Hey - remember the Melamine contaminated Pet Food
Well guess what. It's now in Milk for human consumption.
From the
Associated Press:
Tests find chemical also in liquid milk in China
China's tainted milk crisis widened Friday after tests found the industrial chemical melamine in liquid milk produced by three of the country's leading dairy companies, the quality watchdog said.
Singapore suspended the sale and import of all Chinese milk and dairy products because several tested items were contaminated.
Tainted baby formula has been blamed for killing four infants and sickening 6,200 in China since the scandal broke last week. Some 1,300 babies, mostly newborns, are currently in hospitals and 158 of them are suffering from acute kidney failure. Thousands of parents across the country were bringing their children to hospitals for health checks.
The crisis was initially thought to have been confined to tainted milk powder. But about 10 percent of liquid milk samples taken from Mengniu Dairy Group Co. and Yili Industrial Group Co. � China's two largest dairy producers � contained melamine, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. Milk from Shanghai-based Bright Dairy also showed contamination.
Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority said tests revealed traces of melamine in samples of a Yili-brand yogurt bar and Dutch Lady-brand strawberry milk manufactured in China. Authorities said they plan to destroy all samples of these two products in Singapore. Officials also warned local food manufacturers against using milk products from China as ingredients.
Hong Kong's two biggest grocery chains, PARKnSHOP and Wellcome, pulled all liquid milk by Mengniu from shelves Friday. A day earlier, Hong Kong had recalled milk, yogurt, ice cream and other products made by Yili Industrial Group Co.
Starbucks Corp. said its 300 cafes in mainland China had pulled milk supplied by Mengniu. Seattle-based Starbucks said no employees or customers had fallen ill from the milk.
Jesus! I know that the Chinese will be brutally efficient about finding the people who allowed this to happen on their watch and that they will be marched from a courtroom to a waiting execution van in short order but still. Who in their right mind would repeat the same scandal with a product for human consumption.
For those that do not remember from the Pet Food scandal, Melamine will test as protein when you are doing a simple chemical analysis so adding it to a product will boost the "available protein" content very cheaply. It is not until you do a specific test for melamine that it shows up for what it is.
My brain is still trying to grasp that someone would add this to baby formula. These people are going to enjoy a level of hell far worse than the 9/11 hijackers and general islamist terrorists.
Posted by DaveH at September 19, 2008 10:17 AM