Health bureau to probe milk powder bribe claim

The Tianjin health bureau pledged at a meeting on Tuesday to investigate an allegation that French company Danone bribed hospital staff to give its milk powder to newborn babies.

China Central Television reported on Monday that Danone, which markets its infant formula under the brand Dumex, gave kickbacks to medical staff at Tianjin Central Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology to feed newborn babies its infant formula products, so the babies would develop a taste for the product.

The report showed a list of names of medical workers in a number of hospitals in Tianjin who it claimed had taken money from Dumex between January and July. The alleged payments varied from several hundred yuan to 10,000 yuan ($1,633).