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If you are not aware of another the recent scandal of Chinese food production, read this post and know the world you are living in. If you just have few seconds, this is the news: Baby formula and some milk products made in China is poisoned, and you might have the products around you.

What happened is, some milk product made in China was contaminated with Melamine, a banned material for food production. About what Melamine is, and how it effects the health, is nicely described by AFP here:

What is Melamine

Victim count: Official reports indicated 4 babies have died and more than 53.000 is seriously ill, this is in China alone, statistic for other countries is not confirmed yet.

The problem is not only with milk, but obviously with any product that uses milk as its ingredient. In Singapore some major supermarket chains have recalled the Dutch Lady milk as well as some products that contains Chinese milk ingredient, including those who have big market share such as Oreo, M&M, Snickers, and Dove ( all from Mars, inc.? ). Another recalled product that has been in the market for very long time and very popular (I remember liking this when I was in kindergarten) is the White Rabbit Milk Candy. Following is the list of the recalled products (update: deleted). Update: I have received a long list of recalled products via the email, but this list is yet to be confirmed. If you would like to have it, please contact me, but bear in mind that it might not be the official list. So far this has been a global crisis, Singapore is not alone, major food recall and warnings have been issued in New Zealand, US, Europe, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Philippines, and some countries in Africa ( …and the list goes on).

The issue was raised by a New Zealand co-operative – Fonterra – who has share in Chinese manufacturing company, after receiving some reports. Some cover-ups and delay in action made it worst, and obviously too late for some family with babies.

Here what Boomberg says:

Sanlu Group, the first company identified as having produced tainted milk, received complaints in December and knew of the contamination in June, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Sept. 22. It didn’t notify the city government of Shijiazhuang, where it’s based, until Aug. 2. The nation’s quality and safety watchdog started an investigation on Sept. 10.

New Zealand’s Fonterra Cooperative Group, which owns 43 percent of Sanlu, this week criticized the “appalling delay” by its affiliate in reporting complaints by parents of babies sickened after drinking its infant formula. The WHO yesterday described the contamination as “deplorable.” – source

And Economist reports:

Fonterra, a New Zealand co-operative that owns 43% of Sanlu, has been praised for working with New Zealand’s government to push Sanlu and the Chinese government to disclose information about contaminated products and get them off the shelves and out of homes. But it has also been slammed for not doing more—in particular, for not going public earlier (it first learnt of problems in early August). Several of China’s big internet portals have also been accused of filtering out information about tainted milk from as long ago as December, in order to protect China’s reputation during the run-up to the Olympics. – source

So what now… are you still confident with eating China-made food? Will the world still believe in China, its government and its system? Economist says further about it:

The government’s response has changed, seemingly overnight, from suppression to intervention. The chairwoman of Sanlu has been detained. Four milk dealers have been arrested and 22 others held for questioning. The mayor of the city where Sanlu is based has resigned, along with the local Communist Party leader and the head of China’s national department of quality supervision.

Whether all of this will address the problems with China’s food-production system is questionable. The boss of one big food company says that at a local level, regulation is the responsibility of the Communist Party officials. Companies close to the party get an easy ride, until there is a breakdown, at which point punishment is draconian. Until the regulatory and judicial systems become independent, there will always be an incentive to ignore problems until they explode.

Foreign companies have been concerned about the possibility of such a scandal for some time. Unilever dumped its joint ventures years ago, to ensure it had full control of all domestic Chinese operations. McDonald’s has created its own closed supply chain, spanning beef, fries, bread and pickles. Coca-Cola imposes stringent rules on suppliers of sugar, water and carbon dioxide.

This approach is being greeted with increasing approval within China. In monitoring consumer opinions, Coke says it initially found its recent effort to acquire Huiyuan, a large juice company, generated complaints on websites from nationalists opposed in principle to foreign brands. But support for the deal has since grown as a result of the company’s reputation for safety and quality. Chinese firms are just beginning to build up their own brands and have yet to establish the kind of trust that persuades people that it is worth paying more for a better product, says Tom Doctoroff, chief executive in China of JWT, an advertising agency. Never has there been more reason for that to change. – source

This all news leave me with 3 things to wonder:

- For cheaper price, would a man make decision that put himself and family in risk?

- For cheaper price – and hence bigger profit – would a business decision maker close his eyes and cover his ears? Would man risk others in the effort to gain wealth?

- Next time, when a baby formula states on its label “high protein” or “double DHA”, or another food “Vitamin rich”, or a drink with “all-sounds-good-healthy-chemicals”… will I buy it? Truth or Lie?