Melamine in Chinese Powdered Milk...Again

On December 31, 2009, the Chinese government-run Xinhua news agency announced that melamine was found in milk produced by the Shanghai Panda company. Initial reports indicated that the Shanghai Panda plant was shut down, three of the company's top executives were arrested, and milk produced by the company was recalled from seven provinces. (See Shanghai Shuts Down Dairy for Melamine, Jan. 4)

Sadly, this recent scare is only one in a long line of contaminated milk controversies in China. In 2008, over 294,000 infants were sickened or killed after consuming tainted powdered milk. (For an in depth look at the 2008 melamine scare, you can read my earlier report here) The 2008 outbreak was prompted by companies that deliberately poisoned their product in order to generate falsely inflated protein content results. The only reason such protein tests were required in the first place was because of earlier problems with companies that were diluting their product, thus lessening production costs. Oh yeah, the diluted product happened to cause the small side effect of malnutrition, leading to the deaths of children who consumed the milk. Apparently such side effects are no big deal in the world of Chinese business.

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