Students drink milk at Ho Chi Minh City’s Truong Tho Prechool. Preschools and parents in the city and Hanoi continue to be anxious about the dairy products the children consume at school after the melamine-contamination scare.

Parents sending their children to kindergartens in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are anxious about the milk given to their kids in the wake of the melamine contamination scare.

At Coop. Mart supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1, Ha Phuc said though she gave her 18-monthold child well-known brands of baby formula, she did not feel secure.

Only when the government announced which brands are safe would she stop worrying, she said.

Meanwhile, government inspectors are continuing to carry out checks of milk products nationwide.

On the nutrition forum at www.webtretho.com, a mother said she only bought bottled fresh milk from the local milkman, believing it cannot be contaminated by melamine.

Melamine is a chemical compound that increases the nitrogen content in the milk, and therefore its apparent protein content.

No national or international authority has approved the use of melamine, used in the manufacture of plastic, for human consumption.

Addition of melamine to cooking is not approved by the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius (Food Standard Commission) or, according to WHO, by any national authority around the world.

Lan Hoang of Trung Hoa urban area in Hanoi said her family can buy quality milk products for their children but cannot control what they had at preschool.

Most public preschools in Hanoi told Thanh Nien they only buy brand name milk products through contracts and milk suppliers were always required to produce their licenses and food safety certificates.

However, because even popular dairy products imported from countries like New Zealand could be made from Chinese raw materials, many preschools are worried.

Nguyen Thi Bau, principal of Tuoi Hoa Preschool in Hanoi’s Dong Da District, said the school management had held a meeting Thursday to discuss stopping purchase of dairy products for its students until health agencies release their findings.

“Instead, we plan to give other food with equivalent nutritional values,” she said.

Le Pham Tuyet Dung, principal of Linh Dam Preschool in Hoang Mai District, said her school was also considering stopping giving the children milk.

Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, head of the 8-3 Nursery School, said 500 children in her school got Dolac brand formula twice a week.

But she told Thanh Nien, “We will stop if the situation in Vietnam becomes more serious.”

Amid all the hullabaloo, however, some preschools on Hanoi’s outskirts seemed oblivious to the Chinese tainted milk scandal.

Nguyen Thi Hong, vice principal of Van Ha Preschool in Dong Anh District, said her school has signed a contract with a milk company but failed to recall its name.

While there are no direct human studies on the effect of melamine, data from animal studies can be used to predict adverse health effects, according to WHO.

Melamine can cause bladder stones, kidney stones and kidney failure.

HCMC takes action

Nguyen Thi Thuy of Phuong Thuy Private Preschool in HCMC’s District 12 said her school decided to put up on its notice board the names of dairy products given to the children to inform parents so that they would feel safe.

Two other preschools, Soc Vang in Tan Phu District and Hoang Yen in District 9, decided to stop giving children milk.

In an emergency dispatch to educational organizations, the Department of Education and Training in Hanoi and HCMC warned them not to use milk products of dubious origin or without certification from food safety agencies.

Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh, head of the HCMC Preschool Education Division, said Thursday that parents should coordinate with preschools to take milk samples to official agencies for testing.

She added the health department would examine the origins of foods consumed at city schools over the next few days.

Most supermarkets in HCMC and Hanoi said sales of dairy products remain normal, but with consumers more careful about choosing products, popular products were now in high demand.

Supermarkets are also monitoring the quality of dairy products by requiring “melamine-free” certificates or quality certificates from milk suppliers.

Pham Thanh Tuyen, marketing manager of Saigon Coop., said all Co-op. Marts had recalled Pham Nguyen Joint-Stock Company’s candies and cookies from their shelves after learning the company used Chinese-made materials, pending test findings.

Dairy firms, authorities busy

Vinamilk, Vietnam’s top dairy firm, sent all of its raw materials and products to the HCMC Department of Science and Technology’s Center for Analytical Service and Examination and they have been certified as being melamine-free.

NutiFood and Hancofood said they are awaiting melamine test results for their products and would release them immediately.

Friesland Foods Dutch Lady Vietnam and Nestle Vietnam have said they do not use Chinese milk products.

Nguyen Thi Khanh Tram, deputy head of the Food Hygiene and Safety Bureau, said Friday that apart from one sample of YiLi milk that was found positive for melamine, officials are yet to find any other melamine-tainted samples.

The bureau Friday announced 51 milk samples to be free of melamine.

In a dispatch sent to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung Friday, Deputy Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang reported that emergency measures have been taken to strengthen surveillance of milk products.

The ministry is scrutinizing quality certificates of imported milk products and has advised authorities and dairy firms nationwide to closely monitor product quality.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff