Mainland Chinese mothers still back Hong Kong milk products as best for baby

Mainland mothers still prefer to buy infant formula sold in Hong Kong or other places, despite laboratory tests confirming there was no significant difference in the nutrient content of foreign milk brands sold in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

Health sector lawmaker Dr Leung Ka-lau said the urge mainlanders had to buy dairy products in Hong Kong was due to a "crisis of confidence" over Chinese milk brands that would not be sorted out quickly.

"They may still prefer the product packaging in traditional Chinese rather than simplified Chinese," he said.

Tests commissioned by the Post and conducted in a certified laboratory confirmed that two brands, including Mead Johnson's Stage 1 formula and Wyeth Nutrition's Stage 1 formula, bought in Hong Kong showed little difference in nutrient levels when compared with the same companies' products bought on the mainland.

Mead Johnson, one brand that suffered severe shortages in Hong Kong during the Lunar New Year, set up a production plant on the mainland a few years ago to meet demand, but its products sold in Hong Kong are shipped from the Netherlands.

Despite the result suggesting safe and good-quality formula could be easily bought in mainland supermarkets, one mainland mother, Zhang Xiaojing, who has a three-year-old daughter, told the Post she would still prefer to buy milk powder in Hong Kong.

"Although their nutritional content is the same, there are still differences between the products made in China and other places," she said.