英文原文

Danone enmeshed in China milk scandal

After days of stories in Chinese newspapers saying that some children were sickened by infant formula produced by the French food and beverage giant Danone, the government said Thursday that it would investigate whether the company's Dumex formula was tainted with melamine.

The newspaper accounts provided no evidence of contamination and Danone executives Thursday rejected the assertions. The executives said their infant formula is made entirely from imported milk and that in 2,600 government inspections since April 2007 no traces of melamine have ever been found.

Alejandro Rivas, managing director of Dumex Baby Food in Shanghai, said there was no evidence to back up allegations that infants had been sickened by its formula. "We want to, once and for all, clarify to Chinese consumers that our products are 100 percent safe," he said.

Since September, inspectors have found melamine contamination in the milk products of 22 Chinese companies that was believed to have sickened almost 300,000 children and left six dead. The scandal prompted a global recall of products made with Chinese dairy ingredients and devastated the nation's dairy industry. This is the first time a foreign majority-owned producer has been accused in the scandal.

An industrial compound used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizers, melamine can cause kidney stones and other health problems if consumed in large quantities. In China, melamine was illegally used to raise the apparent protein content of watered-down milk.

The 21st Century Business Herald reported that at least 53 children have been sickened by Dumex milk across China, though it provided no evidence except for quoting Jiang Yalin, a mother in Guizhou Province, as saying her 20-month-old daughter was diagnosed with kidney stones in September after drinking Dumex.

"As it's a foreign brand, the price is high and the money we spent on baby formula each month is one-tenth our monthly income," she said, according to the paper.

The state-run Xinhua news agency said that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine would investigate batches of Dumex produced before Sept. 14.

Danone is embroiled in a long-running legal battle with its Chinese-partner, Hangzhou Wahaha Group. The joint venture was once hailed as a model, but the two companies are currently in arbitration over ownership of the Wahaha brand, the best-selling beverage in China. In a series of lawsuits, Danone has claimed that its Chinese partner secretly set up parallel companies that sold water and other beverages under the Wahaha name but did not share revenues. Wahaha executives say Danone knew of the side ventures all along.

The battle has been unusually acrimonious, playing out in courts across the world since 2007.

Wahaha's former executive, Zong Qinghou, has accused Danone of slandering his family and spreading lies about his company's business practices. In a letter he posted on the Internet last year, Zong vowed to punish Danone for its "evil deeds."

Also Thursday, Sanlu Group, the dairy company at the heart of the melamine scandal, which is partly owned by a New Zealand dairy cooperative, was declared bankrupt by a court in Shijiazhuang.

In its bankruptcy filing, executives said their company was crippled by $161 million in debt, much of that in medical expenses for children sickened by Sanlu products. Sanlu's chairwoman, Tian Wenhua, received a life sentence for her role in the scandal and two others were given suspended death sentences.

参考翻译

达能深陷中国奶粉丑闻

据中国很多家报纸报道，一些孩子因食用了法国达能公司生产的婴幼儿食品而患病。此后，周四，政府称，他们将监查该公司的多美滋奶粉是否含三聚氰胺。
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报道此事的报社并没有提供具体证据，达能的主管们在周四时也拒绝作出任何论断。他们说，达能的奶粉全部由进口牛奶制造，从2007年4月到现在，在多达2,600次政府检测中，并没有发现任何三聚氰胺的痕迹。
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上海多美滋幼儿食品公司总经理Alejandro Rivas说，没有任何证据证明食用多美滋婴幼儿食品会导致婴儿患病。“我们想要彻底地，一劳永逸地向中国消费者证明我们的产品是100%安全的。”
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自去年九月份开始，质检员发现中国22家企业的奶制品受三聚氰胺污染。这导致将近30万幼儿患病，6名死亡。奶粉丑闻让全球提防任何与中国奶制品挂钩的产品，摧毁了这个国家的乳品加工业。
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三聚氰胺是一种用于生产塑料和肥料的工业混合物，如果大量摄入会引起肾结石或者其他健康问题。在中国，三聚氰胺被非法地加入掺水的牛奶中，用于表面上提升蛋白含量。
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据《21世纪经济报道》称，多美滋奶粉在中国至少造成了53名幼儿患病。该报道并没有提供任何证据，只是引用了一名贵州母亲蒋亚林（音译）的陈述。她说，在食用多美滋后，九月份，她那20个月大的女儿被诊断患有肾结石。
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她说，“因为这是个外国品牌，价格很贵，每个月我们在幼儿食品上花的钱是月收入的十分之一。”
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新华社称，国家质量监督检验检疫总局将在9月14之前分批次检查多美滋奶粉。
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达能现在正与其中国合作伙伴——杭州哇哈哈集团进行官司拉锯战。他们的合资企业曾一度被奉为典范和榜样，但是，现在两家正在为哇哈哈品牌（中国最畅销的饮料）的归属进行仲裁。在一系列诉讼中，达能称，哇哈哈集团偷偷建立平行公司，以哇哈哈的名义出售纯净水和其他饮料，但是没跟达能共享收益。哇哈哈总管则称达能一直知道他们进行平行商业经营。
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这场官司战异乎寻常地艰难，自2007年开始就在全世界各地的法院上不停上演，搞得人精疲力尽。
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哇哈哈的前总裁宗庆后控诉达能诽谤他的家人，并散布关于他进行商业经营的谎言。去年，宗在网站发信说，他发誓会惩罚达能的“卑劣行径。”?

同样在周四，三鹿集团，三聚氰胺事件的主要当事奶制品公司（与新西兰合资），在石家庄法院宣布破产。
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在破产文案中，三鹿的主管们称，该公司负债1.61亿美元，其中大部分是因食用三鹿产品而患病的婴儿的医疗费用。三鹿的女董事长，田文华，被判无期徒刑，另外两人被判死缓。