On 9 December, the People’s Daily published the results from 2015 China’s Infant Formula Industry Analysis Report.

This indicates that the public is concerned about a number of topics:

◇   Quality issues with foreign-made infant formula

◇   The chaotic goat milk formula market

◇   Internationalisation of dairy companies

◇   Dairy industry M&A

◇   The impact of E-commerce, etc.

However, quality issues with infant formula remain the most pressing concern.

The subject has been kept in the public’s mind during 2015 by 2 particular developments:

In June, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) identified 7 batches of substandard infant formula during checks

In August, it examined 465 batches of infant formula and found 42 batches to be substandard

The data in the report comes from the Public Concern Monitoring Room of the People.cn. This is part of the People’s Daily/ People.cn which concentrates on evaluating how netizens comment on news items and also issues reports on hot news stories, summarising the comments and feedback from netizens. The index of “public concerns” is calculated on a weighted basis according to topics and comments of Internet news, newspapers and magazines, Weibo, forums, blogs and WeChat.

                                                     Public Concern Levels over Locally-Produced Infant Formula in 2015

                                           
Source: The Public Concern Monitoring Room of the People.cn

Reports on the safety of infant formula form the most-commented upon topic amongst netizens. According to statistics collected, the 3 hottest topics are infant formula safety, foreign infant formula, and dairy industry policy, accounting for 27%, 16% and 14% of overall comments respectively.

In respect of domestic infant formula, netizens’ comments were mainly complaints about particular brands and calls for companies to be given serious punishments.

However, when negative news about foreign infant formula came out in the domestic media, netizens showed support. For instance, some expressed the view that overseas purchasing had undermined the domestic market; others felt that domestic media were promoting the domestic brands by questioning the foreign ones.

In summary, the quality of infant formula is still the issue people care about the most. China reissued production licenses to 102 infant formula enterprises during 2014-2015, and the government samples the products from all these businesses. “The publication of these results is timely”, said Song Kungang, President of the China Dairy Industry Association: “In the nearly 1%* of infant formula found to be substandard, part of the problem is a labelling issue. We can say that the requirements of domestic infant formula are strict enough and the production standard is the highest in the world. China-made infant formula is trustworthy”.

(Note: * In 4 of the CFDA’s 5 inspection checks on infant formula, 2,787 batches were covered, with 99 of these found to be substandard – 3.55%. In the 5th check,there were 7 batches found to be substandard. Of all of the CFDA’s food inspections – excluding infant formula – 13,934 batches were examined, with 74 batches found to be substandard – nearly 1%).

Areas of Public Concern about Infant Formula in 2015

Source: The Public Concern Monitoring Room of the People.cn

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