China firm at centre of milk scandal requests cover-up help

Beijing: A Chinese company at the centre of a tainted milk tainted milk powder scarehas requested for government assistance to cover up the extent of the problem, state media said on Wednesday in the latest development in the widening scandal.

China's latest food safety problem, involving the addition of the industrial chemical melamine in milk to cheat in quality tests, has caused public outrage and put the spotlight back on deficiencies in industry oversight and weak regulatory bodies.

China has already said the city government in Shijiazhuang, home to the Sanlu Group whose contaminated milk sparked a recall now spread worldwide, sat on a report from the company about the tainting for more than a month, while Beijing hosted the Olympic Games.

In Communist Party newspaper the People's Daily, Shijiazhuang city government spokesman Wang Jianguo said they had been asked by Sanlu for help in "managing" the media response to the case when first told of the issue on August 2, six days before the Games opened.

"Please can the government increase control and coordination of the media, to create a good environment for the recall of the company's problem products," the paper cited the letter from Sanlu as saying.

"This is to avoid whipping up the issue and creating a negative influence in society," it added.

Scores of foreign companies have been forced to recall products made with Chinese dairy ingredients, or to reassure customers their goods are safe.