THE Shenzhen subsidiary of an Australian baby formula company blacklisted by China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) has shut down, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    The Daily visited Yabais’ factory in Shenzhen and was told that the company might have suspended production a few months ago.

    Some owners of shops near the factory said that manufacturing work had stopped a few months ago. “All of the workers were dismissed six months ago,” said an owner of a fruit shop.

    The official portal of the milk powder manufacturer has been shut down. Online information showed that the company was a Sino-foreign joint venture that researches, develops, produces and sells infant nutrition products. It is a subsidiary of Australia Yabais Industry Co. Ltd., which describes itself as a multinational group specializing in the R&D, manufacturing, and marketing of nutritional foods for infants and children on its website.

    A person in charge of the Shenzhen company, who had been interviewed before, did not respond to the Daily’s phone calls and text messages. The person had said that the company’s products were mainly sold to markets in Guangdong and Guangxi through their flagship stores, some maternity shops and online shops.

    The CFDA recently released a notification that suggested the company had failed to maintain production of infant milk powder under licensing conditions and showed poor performance in the management of food safety. It was also announced that the company used half-finished milk powder.

    Additionally, the notification disclosed that the enterprise “was involved in forging records” in several procedures when dealing with raw material and products. The company was even criticized for “obstructing” official inspection, according to the official document.

    It was not the first time that the company was blacklisted by the national bureau. In July last year, the company was compelled to recall its infant milk powder for failing to meet 10 national standards. Later, the Shenzhen authority fined the company more than 4 million yuan (US$579,517).

    When the recall took place, a company employee surnamed Su told the paper that the problems with their products were due to some of the raw materials used to produce the milk powder. However, she did not respond to the Daily’s request for an interview Wednesday.

    Although the factory is believed to have shut down, there are still some products for sale in some online shops. A box of imported Yabais milk powder was sold for 1,480 yuan on an online shop.

    Yabais is one of seven milk powder companies that has been blacklisted by the national bureau. The other six were small or medium-sized enterprises.

    A senior dairy analyst, Song Liang, said that the industry requires large amounts of investment because producing milk powder requires a complex system and high standards, so the larger brands spend huge amounts of money to ensure food safety while most of the smaller companies count on their luck to avoid inspection.

    (Zhang Qian)