You are on page 1of 6

CHINEESE MILK SCANDAL

The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a food safety incident in the People's Republic of China involving milk and infant formula, and other food materials and components, adulterated with melamine. By November 2008 China reported an estimated 300,000 victims six infants dying from kidney stones and other kidney damage, and a further 860 babies hospitalised. The chemical appeared to have been added to milk in order to cause it to appear to have a higher protein content. In a separate incident four years before, watered-down milk had resulted in 13 infant deaths from malnutrition. The scandal broke on 16 July, after sixteen infants in Gansu Province who had been fed on milk powder produced by Shijiazhuang-based Sanlu Group were diagnosed with kidney stones. After the initial focus on Sanlu - market leader in the budget segment government inspections revealed the problem existed to a lesser degree in products from 21 other companies, including Mengniu, Yili, and Yashili. The issue raised concerns about food safety and political corruption in mainland China, and damaged the reputation of China's food exports with at least 11 countries stopping all imports of mainland Chinese dairy products. A number of arrests occurred as a result of the scandal; the head of Sanlu, seven local government officials, as well as the Director of the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) were fired or forced to resign in response to the incident. The World Health Organization referred to the incident as one of the largest food safety events it had had to deal with in recent years, and that the crisis of confidence among Chinese consumers would be hard to overcome. A spokesman said that the scale of the problem proved that it was "clearly not an isolated accident, [but] a large-scale intentional activity to deceive consumers for simple, basic, short-term profits." In late October 2008, similar adulteration with melamine was discovered in eggs and possibly other food, traced to melamine being added to animal feeddespite a ban imposed in June 2007 following the scandal over pet food exported to the United States.

Source of contamination
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that melamine may be found "in a variety of milk and milk products at varying levels, from low ppb to ppm ranges." One academic suggests it may have been part of the food chain in China for a long time, as cyromazine (a melamine derivative) is a very commonly used pesticide in China. Cyromazine is absorbed into plants as melamine, and may therefore be present in the food chain, which includes poultry, eggs, fish, and dairy products. It is not known where in the supply chain the melamine was added to the milk. The chemical is not water-soluble and must be mixed with formaldehyde or another chemical before it can be dissolved in milk.

Due to poor animal husbandry, production and storage, the demand for milk far outstripping supplies, use of other potentially harmful chemical additives such as preservatives and hydrogen peroxide has been reported by independent media as being commonplace. Quality tests can be falsified with additives: peroxide is added to prevent milk going bad; industrial vegetable oil is emulsified and added to boost fat levels; whey is used to increase lactose content. However, the procurement chain is also implicated milk agents are often politically well connected. Farmers report that salespeople had, for years, been visiting farms in dairy-cow areas hawking "protein powder" additive, which would often be delivered in unmarked brown paper bags of 25 kg each. A new version of "protein powder", capable of fooling dairies as to protein content, started being peddled approximately two years ago. Thus farmers either added melamine contaminant unwittingly, or turned a blind eye to milk adulteration to ensure their milk was not rejected. The big dairy producers were complicit in producing "test-tube milk." Caijing reported that "spiking fresh milk with additives such as melamine" was no longer a secret to Hebei dairy farmers for the past two years. Due to fierce competition for supplies, and the higher prices paid by Mengniu and Yili, Sanlu's procurement became squeezed; its inspection system became compromised "as early as 2005 and allowed milk collection stations to adopt unscrupulous business practices", while government supervision was "practically nonexistent." Caijing reported that the melamine in the tainted milk may have come from scrap melamine costing 700 per tonne - less than one-tenths of the price of 99% pure industrial grade melamine. The melamine production process produces pure melamine by crystallisation; the melamine remaining in the mother liquor is impure (70%) and unusable for plastics, so it is scrapped. It said that Sanlu's baby formula melamine content was a result of tampering by adding low cost vegetable protein (such as low grade soya powder), and large amounts of scrap melamine as filler. Scrap melamine contains impurities such as cyanuric acid that form more insoluble crystals than melamine alone, aggravating the problem.

