I know many people enjoy the amusing stories and images I typically post here and I try to keep things light hearted most of the time, but it’s hard to ignore some of the more shocking stories that I feel can’t be ignored.
I was saddened to read about what is now a global story about the “contaminated” infant milk from China’s
biggest brand, Sanlu. Samples of the milk powder have been found to contain Melamine, which is a chemical used in the production of plastics and other non-food products. It is not used in food production but can make products appear to contain more protein. So basically, people have been adding this poisonous substance to baby milk powder to pass protein level inspections!
The discovery was made after over 50 infants around China have been diagnosed with kidney stones and several babies have died.
It was only 4 years ago that a similar scandal broke in China, where fake milk powder containing almost no nutrients at all was discovered after many infant deaths.
It’s hard for me to imagine anyone would try to make financial gain by poisoning newly born infants, but I guess such people do exist and I can only hope they’re found and brought to justice. In England, traitors used to be hanged, drawn and quartered. If you’re not sure what that is, look it up. Personally I feel that punishment would be too good for these people.
UPDATE : 21 more dairy companies’ products have tested positive for Melamine, including Yili and Mengniu, two of China’s biggest dairy companies. It’s also been found in a frozen yogurt product in Hong Kong, made by Yili!
September 17th, 2008 at 7:45 am
50? BBC says more like 1200 sick kids!
I asked a colleague if the guilty parties would be shot, “it depends on how many die” he said!
September 17th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Dingle – You’re quite an early riser I see.
Sorry, the numbers are growing by the day, so yes, it looks like 1200 now. Of course, several high level officials have been sacked already to make it look like the problem is being dealt with. And I am pretty sure some people are going to be executed because babies have died.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Will those responsible be brought to justice?
September 17th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Rich – Apparently at least one milk farmer has already been arrested and large quantities of Melamine found at his home. These people aren’t the brightest crayon in the box.
September 17th, 2008 at 8:11 am
at the airport Woai! Don’t normally keep these sort of hours..
September 17th, 2008 at 10:57 am
I can’t believe either that there can be such horrible people in the world to deliberately poison babies for an extra buck. The only good thing about it happening in China is that they don’t hesitate to execute people quickly. The bad thing is that probably the key players are important government people and will get away with it, while the lower people will take the fall. It’s just sick and wrong.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:37 am
The related top management of Yili must be shot immedicately ,no way to bear those pple alive indeed , they don’t even deserve to be called pple ! They are just greedy and selfish bastard ! Humiliating !
September 17th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
This is just one of a string of food/drink contamination issues in China: I can also think of the fake Baozi story (at the end of which no one knew whether the dumplings, or the story, or both were fake), or the water-cooler bottles that are filled with tapwater and then sealed.
Away from food, you can irradiate your brain with a fake mobile phone (complete with dodgy antenna), drive a fake car with no crash test performance whatsoever, live in a house that was decorated with carcinogenic chemicals, and fly on a plane…. with your fingers crossed.
Is this the first civilisation where people willingly poison their compatriots to earn extra $$$, or have there been others in history?
In either case, it’s truly shameful.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
sounds like the farmers doing the poisoning not the companies who put it into powder right?
September 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Well then we’re all agreed it’s shameful stuff. Yes James, it’s clear the villains are the suppliers further upstream in the production process, not the milk companies themselves.
Today I had a thought – how many of those responsible have children? Just trying to get a handle on how their minds work but can’t fathom it.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I think they breastfeed their children. Or hire a wet nurse to do it
September 18th, 2008 at 7:04 am
This is off topic, but relevant to the blog’s readers nonetheless, so I’ll remark on it: there’s an upcoming webinar, sponsored by the US Department of Commerce, on the sustainable rebuilding of Sichuan’s schools. It should be an interesting perspective. http://www.buyusa.gov/asianow/chinaearthquakerelief.html.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:23 am
I’m so happy I’ve been drinking only soy milk since I arrived in China. Powder food has always had a suspicious ring to it, however. I don’t think I would ever feed my baby powder milk? (not that I have one or even planning to, but IF…) Still, awful scandal. Last times it was pets, this time babies. What’s next? Grown ups?
September 18th, 2008 at 10:25 am
SHEinChina – Really? No plans to be a mother at some point?
If there’s a positive to this, I think the authorities are going to take some action to make it harder for this type of thing to happen. The down side (and motivation for the government to deal with it) is that China’s reputation around the world has been seriously damaged and sadly, the “made in China” label is now read like a warning label!
September 18th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
business all eyeing on short term profit. very unethical
September 18th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
the funny part is Melamine wasnt found in the dairy supply to olympic/paralympic team/staff members.
September 19th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
[...] was one thing when powdered baby milk was being poisoned (greedy babies, what’s wrong with breast milk anyway?) but now it turns [...]
September 19th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
i really think those culprits shld be made to guzzle down litres of the tainted milk as part of the punishment..GRRRRRRRRRR