Tests Detect Melamine In 31 Batches Of Milk Powder, Produced By 20 Different Companies

[hatrack]

EDIT

China's government, meanwhile, named 15 more Chinese dairy companies for producing products contaminated with melamine after a new series of tests. The contaminated samples were mostly milk powder products for adults. Thirty-one samples of Chinese milk powder provided by 20 companies were found tainted with melamine after new testing, according to data seen Wednesday on China's food safety administration's Web site. It was a national holiday in China and product safety officials could not be reached for comment.

More than 13,000 children have been hospitalized and 27 people arrested in connection with the contamination. The scandal was worsened by an apparent cover-up by companies involved and the ignoring by safety officials of tips and warnings from parents and doctors. Top Sanlu executives and government officials in the northern city of Shijiazhuang, where the company is based, have been forced to resign.

Melamine, which is high in nitrogen, is used to make plastics and fertilizers and experts say some amount of the chemical may be transferred from the environment during food processing. But in China's case, suppliers trying to boost output are believed to have diluted their milk, adding melamine because its nitrogen content can fool tests aimed at verifying protein content.

Levels of melamine discovered in batches tested varied widely, from as much as 6,196 milligrams per kilogram to as little 1.3 milligrams per kilogram. Chinese health officials have said no harm comes from consuming less than 0.63 milligrams per kilogram. In the most recent tests, nine of the batches containing melamine were produced by the company at the center of the scandal, Sanlu, a 43 percent stake of which is owned by New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra. No date for the testing was given.

EDIT/END

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2008/10/01/new_tests_find_melamine_in_31_chinese_milk_brands/

[phantom power]

1. Jesus,they were adding it on *purpose*?

[hatrack]

2. You bet - it's a great pseudoindicator of protein content which brings accordingly higher prices

Y'know, the Invisible Hand and all that . . .

[phantom power]

5. See, I had assumed they just couldn't be bothered to prevent the contamination.

Criminal negligence, as it were. Not premeditated poisoning.

[Warpy]

9. It has been premeditated in every case

because adulterants have been specifically aimed at passing quality control tests. That's why the bad heparin was contaminated with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, it fooled the quality control testing and read like the more expensive pure drug. Melamine in pet food, responsible for so many pet illnesses and deaths, fooled the quality control tests for more expensive protein content.

If China doesn't set up an equivalent of the FDA and mechanisms to batch test everything produced there complete with surprise inspections of factories, this will continue.

This is just an illustration of why libertarianism does not work, ever. Regulation is needed to keep the thieves under control and the regulation needs enough teeth to force them into less dangerous lines of work, like adulterating pot with oregano and setting up easy to spot phishing scams.

[glinda]

6. Same with Pet Food

It was intentionally added. My cat is now up to about $5000 in Vet bills. He is now stable to some degree but should not have had this happen to him.

[bananas]

10. Why were they adding it to instant coffee and lipton tea?

I've never heard of high-protein coffee or tea.

[GliderGuider]

3. I'm sorry, was I supposed to be surprised?

This is perfectly natural behaviour. It's just the way a profit-and-growth civilization works, at least at the margins.

Gnawing our knuckles in naive disbelief isn't convincing any more, I'm afraid.

[phantom power]

7. Yes, you were supposed to be surprised.

Just kidding. Probably not.

[JDPriestly]

8. American industry moved to China precisely to avoid regulation

and taxation. And we encouraged them by allowing free market imports of trash in nearly unlimited quantities.

Didn't anyone stop to think that part of the low cost of doing business in China is the lack of taxes required to support agencies like the FDA, the EPA and OSHA? Think of the taxes and annoyance business saves when it manufactures its products in laissez-faire China.

[sakabatou]

4. O.O

Holy crap.