Economic Observer Online
Oct 23, 2012
Translated by Pang Lei
Original article: [Chinese]

In 2010, China's Ministry of Health announced controversial new national standards for raw milk.

After the new standard was announced, an individual lodged a Freedom of Information request with the ministry seeking access to the minutes of the meetings at which this new standard were agreed to. The ministry refused the individual's request and he then decided to take the Ministry of Health to court.

At a recent hearing of the case, the court announced that the Ministry of Health would have to once again reply to the request before a specified date.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Health has since come out and stated that it will comply with the court's order but they still maintain that the minutes of that meeting do not fall within the bounds of what information can be requested under China's Freedom of Information laws.

Standards for Fresh Milk in China

There was quite a bit of controversy when the new fresh milk standards were announced in 2010.

Some of the standards were lower than they had been in the past. For example, in 1986, the protein content of the milk could not fall below 2.9 grams per 100ml, but in 2010 this was lowered to a minimum of 2.8 grams per 100ml. Similarly, according to standards introduced in 2003, the bacteria count per milliliter could not exceed 500,000, but in 2010 this was raised to a cap of 2 million per milliliter.

The protein content standard is now well below the 3 gram limit that exists in most developed countries and the permitted bacterial count per millilitre is 20 times that of the European Union and United States which only allow a bacterial count of 100,000 per millilter.

At the time, many consumers complained that "overnight we've gone back 25-years".

Many suspected that the domestic dairy industry had hijacked the process of determining milk standards.

Lodging the Freedom of Information Request

On Dec 2, 2011, a consumer by the name of Zhao Zhenjun (赵正军) lodged a freedom of information request with the Ministry of health, asking that they make public the minutes of the meetings at which the setting of the new milk standard was discussed.

On Jan 20, 2012, after three requests had been lodged, the Ministry of Health replied by saying that the information that Mr. Zhao requested did not fall under the remit of the FOI laws.

The Ministry of Health also said that the request should have been directed towards the Food Safety National Standards Approval Committee (食品安全国家标准审评委员会), not the Ministry of Health.

The Ministry also went on to say that if the minutes of these mettings were released it could "impact on social stability and add to their administrative burden."

On Feb 16, Mr Zhao lodged a legal case against the Ministry of Health with Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.

The Beijing court found that the Ministry of Health was the relevant department as the Food Safety National Standards Approval Committee operated under the ministry.

For that reason, the court found that the original reply that the ministry gave to Mr. Zhao's request wasn't accuarate and lacked a legal basis. The court ordered the ministry to once again reply to Mr. Zhao's request.

Zhao Zhengjun told reporters that the Beijing court has made the decision on Oct 17 and he received a copy of the judgement on Oct 19.

Links and Sources
The Beijing News: 卫生部被判答复生乳国标公开申请
Economic Observer Online: Special Feature: The Sanlu Melamine Milk Scandal - Three Years On
China Dialogue: How milk standards triggered uproar in China