Victims
On 17 September 2008, Health Minister Chen Zhu stated that tainted milk formula had "sickened more than 6,200 children, and that more than 1,300 others, mostly newborns, remain hospitalised with 158 suffering from acute kidney failure". By 23 September, about 54,000 children were reported to be sick and 4 had died. An additional 10,000 cases were reported from the provinces by 26 September. A World Health Organisation official said 82 percent of the children made ill were 2 years of age or below. The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety said that 99% of victims were aged under 3 years. Ten Hong Kong children were diagnosed with kidney problems, at least four cases were detected in Macau, and six in Taiwan. Non-human casualties included a lion cub and two baby orangutans which had been fed Sanlu milk powder at Hangzhou Zoo. The government said on 8 October it would no longer issue updated figures "because it is not an infectious disease, so it's not absolutely necessary for us to announce it to the

public." Reuters compiled figures reported by local media across the country, and said the toll stood at nearly 94,000 at the end of September, excluding municipalities. Notably, 13,459 children had been affected in Gansu, Reuters quoted Xinhua saying. Henan had reported over 30,000 cases, and Hebei also had nearly 16,000 cases. In late October, the government announced that health officials had surveyed 300,000 Beijing families with children of less than 3 years of age. It disclosed that approximately 74,000 families had a child who had been fed melamine-tainted milk, but did not reveal how many of those children had fallen ill as a result. Due to the many months before the scandal was exposed, media suggests that official figures are likely to be understated. Kidney stones in infants started being reported in several parts of China in the past two years. A number of yet to be officially acknowledged cases were reported on by the media. However, those deaths without an official verdict may be denied compensation. On 1 December, Xinhua reported that the Ministry of Health revised the number of victims to more than 290,000 and 51,900 hospitalised; authorities acknowledged receiving reports of 11 suspected deaths from melamine contaminated milk powder from provinces, but officially confirmed 3 deaths. On characterisation and treatment of urinary stones in affected infants, the New England Journal of Medicine printed an editorial in March 2009, along with reports on cases from Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei. Urinary calculi specimens were collected from 15 cases treated in Beijing and were analysed as unknown objects for their components at Beijing Institute of Microchemistry using infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and high performance liquid chromatography. The result of the analysis showed that the calculus was composed of melamine and uric acid, and the molecular ratio of uric acid to melamine was around 2:1. In a study published in 2010, researchers from Peking University studying ultrasound images of infants who fell ill in the 2008 contamination found that while most children in a rural Chinese area recovered, 12 per cent still showed kidney abnormalities six months later. "The potential for long-term complications after exposure to melamine remains a serious concern," the report said. "Our results suggest a need for further follow-up of affected children to evaluate the possible long-term impact on health, including renal function.

Response International agencies


The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) warned that children who ate large amounts of confectionery and biscuits with high milk content could theoretically be consuming melamine at more than three times above prescribed EU safety limits (0.5 mg/kg of body weight). The EFSA said that children with a mean consumption of products such as milk

toffee, biscuits and chocolate containing contaminated milk powder would not be at risk, and that adults would not be at risk even in the worst case scenarios. The World Health Organization, which was only notified on 11 September, asked Beijing why it took so many months for the scandal to become public, and to establish whether failure was deliberate or due to ignorance. WHO's representative in China, Hans Troedsson, said the issue of who knew what and when was critical "...Because if it was ignorance, there is a need to have much better training and education ... if it is neglect, then it is, of course, more serious." Following a spate of mass national bans, the WHO urged national food safety authorities on 25 September 2008 to test Chinese dairy products for health risks before slapping on import bans or recalls. WHO and UNICEF also jointly decried the "particularly deplorable... deliberate contamination of foods intended for... vulnerable infants and young children" On 26 September, the WHO warned health officials around the world to be alert for dairy products of Chinese origin that could be tainted. Anthony Hazzard, the Western Pacific director of the World Health Organization said countries had been advised by the International Food Safety Authorities (INFOSAN) to focus particularly on smuggled formula. The WHO referred to the incident as one of the largest food safety events it has had to deal with in recent years. It says the crisis of confidence among Chinese consumers would be hard to overcome. It saw regulation failing to keep pace with the rapid development of the food and industrial production as opening the gates to all types of misbehaviour and malfeasance. The spokesman said that the scale of the problem proved that it was "clearly not an isolated accident, [but] a large-scale intentional activity to deceive consumers for simple, basic, short-term profits." WHO Director-General Margaret Chan reminded Chinese mothers that babies not breastfed were being deprived of the best nutrition offered by nature, while risking being exposed to the effects of melamine. She added: "We need to try our very best to tell [mothers] the difference [between breast milk and formula]. Of course breastfeeding is the best food for babies." Chan said the melamine-in-milk scandal showed "the impact and power of globalisation" in food distribution and highlighted "the importance of seamless cooperation from farm to consumer."

