Group's Irish factory and imported by the parties concerned and distributed in China.
According to reports, from July to August 2020, the parties imported 45,078 cans of the above batch of products from Abbott Logistics, and sold a total of 44,306 cans from September 3 to December 23, 2020. After the incident, from December 24, 2020 to February 28, 2021, the parties recalled a total of 15,533 cans of the above batch of products, plus a total of 16,225 cans of inventory.
Considering that the parties took effective measures at the first time after learning of the inspection results, actively eliminated the harmful consequences of illegal acts, and quickly carried out the recall work, and repurchased some of the above batches of products at a price higher than the sales price of the relevant products (after third-party audit, the repurchase and related expenses totaled more than 3.051 million yuan), the regulatory authorities reduced the administrative penalties for the parties in accordance with the law, and finally imposed a fine of 1 times the value of the goods on the parties.
Is vanillin contamination dangerous?
According to the information disclosed by the regulatory authorities, the above batch of products is not qualified because the Irish factory of Abbott Group did not clean the production pipeline thoroughly when changing the production line, resulting in the residue of vanillin contained in the previous type of product in the production pipeline, resulting in the subsequent product being contaminated with vanillin.
According to the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision, according to the "Expert Argument Opinion on Issues Related to the Detection of Vanillin in Infant Formula Milk Powder" issued by the Chinese Society of Food Science and Technology on April 1, 2021, according to the Assessment Method of the World Health Organization, the probability of vanillin detection in the above batch of products causing food safety and other risks is extremely low. As of the end of April this year, the parties concerned had not received complaints from consumers reflecting adverse reactions to the above batch of products.
In fact, as early as 2012, a number of well-known milk powder manufacturers were also exposed to the inclusion of vanillin in their infant formula milk powder products.
At that time, some media said that the study of relevant European organizations pointed out that large doses of vanillin can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, breathing difficulties, and even damage to the liver and kidneys. Global consumers once talked about "pandan" and discoloration.
Food safety experts said that in fact, there is no ironclad evidence that vanillin is "harmful", and the "large dose" that can lead to adverse reactions pointed out in the above-mentioned so-called research is vague, and since the specific "harmful dose" cannot be said, it is impossible to accurately judge the possible impact on the human body.
What is vanillin? Like many flavors, the original vanillin was naturally derived and was mainly extracted from plants such as vanilla grown in countries such as Mexico, Madagascar, and Indonesia.
This flavor has a strong creamy aroma, so it is quickly used worldwide in chocolate, ice cream, beverages, candy, biscuits and other foods. Since then, relying on naturally extracted vanillin production has been difficult to meet market demand, and synthetic vanillin has become popular.
However, it is certain that whether it is natural or synthetic, vanillin is the flavor that China is legally allowed to add into food.
Only for extremely prudent reasons (if you are not sure, you will not use), China's current food additive use standards stipulate that infant formula food under 6 months of age shall not add any food spices, but at the same time, the standard also clarifies that vanillin can be used in larger infant and infant formulas, and the maximum use is 5 mg/100 ml.
However, whether to expose children to legal foods containing food additives prematurely is a question for parents to think carefully about.
When children are accustomed to the "milk aroma" of food, they suddenly face pure natural foods and always feel that something is missing.
This may be the reason why many manufacturers rely on vanillin, which will make children who are originally "white paper" in taste tendencies rely on some products, and this dependence is a business opportunity for manufacturers.
Column editor-in-chief: Zhang Yi Title map Source: Jiang Diwen Photo
Source: Author: Chen Xisha