Dairy producer, Maiquer is currently under investigation for the illegal use of food additives, according to a report by a local government agency based in East China’s Zhejiang.
Two batches of Maiquer’s milk were found to have excessive amounts of propylene glycol, and preliminary investigations claimed that this is caused by excessive use of food additives and flavors in the production process.
According to Chinese food regulations, propylene glycol is an approved food additive and a permitted solvent in synthetic food flavors and food flavors, but the country has set a maximum usage limit, while the additive cannot be used at all in pure milk.
Maiquer made an official apology stating that “The unqualified products are caused by the company’s failure to effectively clean the residual modulated milk in the product tank line during the production switching process of pure milk and modulated milk, resulting in legal food additives, including propylene glycol, from modulated milk and ingredients into the pure milk.”
Maiquer has agreed to cooperate with relevant government agencies to further investigate on the case, and will announce the result to the public in a timely manner.
The company, based in Northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, has been instructed to stop milk production immediately and to promptly recall substandard products. A sampling inspection detected propylene glycol in 6 batches of milk products from Maiquer, at between 0.264g-0.363g per kg.
Dairy products accounted for 64% of Maiquer’s revenue in 2021, with 68% of its revenue came from outside Xinjiang.
