The Shanghai government is denying accusations that its food safety bureau covered up a local dairy's link to the mainland's tainted milk scandal - despite the fact it took nearly a year for an investigation to be made public.
The Shanghai Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision closed down operations at Shanghai Panda Dairy late last month for producing milk products that contained high levels of melamine.
But officials from the bureau told local media that the investigation dated back to samples tested in February last year, and that arrests had been made in April.
No details of the investigation were made public in the interim, prompting an outcry over the public being kept in the dark.
At a regular municipal press conference yesterday, government spokesman Chen Qiwei insisted authorities had followed due process throughout.
'As far as certain media reports about a cover-up are concerned, I can say that there was no such thing,' Chen said.
He said officials discovered the contaminated milk products during a routine inspection on April 23, and that all affected stocks had been confiscated to ensure there was 'no impact on society'.