I work for a global food ingredient company and want to issue a waring against all chinese manufactured food products. The article below touches on some issues but I can tell you our company has discovered so many different issues we have stopped purchasing raw materials and finished goods from China three years ago. Please be careful!!!
Do you drink milk? You should, we should. After all, nobody can argue against the nutritional value of milk and the health benefits it brings. However, these days we should check the kind of milk we're drinking for it may not only make us ill but even lead to death. The culprit? Melamine-tainted milk from China. This was discovered after thousands of infants reportedly fell ill after consuming baby formula containing the chemical melamine. The substance, commonly used in combination with formaldehyde, produces a durable resin that is used for household products like counter tops, fabrics, glue, housewares and flame retardants. Melamine is also used to make fertilizers! If that doesn't spell poison to you, I don't know what will.
But why would anybody add melamine to milk? Well, melamine is a nitrogen rich compound and adding this tricks testers into concluding that food products are high in protein. For some
unscrupulous Chinese businessmen, this means a good way to may a quick buck!
Governments around the world together with their health agencies are scampering to warn their citizens not to buy milk products from China. Locally, the Bureau of Food and Drug (BFAD) and the Department of Health (DOH) have started testing all imported milk and milk products from China. They have also ordered the pull out of these products - powdered and liquid milk - from store shelves until the necessary testing has been done. Consumption of melamine leads to ulcer and kidney stones and ultimately, kidney failure. Several children have reportedly died in China while thousands more have been confirmed to be suffering from kidney failure after frantic parents had their kids tested when when news first broke out about this. The scandal snowballed late last week, with the Chinese government finally admitting that melamine had been discovered in regular milk and other dairy products such as ice cream, leading to mass recalls across the country.
Personally, whatever the result of all these testing may be, I will think twice about buying (mush less eating) Chinese products again. The country obviously has very lax, if not non-existent, quality controls. A few months ago, it was revealed that Chinese-made toys were laden with excessive amounts of lead paint that can cause brain damage in children. Weeks later, candies, cookies and other Chinese food imports were found to contain formaldehyde, a cancer-causing substance popularly known as formalin. And now, it's melamine in milk. It scares me to think what we'll discover next. To be on the safe side, no more Chinese food imports for me and for my family no matter how relatively cheaper they are compared to their Western counterparts. How about you?
Thought bubble: I wonder what's going on in the minds of the thousands of athletes who participated in the just-concluded 2008 Paralympics and Beijing Olympics?
Update: The Chinese government’s quality watchdog has released an initial list of milk manufacturing companies using the deadly toxin. (Source: ABS CBN news)
1 Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co
2 Shanghai Panda Dairy Co Ltd
3 Synutra International Inc
4 Shanxi Gucheng Dairy Co Ltd
5 Jiangxi Bright & Hero Dairy Co
6 Baoji Huimin Milk Co Ltd
7 Mengniu Dairy
8 Duojiaduo Dairy Industry (Tianjin) Co Ltd
9 Guangdong Yashili Group Co Ltd
10 Hunan Peiyi Dairy Co
11 Heilongjiang Qining Dairy Co
12 Shanxi Yashili Dairy Co Ltd
13 Shenzhen Jinbishi Milk Co Ltd
14 Guangzhou Shien Dairy Co
15 Guangzhou Jinding Dairy Co
16 Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co
17 Ausmeadow Nutriment Co Ltd
18 Qingdao Suncare Nutritional Technology Co Ltd
19 Xi'an Baiyue Dairy Co Ltd
20 Yantai Leilei Dairy Products Co Ltd
21 Shanghai Bao'anli Dairy Co Ltd
22 Fuding Chenguan Dairy Co Ltd
