Months after melamine, China food security "grim"
(Adds details of lawsuit, paragraphs 8-12)
BEIJING, March 2 (Reuters) - China said on Monday food security remains "grim" after a series of health scandals, the most recent being last year's tainted milk formula which killed at least six toddlers and made almost 300,000 sick.
A new food-safety law, approved on Saturday in an accelerated process since the milk scandal came to light in September, attempts to fix a fragmentary regulatory system which officials blame for recurring problems.
"At present, China's food-security situation remains grim with high risks and contradictions," the Ministry of Health said in documents handed to reporters on Monday.
The food-safety law, which takes effect on June 1, sets quality and safety standards for products and lays out a regulatory system as well as a risk-monitoring system.
China approved in principle a new food-safety law in October 2007 following scandals involving unsafe toothpaste, seafood and pet food, among other products.
Nonetheless, the children developed kidney stones after melamine, an industrial compound used in making plastics and fertilizer, was added to milk and other products to cheat protein tests, prompting Chinese-made products to be stripped from shelves worldwide.
A month later, the World Health Organisation's food safety chief, Jorgen Schlundt, called China's food-safety system "disjointed" and said poor communications between ministries and agencies may have prolonged the melamine poisonings.
China sentenced two people to death in January for producing or selling milk adulterated with melamine, and jailed the chairwoman of now bankrupt dairy producer Sanlu Group for life, but the fall-out from the scandal continues.
A group of 54 people who say their children developed kidney stones and other illnesses after drinking melamine-adulterated milk are suing Qingdao Shengyuan Dairy Co Ltd for 8 million yuan ($1.2 million) in damages, Li Jinglin, their lawyer, told Reuters on Monday.
It was unclear whether the court in the eastern city of Qingdao would accept the case. Calls placed to the court could not be connected. The company had heard of the case, but could not provide immediate comment, a staff member told Reuters by telephone.
Parents' groups had earlier targeted two other foreign milk formula manufacturers, both of which were cleared by Chinese authorities of any unsafe additives.
More than 90 percent of the melamine victims' families have taken state-backed compensation, state media reported in January, citing the China Dairy Industry Association, but local courts have so far refused to accept lawsuits filed by parents who have refused to accept the pay-out. (Reporting by Lucy Hornby and Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie)
