China Mengniu Diary Co., Ltd apologized on the weekend after a batch of its pure milk products were detected to be contaminated by cancer-causing Aflatoxin M1

China Mengniu Diary Co., Ltd apologized on the weekend to the consumers after a batch of its pure milk products were detected to be contaminated by cancer-causing Aflatoxin M1 in the latest food scandals that have afflicted China.

In two statements issued on Saturday and Sunday, while delivering an “earnest” apology to the public, the leading Chinese diary product maker said that the batch of products found with as much as 1.4 times of Aflatoxin M1 the national standard in a sample testing by the quality supervision authority, had not been on sale and were destroyed already.

All of the Mengniu’s products available on the market are qualified, the company said in the statements on its website.

Aflatoxin was classified at first-calss cancer-causing substance by the World Health Organization, because of the great harm it can do to the liver. Aflatoxin breeds quickly in a wet and warm environment. It cannot be killed by pasteurizing, which is used as a common disinfection method in the diary industry.

The unqualified products were produced in one factory of Mengniu based in Meishan, a city in Southwestern China’s Sichuan Province.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine found that batch milk produced by Fujian Changfu Diary, a smaller producer, also contained more Aflatoxin M1 than allowed.

At least six children died and nearly 300.000 became ill in 2008 from melamine-contaminated powdered milk.