The company, based in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, said its customers had received refunds on 4.6 million yuan worth of substandard milk products, according to a Monday exchange filing. In addition, the local market watchdog confiscated unsold items worth 360,200 yuan.
Maiquer, which suspended production of its pure milk products on July 3, said it has corrected operational problems and will restart sales of the product line after getting clearance from authorities, according to the filing.
In late June, a local market regulator in Zhejiang province found that the company’s milk products contained propylene glycol, a viscous and colorless liquid that’s a common additive in food products. The Zhejiang regulators’ conclusion was later reviewed and confirmed by the State Administration for Market Regulation.
Dairy product safety is a particularly sensitive issue in China, and the incident caused an uproar that led the company’s share price to plunge 27% from June 28 to July 15. As of Monday, the stock had rebounded 29% from last month’s low.
Maiquer’s misconduct reminded some of the melamine milk scandal that shocked China’s public in 2008 when authorities found that several dairy producers were spiking raw milk with the industrial chemical melamine. Six infants died and 300,000 fell ill in cases linked to the practice, official figures show.
