Chinese having visited or worked abroad would bring back some local souvenirs when they returned home so that they could give the souvenirs as gifts to their relatives or friends. However， in recent years， this tradition has changed without notice. Besides souvenirs， infant baby formula has made the Chinese people scramble for it， even bid a high price or take the risk of violating the local purchase limits. A tin of baby formula has handicapped the world’s second economic giant—China， which is really beyond comprehension. In the meanwhile， the baby formula issue has raised public anxiety toward Chinese infants as well as the attention toward China’s baby formula safety. Ensuring the safety of baby formula has become the most urgent issue that should be paid much attention to.
　　Purchase Limits for Baby formula？
　　In recent years， China’s baby formula market has grown constantly due to vigorous consumption ability， yet quite a part of the market has been occupied by foreign brands. More and more Chinese have started to turn to brands of Hong Kong， Macau and Taiwan， even Europe and America， instead of domestic ones. Since “free trip” to Hong Kong is available， buying baby formula from Hong Kong has become many Chinese parents’ first choice. According to relevant data， the amount of import baby formula has grown by 20% annually. However， what has comes with the tide of purchasing baby formula from abroad is the purchase limits directing at Chinese mainlanders. Rigid demand， limited purchasing and rise in price， suddenly， public opinion is seething with indignation.
　　Hong Kong Implements Purchase Limits
　　On March 1， 2013， The Import and Export （General）（Amendment） Regulation 2013 was put into effect. The Regulation prohibits the unlicensed export of powdered formula， including baby formula and soya baby formula， for infants and children under 36 months； people who leave Hong Kong are not allowed to carry formula that exceeds 1.8 kg in total net weight （usually 2 cans）. Offenders are liable on conviction to a fine of HK$500，000 and to imprisonment for 2 years. Within two days from purchase limits becoming effective， Hong Kong custom arrested at least 25 people and ferreted out 115 pots of baby formula. By the fifth day， about 80 persons had been arrested. Wang Dingmian， president of Guangdong Dairy Association， said that he was ashamed as a personage of dairy industry. Lai Kowktung， Secretary of Hong Kong Security Bureau， said that a fine of 500，000 Hong Kong dollars and imprisonment for two years is a maximum penalty which would not be used normally. However， this purchase limits has still aroused a great disturbance both in Hong Kong and the mainland. 　　Actually， before the purchase limits came out， furious debates had appeared on the internet. Liao Weitang， a Hong Kong poet， said on Weibo that he would fight for his son’s provision. The story started from the Chinese New Year when he could not find the baby formula brand his son needed in his community， Liao became very anxious. Baby formula shortage has appeared in the past several years， but it seems more serious this year. According to the Hong Kong Consumer Council， the milk complaints received in January this year were three times more than that in the same period last year， of which more than a quarter related to inadequate supply.
　　The birth peak in the Dragon Year can be related to the sudden shortage of baby formula. Besides， since the “melamine incident” broke out in the dairy industry in 2008， the mainland customers have begun to lose confidence on domestic milk products brands and started to turn their eyes on Hong Kong and other countries. Also since that year， Hong Kong customers have to compete with parents from the mainland to buy baby formula.
　　According to data of Hong Kong Government， between 2006 and 2012， powdered formula sold in the local market grew 4.5 times while the new born babies just increased 1.2-1.3 times， which means non-local need for powdered formula was higher； according to Statistics of Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in November， 2012， three quarters of the four million pots of baby formula imported were exported again， most of which were transited to the mainland by parallel traders. Local parents have been complaining that they are not able to buy baby formula.
　　16 years have passed since Hong Kong returned to China. The signing of Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement （CEPA） as well as “free trip” enables increasingly close economic and personnel exchanges between the Hong Kong and the mainland. The purchase limits， however， caused query and estrangement between the two sides. Since the Import and Export （General）（Amendment） Regulation 2013 came out， supermarkets and pharmacies have had enough supplies of several import baby formula brands. Mr. Liao is no longer worried about his son’s baby formula supply， but he has been involved in a war of words with the net citizens of mainland.
