I went to China and all I got was some lousy melamine

September 26, 2008

1 Min Read
I went to China and all I got was some lousy melamine

That's what the souvenir t-shirts probably say these days. Starting with the pet food scandal, melamine has surfaced in many other products originating from China, including rice, milk, infant formula and now even cookies,cereal and crackers. The tainted milk worked its way upstream to infant formula, just as pet food worked its way into animal feed and pork chops. And FDA just released another melamine advisory on possibly tainted instant coffee and milk tea products from China.

Countries all over the globe are now inspecting the full range of human and animal foods from China, as the Asian giant grapples with its loose, to say the least, food safety system. The UK's Telegraph newspaper is even reporting China attempted to cover-up the melamine-milk contamination.

What do we do with China? Will the further damage to its global image finally force the Chinese government to increase quality control and open access to information? Do outsiders have any faith left in Chinese foods?

This has to be severely hurting those good, high-quality Chinese food and nutrition suppliers. They must be as embarrassed about their food safety system as Americans are about their financial system.

Update: Cadbury says its Chinese-made chocolates are contaminated with melamine. No word yet on how much melamine was in the chocolates, but a company spokesperson indicated earlier test "cast doubt" on the safety of the chocolates. Britons, who count Cadbury as sort of an unoffical national chocolate, need not worry, as the company's Beijing operations supplies Cadburys to only Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia.

 

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