Dutch Mill freezes

President Thirayuth Chaisa-wangwong said yesterday plans to take over a 55-per-cent stake in a Chinese company and a 5-per-cent stake in a Vietnamese company, would be postponed. A plan to invest in the Philippines has also been shelved. He said that globally, economic conditions are unstable due to the US financial crisis, while at home economic policies remain unclear under the new government.

Battered severely by the news that some of its powdered milk imported from China has been frozen by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for contamination testing, Dutch Mill is aiming to restore consumer confidence by returning all 122 tonnes of powdered milk imported from that country, regardless of whether laboratory tests show positive or negative for melamine contamination.

 "If I could turn back the clock, I wouldn't have ordered milk from China. We turned to China in mid-2007 when worldwide shortages were apparent due to global warming," Thirayuth said.

Meanwhile, FDA secretary-general Pipat Yingseri said the agency's tests would be complete in two days. So far, it has cleared 31 out of 103 test samples.

The 122 tonnes of powdered milk were frozen after the FDA found contamination in 22 tonnes at the company's storage facility in Nakhon Pathom. Another 100 tonnes is being examined at Samut Prakan port.

The FDA also took samples of finished pasteurised milk and yoghurt products and quarantined all Chinese milk powder for inspection.

Thirayuth said Dutch Mill had stopped orders for Chinese powdered milk on September 17, though none of the supply comes from any of the 22 factories in China associated with melamine contamination. From now on it will source the raw material elsewhere, including India.

He said the company had earlier sent samples of Chinese milk powder and related finished products to three laboratories: SGS (Thailand), OMIG and Central Lab (Thailand) and the labs confirmed that every sample met the standards of European Food and Safety and the US Food and Drug Administration.