China market regulation authorities urged Central China's Hunan Province on Wednesday to investigate a case in which a local maternal and child store sold a protein solid drink as milk formula which caused several children to develop 'big-head' disease and rickets after consuming the product.
Five parents in Yongxing county, Chenzhou, recently found their children to be suffering from eczema, severe weight loss, a skull deformity resembling "big head" and a number of other unusual diseases.
The children had all used a "special medical milk powder" purchased at a local maternal and child store after being diagnosed as milk allergic and doctors recommended that they use amino acid milk powder, according to the reports.
The salesperson who sold the "milk powder" to the parents at the shop claimed that the product is the best-selling "milk powder" for children with the allergy, said one parent in the TV report.
When asked why the product reads "solid drink" on the packaging, the salesperson said it was just "another name for milk," according to the parent.
A 400 gram can of the special medical "milk powder" sells for 298 yuan . "Although the product cost more than twice as much as the ordinary ones, I still kept buying it for my kid," another parent, surnamed Zhu, told the media.
Zhu noted that her daughter had consumed 89 cans of the "milk powder" in two years, during which time she often had a cough, eczema, and patted her own head.
The 3-year-old girl weighs less than 15 kilograms and her hair has turned yellowish. She was later diagnosed with rickets and lacking vitamins A and B.
Zhu thinks the store should be held responsible and pay compensation for her daughter's disease as salespersons misled customers to buy the solid drink thinking it was milk powder.
But an owner of the store claimed that it was the manufacturer who promoted the product as a nutritional supplement for kids with allergies.
The manufacturer of the product told media that the company had stopped its production in mid-2019 and the solid drink meets national standards and is suitable for all kinds of people.
The company also said it is not clear why the product was sold at maternal and child stores to children with milk allergies.
When asked why the product reads "solid drink" on the packaging, the salesperson said it was just "another name for milk," according to the parent.
Zhu thinks the store should be held responsible and pay compensation for her daughter's disease as salespersons misled customers to buy the solid drink thinking it was milk powder.