　　Speaking of the disturbance of purchase limits， Mr. Liao thought that the mainland netizens lack the understanding of the reasons of the Amendment and the details of the penalty rules while Hong Kong government was responsible for ineffective explanation. He thought parents of mainland should have pressured on the government. “Just because of those people who did not criticize the government but found fault with Hong Kong， the poisoned baby formula is still sold！” Kowloon Pharmacy Chamber of Commerce believes that currently only several brands that are favored by the parents have been out of store temporarily and the overmuch press dissemination has caused panics for the parents. Leung Chun-ying， Chief Governor of Hong Kong， replied that “purchase limits” was forced to implement with the purpose of ensuring supply for Hong Kong born infants. He wished mainland citizens could understand. 　　Spreading of the Purchase Limits
　　Besides Hong Kong， the shortage of baby formula also happened in Macau. On Jan. 28th， Macau officially put “Temporary Support Program for Maternal and Child” into effect， in order to ensure parents with babies younger than a year can purchase brand baby formula. The program formulates five pots of powder for each child. Within one month， over 3，000 persons registered for the program. In this regard， Zhang Yu， Secretary for Social and Cultural in Macau， said the plan was effective to a certain extent and milk supply for infants under 1 year has been eased to a certain degree.
　　With the coming of the torrent of purchasing baby formula from abroad， purchase limits has started to sweep European countries， including Australia， Denmark， New Zealand， Germany， Netherland and Britain， which announced successively that their storage of baby formula was in an emergency and that they would adopt purchase limits measures to limit Chinese mainlanders.
　　It is reported that several chain supermarkets， including Morison， Sainsbury， Asda and Tesco， have announced that one consumer can only buy two pots of baby formula each time. Asda supermarket chain spokesman Jo Newbold said： "Our baby milk supplier Danone requires each customer two cans of baby formula limit." "This is the manufacturer's requirements. They believe that some organized consumer groups may unusually purchase large number of goods for export，" said Richard Dodd from the British Retail Consortium. In addition to Danone， Wyeth baby formula under Nestle Group also made similar provisions. To limit purchasing， the supermarkets have come out some measures of their own styles. Some supermarkets lock the cans of baby formula inside hard plastic shells， and people who want to buy the milk have go to the staff to unlock them. Although this policy does not specify the adapted group， for the outside world， the move is intended to control the huge demand of infant formula of Chinese buyers.
　　In order to ensure local infants’ baby formula supply from retail outlets， businesses across Netherland， the dairy giant， also implement the most stringent milk restriction measures in the history from March. Local large and medium-sized supermarkets， general merchandise stores and pharmacies only allow each customer to buy 1-3 cans of milk each time to ensure the storage of milk on the shelves. Several stores of the largest Dutch chain supermarket Ahold， the Netherlands daily necessities chain supermarket Etos in Hague labeled on the milk container in English or Dutch words "per customer （or group） can only buy one can of baby formula". Even so， the milk containers are mostly empty. There is a bilingual notice where the baby formula is in the local supermarket， with the amount allowed to buy written in English and one more sentence in Dutch， which is “Due to a shortage of baby formula in all Dutch markets， we are sorry to implement the limited purchase policy urgently. The reason is that the children's food exported to China has soared. 　　The purchase limits of baby formula in Germany started from the end of January. The largest commodity chain DM and Rossmann put a warning at the milk counter "Each customer can only buy up to 3 cans of baby formula". Recently， DM supermarket’s purchase provisions have been "upgraded"， not only the purchase is limited to 3 cans， but also customers are required to show the child's identity or take the kids to buy.
　　According to an anonymous staff from DM supermarket， they just received the internal notice from the headquarters， requiring the limited purchase of milk and there was no formal announcement. Most consumers do not know it， only when the customers want to buy baby formula more than three cans， the salesperson would inform them of the purchase limits.
　　In Australia， infant formula supply shortage has recently appeared in some supermarkets， drug stores and retailers. Since January， major supermarkets and drug stores have jointly taken action called “protection of our own babies"， which allows no more than four cans of infant formula per person each time. It is reported that the monitoring system will enter the data collected into cash register system for those buyers who buy excessive cans or repeat buying within 24 hours and the computer would refuse them to pass. The local post office used to want to limit the amount of baby formula to be mailed， but because the market stuck the purchase amount from the source， the post office considered it unnecessary to limit， so it raised mailing costs. Now， the cost of mailing baby formula is basically as high as baby formula prices. If the insurance premium is taken into consideration， the mailing cost is even higher than the baby formula price itself.
