China’s state food safety authority declared about 17,000 cans of fake baby milk powder distributed illegally all over the country to have no harmful effects on infants.
On Monday, the Shanghai Food and Drug Safety Administration announced that initial investigations conducted on the case of fake milk sold in seven provincial-level regions showed that babies who were fed the contraband are "safe," per a report from the Global Times.
The statement came simultaneously when authorities arrested six people and are investigating one more for their involvement in selling the counterfeit infant formulas in Zhengzhou, Changsha, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and many other areas as well as online.
On Monday, Abbott Laboratories admitted that their brand has been used for the unlawful act, adding that they have taken necessary actions and informed authorities about the issue.
According to AFP as cited by the New Straits Times, the company had also released a separate statement claiming to have seized the fake goods after they found out about it in December last year.
According to the outlet, the suspects allegedly earned 2 million yuan ($307,692) from distributing counterfeit milk using the Abbot brand "Similac."
Despite assurances from the national food safety authority that the milk does not pose any harm to babies who consumed it, worry still lingers among parents because of previous similar cases in the country.
In 2008, news broke about a scandal involving one of China's biggest dairy producers, the Sanlu Group, where six babies died and about 300,000 more were affected.
Four years prior, a bigger case involving counterfeit milk shook the country. In that case, the deaths of at least 50 infants were linked to fake infant formula, while 100 more were found to be severely malnourished and developed the so-called "big-head disease" after being fed the knockoff milk.
According to The Guardian, the fake milk powder in this case had "little more nutritional value than water," which is why some babies died just a few days after being "nourished" with the infant formula alone.
"My girl, the first child of mine, died when she was only four months after drinking Haobaobei milk powder," 32-year-old grieving mother Zhang Linwei told the outlet at the time, naming one of the counterfeit milk brands.