By Li Hongmei
Hong Kong is mulling to lift restrictions on infant formula imposed after a rush on supplies by visitors from the Chinese mainland.
Currently, there's a limit of no more than 1.8 kilograms, or about two cans, when visitors head home.
The restrictions came into force on March 1 to safeguard supplies for Hong Kong residents after the city experienced a shortage in January because of the number of mainlanders buying up formula to take home.
Mainland parents were increasingly rejecting domestic product in the wake of food safety scandals and turning to overseas sources.
Ko Wing Man, director of Hong Kong's food and health bureau, said that supplies of infant formula had now stabilized.
The volume of sales had also decreased rapidly, Xinhua news agency reported.
Ko said a committee made up of representatives from the government, consumers, infant formula retailers, suppliers and other parties was established on July 3 to work out measures to improve the supply chain of infant formula in Hong Kong.
The measures would be submitted to the Hong Kong government in October, and if they prove to be effective and sustainable, authorities will abolish the restrictions.
The committee will consider, among other things, speed of replenishment from external sources and distribution efficiency.
Since March, anyone taking more than 1.8 kilograms of formula out of Hong Kong has been facing a fine of up to HK$500,000 (US$64,443) and two years in jail.
On March 2, one man was fined HK$5,000 for trying to take out 11 cans of infant formula. The man, who was not named, pled guilty and the formula was confiscated.
In 2008, melamine-tainted milk powder killed at least six babies and sickened more than 300,000 infants on the mainland.
In 2010, food safety watchdogs in northwest China's Gansu Province and the northeastern Jilin Province found more melamine-laced milk products.
The authorities said it was probably made with tainted products from Sanlu, the manufacturer which went bankrupt after the 2008 melamine scandal that involved major domestic dairy makers on the mainland.