Chinese public

Anger at Sanlu
The case has brought anger and resentment at milk producers, and has sown uncertainty and confusion among the population: queues have formed outside Sanlu's offices for refunds. The Sanlu website was hacked several times and its name as displayed in the header bar changed to ("The Melamine Group") in a play of words on the character "" (number 3), which is the first word of Sanlu's Chinese name: (Three Deer); "Melamine" was also added as a product name by a hacker. As has been

increasingly common practice, web users have vented their anger on Internet bulletin boards. Prevalent food scares have increased the number of on-line parodies circulated by netizens. Those inspired by Sanlu have been along themes of passing the buck, stones, or the virtues of not being able to urinate. Celebrities who have endorsed dairy products have also been mocked in photoshopped images. Before the government offered free medical treatment, some parents had reportedly spent small fortunes on medical care for their sick children. Children who fell ill before the scandal broke on 12 September are not entitled to free medical care offered by the State. Parents of at least two such victims, one from Henan and one from Guangdong, have filed writs against Sanlu despite government pressure. Parents of the Henan child have claimed 150,000 for medical, travel and other expenses incurred after their child developed kidney stones. On 20 October, the parents of one baby who died from contaminated milk appealed to New Zealand for justice on TV ONE. They were quoted as saying the perpetrators of the milk scandal responsible for the death of their child deserved to "die a thousand deaths". A total of nine cases were filed against Sanlu in Shijiazhuang. Following weeks of discussions, and in the absence of a compensation plan, a group of 15 lawyers have filed a collective suit on behalf of 100 families against Sanlu, seeking medical and other expenses as well as compensation for trauma and for death of offspring.

[edit] Anger at political leaders


There is growing resentment that country's leaders are not troubled by the food security turmoil faced by ordinary citizens: in a speech delivered by Zhu Yonglan (), Director of the State Council Central Government Offices Special Food Supply Centre (CGOSFSC) in August 2008, Zhu disclosed that her firm which was set up in 2004 to source high-quality, all-organic foodstuffs from farms working under the strictest guidelines, for supply to top political leaders, their families and retired cadres.
"The State Council Party and State Organisations Special Food Supply Centre... is supported by the State Council Logistics Base, Central Security Bureau farms, and supply bases spread over all 13 provinces, municipalities... and autonomous regions. These bases supply the 94 ministries and commissions veteran cadres with high quality organic food products... [Our] products accord with the highest standards." ...Everyone knows that at present average production facilities use large quantities of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Antibiotics and hormones are used in the raising of animals. Aquatic animal products are raised in polluted waters. All of these toxins end up in the final food products (all kinds of produce, meat, dairy products etc.). It goes without saying that these are harmful when consumed by humans." Zhu Yonglan, Director of the CGOSFSC - speech to Shandong KR Biomedical, 18 August 2008

Ordinary Chinese are asking whether the government ever intends to do more than just apologise, after Premier Wen Jiabao apologised, saying he felt "extremely guilty" about the poisoned milk products, just as he had previously asked the people's pardon for the deaths of coal miners, the polluted drinking water, and train passengers stranded by the authorities' inadequate response to the severe snowstorm during the New Year.

Author Qin Geng () said:"The big picture in this case was the interest of one-party rule above anything, not that they would put the safety of the people first". Qin concluded what the Chinese public were told by the state-controlled media the contamination of milk is a well orchestrated process, and they are "very sad, very frightened and very concerned."

Quest for milk substitutes


Poorer consumers reliant on local milk powder, which is approximately half the price of imported brands, have been left without alternatives to feed their children. Many have now lost faith in local brands, and others are uncertain which brands are safe. Supermarket shelves have been swept bare from product recalls. Shops in Hong Kong have reported a rush for imported formula from cross-border shoppers, and some retailers are reportedly rationing their stocks. Mainlanders have also been rushing to import milk powder from Kinmen. Wet nurses are enjoying a resurgence in popularity in major cities. New Zealand media reported Chinese sailors and expatriates have been buying local dairy produce for sending back to relatives in China.

Contamination and response in 2009-2010


On 2 December 2009, China detained three employees of Shaanxi Jinqiao Dairy Company in northwest China suspected of selling 5.25 tons of melamine-laced milk powder to Nanning Yueqian Food Additive Company, in Guangxi. On 30 December 2009, Xinhua reported continuing problems: powder and flavouring products sold by another company involved in the original scandalthe Shanghai Panda Dairy Company were found to contain illegal levels of melamine; the dairy was closed and three of its executives arrested. On 25 January 2010, it was reported that three food companies from Hebei, Liaoning and Shandong provinces had produced melamine tainted products in March and April 2009 and that the three companies were banned from selling products in Guizhou province. On 10 February 2010 China's state council announced a food safety commission, consisting of three vice premiers and a dozen minister-level officials, to address the nation's food regulatory problems. The group aims to improve government coordination and enforcement and to solve systemic food safety problems. As part of its ongoing effort to find and destroy any melamine-tainted milk remaining on the market, the Chinese government announced Monday that it was recalling 170 tons of milk powder laced with the industrial chemical which was supposed to have been destroyed or buried in 2008 but has recently found to have been repackaged and placed back into the marketplace

You might also like