AFP: Melamine-tainted Morinaga milk given to African children

Julien, a French resident of Japan and concerned father of a 9-month-old baby, has written to inform us that the AFP is reporting a case of Melamine-tainted Morinaga milk in Africa. The original article is in French and has not yet been translated into English or Japanese, but Julien provided an English explanation in his e-mail.

Baby milk received as international aid in Burkina Faso was found to contain eight times the maximum allowance level for melamine. The labels on the milk said it came from Hagukumi, a baby food/powered milk company owned by Morinaga. Although Morinaga is a Japanese company, it is likely that the milk in question was prepared at one of the company’s factories in Harbin, China. The article says that Morinaga could not be reached for a comment at the time the news broke.

Update: The story has been translated into Japanese and English. Morinaga has released an official statement stating that its internal tests found no melamine:

‘It is impossible that melamine is detected in our company’s products,’ Morinaga Milk Industry said in a statement.

[hat tip to ダビ]

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