Anything can be 'Made in China'. Now, it's the turn of breast milk

If this works out, it’s not going to be less than a miracle! According to reports,China is planning to spend US$1.6 million researching a formula that would resemble Chinese women’s breast milk.

This comes after the China government placed restrictions on imports of baby formula last week. According to this _Reuters_article, China has imposed new restrictions to reducethe huge demand for foreign-made dairy products and instead bolster the sales of domestic brands.

[caption id=“attachment_84143” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  According to reports, China is planning to spend US$1.6 million researching a formula that would resemble Chinese women’s own breast milk. Reuters[/caption]

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The new restrictions require foreign makers ofmilkpowder to register the products with the government before it can be sold in China.

According to a People’s Daily report, the project will study the ingredients and active constituents of the breast milk of Chinese mothers and aim to set up a breast milk database for developing the formula.

However, not everyone thinks the plan will work perfectly. Chen Lijun, deputy general manager of Beijing Sanyuan Foods Co, told People’s Daily, “the nutrition in baby formula can never reach the level of breast milk”. Chen is working on the milk project with other research institutes.

“We can only try our best to make it similar to breast milk,” Chen told Beijing Youth Daily.

So, why is China trying to manufacture breast-milk?

China is reportedly world’s largest market for baby formula. Last year alone, Chinese parents bought $15 billion worth of baby products. Why do they so much baby products? Because, breast feeding of babies under six months is not very popular in the country. This Quartz report states that breast feeding in China is at 28 percent compared to a global average of 40 percent.

However, a large part of the baby products come from overseas. In fact,the demand in China for foreign-made infant formula and milk powdersurged in 2008, w hen at least six babies died and 300,000 fell illafter drinking milk products tainted with melamine, a toxic chemical used in manufacturing.

The government’s efforts to encourage breastfeeding haven’t also been quite been successful.

So, will the government manage to recreate breast milk? We’ll have to wait and see.