CANADA: Outsourcing contamination

06.jan.09
Canwest News Service
Sarah Schmidt

Gary Leong knew things weren't right during a recent tour of a Chinese plant when he
witnessed workers manufacturing glucosamine sulfate to relieve joint discomfort in
the morning and fertilizer to help plants grow in the afternoon - using the same
equipment.
"Cross-contamination issues are huge," says the head of scientific and technical
affairs at Jamieson Laboratories, Canada's largest manufacturer of natural health
products.
Charged with guaranteeing the purity and safety of the company's vitamins, but also
facing competitors that offer them at a lower price thanks to cheaper raw materials,
Leong brought Jamieson auditors to China to see if sourcing directly from China was
a viable option.
Jamieson is just one of hundreds of businesses that produce natural health products
and processed foods facing this choice.
The backdrop is the steady stream of safety alerts from Health Canada about
unauthorized health products containing unwanted chemicals and the recent spate of
high-profile recalls of tainted food products.
And while many consumers are price-conscious, an emerging consumer culture also
wants to know where companies get their raw ingredients and what quality-control
measures they take to ensure a finished product without traces of toxins.
"I think within that spectrum, there's a vast array of players. To me, in the end,
that's the concerning part. There is a shift more toward the direction of quality
control and traceability, but not everybody has always been there nor is everybody
going that way," says Jim Hamilton, vice-president of human nutrition and health at
DSM Nutritional Products Inc. The company is the world's leading provider of
vitamins and chemicals to the food and pharmaceutical industries and is recognized
for its exacting manufacturing processes and pure products.
After observing the operations at the glucosamine sulfate/fertilizer factory, the
Jamieson executive visited an ascorbic acid plant, one of four in China responsible
for 90 per cent of the world's supply of vitamin C found in processed foods and
natural-health products.
"They had a purified water system that they claimed they were using to manufacture
their ascorbic acid with. Well, the night I was going through the plant, that
purified water system was turned off and they were still operating," says Leong.
"Basically, they're letting economic choices rather than quality or integrity
factors determine when they use it. And that's a minor indication, but it's
indicative of the whole problem over there."
Jamieson has opted to pay more for raw ingredients rather than buy them directly
from Chinese plants, citing the absence of a culture of accountability.
In the wake of the melamine crisis in China in mid-September, Nestle "took control"
over its milk supply chain in South Africa and introduced systematic melamine
testing for all raw milk purchased in the country, said spokesman Ferhat Soygenis.
This testing led to the recall of two batches of infant formula with traces of
melamine.
Nestle developed a similar protocol in China to detect trace amounts of residues and
undesirable compounds, such as melamine and other toxins. The company also
transferred 20 scientists from its research centre in Switzerland to five production
sites in China that export for sale around the world.
"The safety and quality of its products is a non-negotiable priority for Nestle,"
says Soygenis.