Yunyan Dairy Farm in Guangzhou has been ordered to close for 90 days by the Baiyun District Government.

The order was issued Sunday after Guangzhou press published reports of more than 400 cows with tuberculosis at the farm.

During the closure, no cows or cow products will be allowed to leave the farm. All the diseased cows and suspicious cow products are to be destroyed.

On Saturday the Yangcheng Evening News reported that the farm concealed the fact that more than 400 of the total 630 cows at the farm had tuberculosis. The cows, which were given heavy doses of antibiotics, supplied more than two tons of milk to the market each day.

The farm is one of 12 raw milk suppliers to Yantang milk, a well-known brand in Guangdong. The sales department of Yantang Milk Company said that they had no plans to withdraw their milk products from the market because the quality of their milk was absolutely guaranteed. An anonymous manager claimed that they had a strict inspection system and all the milk was checked by the Provincial Epidemic Prevention Station before being approved for sale.

But a manager, surnamed Fang, of Yantang's production department said the company stopped buying milk from Yunyan Diary Farm only after the news was broken Saturday. Speaking of their inspection system, Fang said the tuberculosis bacteria were not within the scope of their inspection.

Most of the stores in Shenzhen are still selling Yantang milk but Wal-Mart removed all Yantang milk products from the shelves Monday.

(Shenzhen Daily July 22, 2003)