I love milk even if I am lactose intolerant. Lately, I have been hearing about this melamine thing in milk products, another dairy thing and news about this exploded like a bomb. I had just read the report from the Associated Press that the number of sick children in China had already jumped to nearly 53, 000 (May-August records).
I do not know what melamine is. The report explained it to me:
Melamine, used to make plastics and fertilizer, has been found in infant formula and other milk products from 22 of China's dairy companies. Suppliers trying to cut costs are believed to have added it to watered-down milk because its high nitrogen content masks the resulting protein deficiency.
Li Changjiang, head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine since 2001, had resigned a year after he and the government promised to overhaul the system in response to a series of product safety scares. He stepped down when investigators revealed that the Sanlu Group Co., the biggest producer of powdered milk in China, had received complaints regarding the illnesses in babies being blamed on its infant formula as early as December 2007! Months later, tests show that the milk was indeed tainted with the industrial chemical melamine which causes kidney stones and can lead to kidney failure. The report also read
Even then, Sanlu delayed ordering a product recall until Sept. 11, after the close of the Beijing Summer Olympics and in the face of rising concern from New Zealand partner Fonterra, which owns a 43 percent share in Sanlu.
Note that Sanlu received complaints since December 2007 but it won an industry award in January and featured on state TV last fall as a domestic company with tight quality controls!
According to The Huffington Post, there are at least 3 children who have died and more than 1,300 are in hospitals dozens of them are suffering from acute kidney failure.
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