China tightens control on infant formula makers

There soon won't be as many Chinese producers of baby formula as there used to be. The China Food and Drug Administration said Friday that formula producers who can't get licenses will be forced to stop production in June.

"This round of approving production permits for formula makers has finished. By now, there have been 82 firms that have obtained the permits, while 51 other companies failed or applied to postpone the investigation and some of them withdrew from the industry," said Ma Chunliang, Deputy Director of China Food and Drug Administration.

The CFDA says that the 82 companies that gained permits spent nearly 2.5 billion yuan, or 400 million U.S. dollars, to improve their production quality.

Stricter permits unveiled by the CFDA aim to increase the standards for domestic infant formula products. The CFDA will keep a closer eye on the companies that have obtained formula permits and will closely supervise them throughout the entire production process.

Officials say there have been no recent bad-quality reports from investigations of both domestic and imported formula products in China.