Forty-eight Chinese babies have suffered from kidney stones after consuming Dumex milk powder products.
Chinese media report that foreign media outlets are stating that since September 2008, about 48 babies from China's Zhejiang, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces have had calcium deposit problems and some of them have had kidney stones as a result of using Dumex milk power products. Local media states that Dumex is selling its milk power products in China in two different packages: the milk powder in the golden shield package is imported while the product in the ordinary package is manufactured in China.
So far, Dumex has announced on its website that all its products sold in China are safe, and no medical report or evidence has shown that any of the 48 baby patients had become sick because of its milk powder products. The company said that it has spot-checked a total 2651 samples since April 2007 and has confirmed that none of their products contain melamine. For the source of the milk powder, Dumex said that all the raw material of its products comes from Australia and New Zealand.
The foreign media reports stated that the Shanghai Pudong New Zone Food Production and Supervision Department, the direct supervisor of Dumex, has begun an investigation on the Dumex products concerned and as of now it is not known whether Dumex should be held responsible for the babies' sickness.
Dumex entered the Chinese market in 1995. Since 2002, it has been the leader of China's infant formula milk powder market in terms of sales volume.
