Dairy products carrying green tags appeared on Carrefour's supermarket shelves yesterday morning---other similarly-labeled goods will be available soon. Beijing Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision said that dairy foods produced before midnight on Sept 17 must pass a test and carry a green "melamine-free" label before going on sale, while certified foods produced after Sept 18 must carry a "QS" label, Beijing Times reported.

Premier Wen pointed out that in order to ensure general understanding and safe consumption, every batch of powdered milk and dairy food must be checked and labeled. The government has designed a round green tag reading "melamine-free", and also added "Beijing Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision", to guarantee consumers' safety.

There is a "QS" mark added to the packaging of dairy foods produced after Sept 18, so consumers need only check the tag and production date before buying, and those produced before midnight on Sept 17 will carry new re-checking tags. All products must be investigated and examined and be signed-off for labeling and sale.

Beijing Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision said tagging dairy food packaging is only a temporary measure necessitated by the gravity of the situation. The number of tags planned is 14 million, and more than 1 million were already on the market yesterday. The first batch of branded dairy foods includes Sanyuan, Mengniu, Yili and Guangming; another 36 producers with manufacturing approval will follow them and can also be labeled green. All dairy foods produced before Sept 18 will be withdrawn, checked, and re-labeled before going on sale.

In the case of any further concerns about Beijing dairy producers, consumers can dial 12365 for consultation; and for other cities, please call 12315.

(China.org.cn by Jessica Zhang, September 25, 2008)