A retailer in China is beginning to offer baby milk insurance after a food safety scare in the country a few years ago.
In 2008, thousands of infants fell ill, and six died, after an industrial chemical was added to baby formula in efforts to raise the protein content, as Reuters reports.
Suning Commerce Group, which owns the Redbaby chain of stores and is backed by China's second largest insurer, Ping An, launched China's first-ever baby food insurance policy.
Under the insurance policy, if cans of milk powder that were bought from a Redbaby store or its e-commerce website are recalled, the insurance company will pay the customers up to 2,000 yuan ($325) per can.
"We realized that parents pay a great deal of attention to their children's health and safety, and in particular, the safety of their infants' foods," Ping An told Reuters.
Suning gave the insurance away for free to buyers of the first 40,000 cans of baby formula sold once the insurance was launched.
The baby food recall was one of many food recalls recently in China.
Heinz recalled infant food products this week after it was discovered they contained lead. Other brands that recently had food recalls in the country include Yum Brands, McDonald's, Wal-Mart Stores and Fonterra Co-operative Group.
