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Chinese baby formula: 2 dead, 1253 sickened |
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Written by Stumo
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Tuesday, 16 September 2008 |
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Melamine, the industrial chemical, is the culprit in the baby formula. Fool the protein content test by putting in no digestible, nutritious protein sources, and instead put industrial in. This stuff was being distributed for months.
More than 340 infants remain hospitalized, including 53 in serious condition. Inspection teams are visiting dairy farms and processing centers in the country’s four main milk-producing provinces to ensure that producers are not violating safety standards.
The Chinese authorities have confirmed that the tainted baby formula was laced with melamine, a chemical additive sometimes used to make plastics and fertilizer. Last year, after thousands of pets became ill in the United States, the same chemical was found in pet food and traced to a Chinese ingredient.
The tainted milk powder has been traced to the Sanlu Group, one of China’s biggest dairy producers, which operates as a joint venture with a New Zealand-based dairy conglomerate, Fonterra. China does not export milk powder to the United States.
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But listen to complaint of the New Zealand minority (43%) partner, Fonterra. According to the prime minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, company officials had been "trying for weeks to get official recall [of the tainted milk powder], and the local authorities would not do it."
Li Changjiang, minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine was quoted in the New York Times as saying: "It's shocking. It's a crime against the people."
This is what passes for private enterprise in China. The government -- i.e. local and provincial Communist Party officials -- call the shots, and they call them to their own advantage. Damn the foreign partners. Damn the public. Damn the kids.