Journalists don't want to let Theo Spierings go after the CEO of New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra held a news conference on its contaminated whey protein concentrate on Monday in Beijing. Chinese producers using the raw materials are recalling affected products. Zou Hong / China Daily

BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Sales of affected products have taken a beating, report Wang Shanshan and Jiang Xueqing in Beijing, and Zhou Wenting in Shanghai.

Fonterra Cooperative Group, the New Zealand-based company at the center of a milk powder safety scare, apologized on Monday and pledged that all the contaminated material would be brought under control within 48 hours.

"We really regret the distress and anxiety which this issue could have caused," said Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings at a media briefing in Beijing. "We totally understand there is concern by parents and other consumers around the world. Parents have the right to know that infant nutrition and other dairy products are harmless and safe."