Nearly half of Chinese dairies to stop work

Government regulators say nearly half of all dairies in China are being denied new licenses and shut down after failing inspections to clean up the scandal-plagued dairy industry.

The quality inspection agency said today that 533 of the country's 1,176 dairy producers have been ordered to cease operations. The agency says some 107 of them will have a chance to apply anew for licenses once they improve their quality controls.

It's the latest move by the government to clean up the dairy industry since 2008 when children started falling ill and an investigation discovered that suppliers were adding the industrial chemical melamine to milk to fake higher protein readings. Despite the public outcry, contaminated milk products are still showing up in stores.