　　Major supermarkets in New Zealand which is not far from Australia have put purchase limits notice where baby formula is， declaring “at most two cans per person”， which was “upgraded” in September， 2012. New Zealand officially said in a statement that taking dairy products out of New Zealand would be regarded as export， including online shopping and sending gift to friends and relatives. In New Zealand， only registered exporters are qualified to export dairy products， including infant formula. The registration is very difficult though in that people who want to register should establish a company in New Zealand and have their own storehouses. The requirements like ventilation and temperature are very high for baby formula storing.
　　As soon as the limited purchase news came out， there was a "stockpile boom" among parents relying on purchasing agents. Online purchasing stores then raised prices. One of the Taobao stores which specialize in Hong Kong mercantile wrote on its baby formula page： "Recent Hong Kong Government announced the limit of two cans of baby formula emigration policies， resulting in a large number of people rushing to buy milk. Now the custom strengthens exit restrictions which have increased a great deal of manpower， material resources and overhead costs， so recently there will be frequent fluctuations of milk price.” A particular type of canned milk that origins from Netherlands with 900 grams in it was sold at different prices within four days， including 286.6 Yuan， 289.6 Yuan and 296.6 Yuan and the difference was up to 10 Yuan per can. 　　In fact， the price adjustment of purchasing agents not only happens in Hong Kong， it also happens in Netherlands， New Zealand， United Kingdom， Germany， Australia and other places. For example ， a Netherland made baby formula with 900 grams per can was sold at 148 Yuan on February 15， 155 Yuan on February 19， 165 Yuan on February 20 and 170 Yuan on February 23， 22 Yuan difference within eight days.
　　Fortunately， the short supply of imported baby formula in China being and frequent price increasing have made the Chinese government attach great importance and take some appropriate measures. After the tariffs on imported baby formula were cut in 2012， tariffs on imported baby formula dropped again this year to 5 %. The government also encourages domestic milk production enterprises "to go out"， which undoubtedly eases China's imported baby formula shortage to a large extent.
　　Chinese Baby Formula Faces an Embarrassing Situation
　　From Hong Kong and Macau to Britain， Germany， Australia， New Zealand and other Occident countries， a new milk-powder-purchasing-limit has stirred a public outcry in the native milk powder market in China， and deeply concerned the Chinese parents who have the urgent need for baby formula milk powders. A statistic report shows that China is on a baby boom during 2008 to 2010， which replaced Japan with China and made it only second to America on baby formula milk powder consuming. In 2012， there were 200 million babies born in China mainland， 4 million more than in 2011. The large baby consumer group is fueling the growing of the huge market space in China. How to supply baby children with quality reliable milk powder has now become a problem demanding prompt solution.
　　Worrying Situation of Native Milkpowder in China
　　During the Spring Festival of 2013， following a series of milkpowder purchasing limit targeting China mainland consumers had been made around the world， the quality issues of Chinese native milkpowder was once again a hot topic among media and press. According to Professor Ding Zongyi， a core member of baby formula international expert group of the international Codex Alimentarius Commission， there is a consensus shared globally that the milk powder is not considered only as food， but also as provision and a basic necessity for living. As a matter of fact， the Chinese milk powder issue was already exposed—in 2004， the sub-standard milk powder caused severe health conditions for infants in Fuyang， Anhui， heavily damaging the milk powder industry in China， and also in September， 2008， the exposure of Sanlu milk powder scandal led to the downfall of the dairy giant and health problems of hundreds of thousands children in China. 　　After the Sanlu scandal， China government has marshaled the whole dairy industry and held people accountable. The Administration of Quality Supervision，Inspection and Quarantine （AQSIQ） announced the revocation of all exemptions from inspection previously granted to food producers. Tian Wenhua， the former Chairwoman of Sanlu Group was sentenced with life imprisonment， while the principal offenders Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping received death penalties. Li Changjiang， former Minister of AQSIQ took the blame and resigned， and Wu Xianguo， Shi Jiazhuang Party Secretary and Ji Chuntang， the Mayor， were deposed with few other related officers punished.
