Experts calm trans-fat fears

China Dairy Industry Association (CDIA) responded Tuesday to a recent media report accusing three domestic milk formula brands of containing trans fats, saying it is not unusual for dairy products to have such content, as raw milk contains natural trans fat.

In a test of five milk formula brands commissioned by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), three domestic brands - Beingmate, Synutra, and Yili - were found to contain between 0.4 and 0.6 grams of trans fat per 100 grams of milk powder, while two overseas formulas produced by Wyeth and Mead Johnson contained no trans fats, the SCMP said in a report Monday.

Calls to the three domestic companies' official representatives went unanswered by press time, but customer service representatives from all three told the Global Times that their products' trans-fat content falls within the national standard. A Synutra customer service staff member said the trans fat in its products is natural, not artificially added.

Trans fats include the natural trans fat contained in beef, mutton and milk as well as the artificially added trans fat commonly used in cakes and biscuits, and excessive intake of the substance increases the risk of heart disease, experts said.

Raw milk always contains trans fat and it is very difficult to totally remove the substance, so the existence of trans fat in milk powder is a matter of nutrition rather than food safety, Zhu Yi, a food professor at China Agricultural University, told the Global Times Tuesday.

Song Kungang, honorary chairman of the CDIA, said in an article published on xinhuanet.com Tuesday that dairy products are safe as long as their trans-fat content is within the normal range.

Both national and international standards for baby formula require trans fats to represent less than 3 percent of total fatty acids.

Song Liang, an industry analyst with the Distribution Productivity Promotion Center of China Commerce, told the Global Times Tuesday that a report from the center showed that the trans-fat content of domestic brands is 1 to 1.5 percent of total fatty acids and 0.5 to 0.8 percent for overseas brands.

Zhong Kai, a research fellow with the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, and Zhu both said the reason the two overseas brands tested as containing zero trans fat may be that their processing removes much of the substance, so the trans-fat content is too small to be tested.

Song said domestic baby formula uses whole milk powder containing high levels of trans fat, which is natural and relatively safe, while overseas brands use skimmed milk powder and vegetable oil, which contains much smaller amounts of a type of trans fat that is riskier to people's health.

Zhang Liang, chairman and CEO of Synutra International, wrote on his Weibo Monday that the SCMP's report is a conspiracy by foreign brands to protect their interests in the face of the Chinese government's current probe of the baby formula market.

Song agreed with Zhang, saying that as the government is carrying out anti-trust investigations into milk powder producers - mostly overseas brands - some are retaliating with safety accusations against domestic firms in the hope of winning relaxed government policies and more Chinese consumers.

The SCMP did not respond to questions from the Global Times by press time.