4 dead, 53,000 sick from melamine in Chinese baby powder; companies knew for months
The Associated Press reports that four babies have died and almost 53,000 have been sickened from melamine in baby formula in China that now appears to date back to Dec. 2007.
An investigation by the State Council, China's Cabinet, has found that for eight months, China's biggest producer of powdered milk, Sanlu Group Co. “did not inform the government and did not take proper measures, therefore making the situation worse.”
Melamine, which can cause kidney stones and kidney failure in babies, has since been found in infant formula and other milk products from 22 of China's dairy companies.
Also, Li Changjiang, who headed the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine since 2001, has resigned, a year after he and the government promised to overhaul the system.
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/admin/trackback/87552
There have been many recalls in various Asian neighbors of China for not directly milk-related products. The most recent recalls are in Japan, Taiwan and Singapore, including the popular Asian brand Mr. Brown series instant coffee mix and soups (made by Taiwan's King Car company). King Car is a Taiwanese company and relatively honest. They were suspicious about their ingredient supplier in China and did the test themselves to reveal the contamination. The ridiculous part of the new development is that their supplier in China still denies the blame while all their down stream companies who purchased and imported ingredients from China were tested positive across various Asian countries. There is little mechanism (but much political cover up) for testing food safety in China. King Car's Mr Brown is recalled by the company in Taiwan -- In fact, so far, for non-milk related market it has been the Japanese or Taiwanese companies recalling their products that might have used Chinese ingredient. How about those products of coffee mix, soups, or even desert cake etc that directly carry Chinese brand names? Do you trust those? I think they are even more questionable. Furthermore, from the mere fact that many US and Europe-based companies also have business partners in China, it's hard not to suspect how many baking goods have also been contaminated in the US or Canadian markets. Are the testing under way ? Not milk or formula, but cakes, ice cream, soups, powder mix ...