The State Administration for Market Supervision of China recently conducted a sampling test on the “Abbott Platinum infant formula 0-6 months old”, and the result was astonishing: 171.6mg/kg of vanillin was detected in this product.
Although Abbott raised objections to the results of the inspection, the Shanghai Institute of Quality Supervision and Inspection Technology conducted a second test on this milk powder and still found the ingredient vanillin. And the content is higher, rising to 189mg/kg.
According to reports, the relevant department has imposed serious sanctions against Abbott, confiscating approximately 3.43 million yuan of illegal income, and confiscating as much as 9.09 million yuan (1.42 million US dollars). This is the biggest incident in China’s milk powder industry in three years, and the seriousness of this time can be seen.
In recent years, the Chinese standards for infant milk powder have been increasing, which has caused many imported milk powders to no longer meet Chinese standards, especially the previously released “Infant Formula Foods” (GB10765-2021) and “Longer Infant Formula Foods” (GB10766-2021), “Children’s Formula Food” (GB10767-2021), so that the formulas of many foreign brands are not in compliance with the new national standard of China.
China has clearly stipulated the standard for the use of vanillin. According to the GB 2760-2014 “National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives”, it is not allowed to add any flavoring ingredients to the formula of infant milk powder for zero to six months old.
Vanillin is a kind of essence, which used to be extracted from plants and used in chocolate, ice cream and other foods successively, and can make foods fragrant and delicious. Later, with the rise of technology, people discovered a way to artificially synthesize vanillin.
Vanillin can be added to food as a flavoring agent regardless of whether it is natural or not. However, China stipulates that this ingredient should not be added to formulas for infants and young children under 6 months of age.
According to analysis, the reason why Abbott added vanillin to its milk powder was mainly that it would make the milk powder fragrant and delicious. Infants who consume this flavor for a long time may become addicted, which encourages parents to buy this milk powder all the time.
“The taste of infant formula 1 is usually not very good. Vanillin, as a food additive, can improve the mouthfeel. It is easier for infants and young children to accept it. Once infants and young children get used to the taste of a certain brand of milk powder, it will be difficult for a tine to adapt to other brands of milk powder, so this is also called the child’s first bite.” Industry insider Wang Ziheng told the reporter.
There is a view in the industry: children have memories of the first mouth of milk, and will reject other flavors of milk because of this, and obtaining the first milk for infants and young children is equivalent to obtaining a huge business opportunity. Therefore, before China banned the addition of sodium cyclamate in infant milk powder, many brands would add a small amount of vanillin. Even though China has banned the addition of related substances, some countries still do not prohibit the addition of vanillin in infant milk powder.
Many foreign brands export products into China, and the formulas sold in other countries are often different. The main manifestation is whether vanillin-based substances are added. Although these brands clearly know that adding vanillin is a substandard product in China, related problems frequently arise.
Before Abbott, brands such as Swiss Nestlé, German Hipp, and Dutch Primavita had also been named for vanillin.
In November 2020, the Beijing Municipal Administration of Market Supervision issued an announcement showing that a batch of Hipp infant formula (0-6 months old, 1 stage) was found to be vanillin incompatible with China’s national food safety standards. In the same month, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision and the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Market Supervision issued a notice on the risk control of unqualified foods for the same batch of Primavita infant formula milk powder, all due to the detection of vanillin and ethyl vanillin ingredients. In February of this year, Primavita was on the list for the third time, and a batch of Primavita infant formula (section 1) was still detected with vanillin and ethyl vanillin.
In recent years, with the implementation of various regulations, China’s supervision and requirements for infant milk powder have been far higher than the international level. For multinational companies, this means that a specific formula for the Chinese market is required to meet regulatory requirements.
At the same time, the newly implemented “second national standard” this year has higher requirements for infant milk powder, and more foreign brands are facing the problem of substandard formulas. This means that many foreign brands that have completed formula registration need to resubmit new formulas for the Chinese market.
It is worth noting that many foreign brands still add sugars such as sucrose in their formulas. Song Liang, a Chinese dairy industry expert, told the reporter that many companies still add such substances because the previously submitted formulas cannot be changed or replaced in a short time. Therefore, even if the industry and the new regulations clarify that such substances cannot be added, they still cannot be changed in a short period of time.
Source: China Business News