　　In October 9， 2008， the State Council issued the new Dairy Product Quality and Safety Regulations， specifically regulating the recall rules—once potential damages to infants’ health and growing were detected， the dairy producers shall issue the emergency recall of the contaminated products while the retailers shall stop selling immediately. In order to ensuring the quality of infant formula， the Regulations specifically set up a national quality standard system and ordered the producers to fully consider the specialties in infants’ growing. Furthermore， for the purpose of enhancing the supervision system in the milk powder producing process， the Regulations specified that producers must establish a hazard analysis and critical point control system to elevate the safety management level； milk powder should contain all the necessary nutrition for infants’ growth and mustn’t contain any materials that may harm infants’ healthy growing； baby formulas must be tested for nutrient components before being released from the factories and specified with using methods and attentions. On October 20， 2011， China enacted a new standard system for aflatoxin limiting and testing.
　　However， even with all these severe punishments， the whole situation for native milk powder safety hasn’t radically changed and milk powder scandals still emerge. Besides melamine， new poisonous components appear in baby formulas. On June， 2012， a well-known native brand infant powder was detected mercury excessive， and on July， an excessive amount of cancer-causing agent “aflatoxin M1” was found on samples of Nanshan baby formula， which was also found in Abbott and Nestle infant powders made in China.
　　The continuous exposures of milk powder scandals have dragged the domestic dairy industry into a deep credit crisis， and the following incidents aroused an even deeper public concern. On January 22， 2013， Wu Xianguo， the former Shi Jiazhuang Party Secretary and Ji Chuntang， the former Mayor of Shi Jiangzhuang who were dismissed after the exposure of Sanlu scandal， had been reinstated， and Li Changjiang， the former Minister of AQSIQ who took the blame and resigned during the Sanlu scandal， was reassigned as the Deputy Director of the “eliminate pornography and illegal publications” office just after one year of his resignation. On March， 2009， 8 months after the scandal， Liu Daqun， the former Director of Hebei Agriculture Department who was recorded a demerit， was appointed as the mayor of Xingtai， Hebei， and another two punished officials were also reinstated. This series of news have further deepened the domestic credit crisis. 　　The numerous foreign infant milk brands in the markets， especially in the online markets， have made the parents who now have to choose foreign brands find it difficult to distinguish the good from the inferiors. Currently， there are over 100 brands on sale in the online market domestically， among which many phonies also exist.
　　China imports infant milk powders mainly from three original equipment manufacturers （OEM）： the Sutton Group in New Zealand， the Hull Duff in Switzerland and TATURA Milk Industrie in Australia. The Sutton Group is one of the biggest original equipment manufacturers， manufacturing more than 20 brands. In fact， there are only 5 to 6 famous infant milk brands in Australia， New Zealand and Netherlands at most. Except the biggest brands， the so-called “100 percent imported” foreign brands in China market do not actually exist. The target markets of these OEMs are mainly in China.
　　Some consumers have found something odd on the instructions for baby formulas： Imported with original packing means that imported milk powder that canned in China， and imported milk powders with original can means milk powder canned overseas and shipped to China market. Native baby formulas and imported milk powders with original packing are both processed in China and labeled with QS blue marking while the original imported milk powders cans don’t have this label.
　　The New Zeland Infant Formula Exports has chosen to break the silence and on April 13， 2013， the delegates of member dairy enterprises arrived in Beijing to marshal the New Zealand milk powder market in China. The director general of this association stated that there were currently more than 200 so-called New Zealand baby formula milk powder brands in the China market， but only a few of them are really from New Zealand. Actually there are only 6 dairy enterprises selling as few as 20 brands in the China market， and they will help Chinese consumers know how to distinguish the real ones from the phonies. “There are many personnel or companies coming to New Zealand and trying to get a registration for dairy brands to export exclusively to China. Some of them use New Zealand milk sources while the others only desire New Zealand registered trademarks. The former should be quality reliable but I cannot say the same about the latter， especially when the latter are numerous.” The native baby formula brands will raise the price several times after being labeled with New Zealand registered trademarks， carrying a high quality risk. 　　The supervision of infant milk powder also adopts double-standard： the test for native infant milk powder includes 64 items and hundreds of risk monitors while the imported brands would only be conducted with some simple tests.
