Posted on 09/26/2008 4:30:21 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Chinese Milk Worker: Complaints Ignored For Years
by Louisa Lim
 Louisa Lim/NPR Whistle-blower Jiang Weisuo, a milk station operator, says chemicals were being added to milk in 2005. His attempts to expose the practice have resulted in huge financial losses and threats on his life, he says. |
 Louisa Lim/NPR Milk collection stations like this one are at the heart of the scandal over contaminated milk. |
Morning Edition, September 25, 2008 · Milk contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine has sickened more than 50,000 children in China in recent weeks. But the practice of adulterating milk seems to have started far earlier than is being reported — and one whistle-blower has been trying to expose the dirty secrets of China's milk industry.
"People added whey powder, protein powder, fat powder. Some people added antibiotics as an antibacterial. They also added formaldehyde," says Jiang Weisuo, the milk station operator who first spoke out about the tainted milk. "My understanding is that what we called protein powder could be melamine, as that also boosts the protein. But I haven't looked into it."
Milk collection stations are at the heart of the scandal. They provide equipment to milk the cows and act as middlemen, selling the milk to bigger dairies. Jiang's station in rural Shaanxi province supplied one of China's biggest dairies, Yili, one of those found to be selling milk contaminated with melamine. He first realized something was amiss as long as three years ago, in 2005.
"Other people were adulterating their milk, and getting high prices for it. I was refusing to adulterate my milk and only getting very low prices," he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Ping!
You know it’s bad when Chinese people are saying, “Don’t buy anything from China!”
This is a wonderful opportunity for diary farmers in America to ship our milk overseas.
Where is a board of standards for out imports? China cares little if their products kill people. It is all about the money and they are not our friends.
We might figure out to create an uproar about the lack of food standards ane their enforcement.
My understanding is that certain tests of quality involve testing for the percentage of protein. Using simple tests, melamine makes regular milk “look” like it has more protein and is thus higher quality.
It’s good to know that there are people in the Chinese milk industry whose ethical standards are not affected by the prospect of financial ruin. But this guy sure paid a heavy price:
(Quote)
Locals accuse the dairies of systematically abusing quality standards. A different station operator who wouldn’t be interviewed on tape said the dairies demanded extremely high nutritional levels. If a station’s milk didn’t make the grade — for example, if its protein levels were too low — the dairies would deduct money.
So some station operators were forced to doctor their milk by economic pressures. Others took the step willingly, when they saw the price of milk rising. They realized they could water down their milk and use chemicals to cover it up. One estimate is that a kilo of milk could sell for four times its value after chemicals were added.
But Jiang Weisuo refused.
“There were reprisals,” he says. “I’d report problems, and immediately people would stop buying milk. The economic pressures on me were huge. I lost tens of thousands of dollars. There was a price on my head, with people offering money to have me killed. In the end my family was shattered and my wife divorced me.”
(Unquote)
btt
That's a fine idea. I betcha' though, China has some huge tariff on incoming milk.
Jiang Weisuo = near future unwilling organ donor.
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