Ministry declares Synutra’s milk ‘hormone-free’
Synutra International, Inc, a leading infant formula company in China and a producer, marketer and seller of nutritional products for infants, children and adults, today announced that China’s Ministry of Health has found no link between Synutra’s infant milk powder and premature development of breasts in infants.
The MOH announced on August 15th, after investigating claims that Synutra’s infant milk formula was linked to premature development in three infants, that no banned hormones were found in the 42 samples of Synutra infant milk formula, including one sample from an affected family’s home and 31 samples from 14 other Chinese and foreign infant formula producers. The MOH believes that the three claims of premature development of breasts cannot be linked to Synutra’s infant milk powder.
Mr. Liang Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Synutra stated, “We are very pleased with the test results issued by China’s top health authority, which support Synutra’s steadfast commitment to product quality and consumer safety. As a trusted provider of infant formula in China, Synutra has always made quality assurance a top priority. We are devoted to promoting the health of children in China and will continue to invest heavily in research, quality control, formulation and ingredients to maintain our industry-leading standards.”
Synutra International Inc. is a leading infant formula company in the Chinese market. It principally produces, markets and sells its products under the “Shengyuan” or “Synutra” name, together with other complementary brands.
Some of Synutra’s milk products are supplied by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra. A statement last week from the New Zealand Food Safety Authority said that hormonal growth promotants, which might be implicated in these claims, are under ‘strict legislative controls’ and not used on New Zealand milk-producing cows.
Synutra sells its products across 30 Chinese provinces and provincial-level municipalities. As of June 30, 2010, this network comprised over 560 independent distributors and over 1,000 independent sub-distributors who sell Synutra products in over 74,000 retail outlets.