　　Re-building the Images of Native Milk Powder
　　With the poor quality of native brands and the current perplexities of imported milk powder market， the Chinese parents are facing a dilemma. During the 2013 “Two Congresses”， the milk powder issue surely became a hot topic. Many deputies said that even though there was a heated competing environment among the native brands， the domestic market was still monopolized by foreign dairy brands like Wyeth， Mead Johnson， Abbott， Nestle and Dumex. According to a report by OCN， the market share for Dumex， Mead Johnson， Nestle， Abbott and Wyeth are 16.76%， 12.06%， 10.58%， 7.29% and 4.72% respectively. The native brands which include Yili， Yashili and Beimeiyin are competing with foreign brands. With the late start in the dairy industry， lower research and development abilities have made native brands pale in comparison. Besides， the poor quality milking cows， disorderliness in the dairy industry and the lack of practicing codes have made Chinese consumers lose confidence in native brands.
　　Zhou Bohua， CPPCC member and Chief of State Bureau for Industrial and Commercial Administration， stated about this issue： The solution to the food safety issue， including milk powder safety， has many aspects involved， which requires the joint efforts of the manufacturers， supervision departments and consumers. In western countries， the consumers of baby formulas have always been the main targets for government subsidies. In Netherlands where parents are encouraged to breed more children， the preferential policies for baby-products purchasing are provided to parents， which has caused low profits for the dairy manufacturers and distributors. Therefore， the baby product manufacturers have turned to sell derived products to lure consumers and achieve higher profits.
　　Jian Guangzhou， the correspondent who first reported the Sanlu scandal， remarked： “As long as the credit crisis of native milk powder brands doesn’t go off， the safety issue will not be solved. How to alter native baby formula brands’ negative images demands prompt solution.” To win the consumers back， Pan Gang， Board Chairman of Yili Group said on the “Two Conferences” that he fully supported the high quality demand urged by consumers. Mengniu group has launched the “Factory Open Day” project， hoping to “alter the images of native dairy product brands”. 　　Wang Dingmian， deputy director of Guangzhou Dairy Product Supervision Office， said he was “cautiously optimistic” on this phenomenon. He thinks that the punitive measures haven’t been so severe and effective in China， and in foreign countries however， the cost of food safety issues for manufacturers could be enormous. During the 2013 “Two Conferences”， Pan Gang， Board Chairman of Yili Group， also expressed the same opinion， appealing sterner punishing measures. Zhou Bohua， Party Secretary of State Administration for Industry and Commerce， said： “More severe punishments are necessary.” Yang Gang， Deputy Director of General Administration of Quality Supervision， Inspection and Quarantine said： “The government supervision departments are responsible for food safety issues.”
　　New GB （Chinese Standards）
　　On top of making more severe punishments， Wang Dingmian also thinks that the differences between Chinese standards with other countries also contribute to the baby formula quality issues. Actually， the standard for main nutritional ingredients in baby formulas such as protein， vitamin， carbohydrate and mineral substances in China is not that different from the international standard. The baby formula manufactures are all based on or refer to the ISO/IDF or ESPGHAN standard enacted by international experts. However， standards for milk albumin and casein are more flexible and are nor 100% identical between countries.
　　According to Wang Dingmian， Hong Kong is using the same execution standards as European Union and they are stricter than that of in China. Some flexibility is allowable when making standards， and the international recommended standards retain a certain leeway from 6：4 to 7：3 which leads to different execution standards in different countries.
　　For Wang Dingmian， the drafting process for the new Chinese standards （GB） is still not so meticulous since some of the criterions are simply inheriting the old GB or referring to some outdated international standards. For example， the standards for the maltodextrin which are widely used in the baby formula manufacturing process are not so accurate in determining the oxygenation and denaturation. In his opinion， the “disorderliness” was a result that professional experts like Ding Zongyi， Luo ChengXiang and Gu Jiasheng are not involved in the standard-making process. Besides， only the combination of basic theories and new technologies can make the standard accurate and applicable.