China milk scandal hits home (nationalism shaken)

LAT ^ | 09/27/08 | Barbara Demick

[TigerLikesRooster]

China milk scandal hits home

Chinese had shrugged off previous problems as Western hysteria, but tainted milk has many wondering what else poses a risk. Even professed patriots seek out products not made in China.

By Barbara Demick

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 27, 2008

BEIJING — Even after regulators assured the public that all contaminated baby formula was off the shelves, B.X. Wei wasn't going to feed his 2-month-old son anything that came out of a can. Especially not one made in China.

But his wife didn't have enough breast milk for the baby.

Then the 30-year-old businessman from Jiangsu province remembered that during his childhood, women would nurse each other's babies if one ran out of milk. So he decided to try a new twist on the old tradition: On Monday, he put an ad on the Internet soliciting a wet nurse.

"I don't know if any milk powder is safe," Wei said.

China's latest food scandal has created a surge of interest in wet nurses. Wei has been interviewing candidates who are asking for as much as $1,500 a month -- about 10 times the average price of a nanny.

Parents who can't afford such luxuries are in a quandary. As stores here and elsewhere in the world remove such products as yogurt and candies amid the scandal over contaminated milk, Chinese consumers are left wondering what else might be poisoning their children.

The discovery that melamine, a toxic industrial compound, had been added to Chinese milk has set off a panic extending through Asia, Europe and parts of Africa. (No tainted products have been discovered to date in the U.S.)

[TigerLikesRooster]

An activist dumps powdered milk in a protest in Jakarta, Indonesia. Across the region, food made with Chinese milk has been pulled from stores.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[TigerLikesRooster]

The Chinese melamine milk scandal is no longer about milk. In many Asian countries, it is spreading to imported Chinese food in general.

Health authorities are widening the scope of their investigation. In S. Korea, many imported Chinese food items were preemptively pull off shelves pending the lab test.

[B-Chan]

1. Why in God’s name would a dairying nation like ours import Chinese milk?

2. Why would anyone buy milk not produced in their local area?

3. Why is anyone surprised by this?

[dr_lew]

Even professed patriots seek out products not made in China.

It doesn't take much, does it?

How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm ... ?

[TigerLikesRooster]

I hope those responsible are caught in naked-short/derivative blowout and bite the dust.

[dr_who]

This is not quite China's Chernobyl, but it could be a symptom of things to come. China needs to wake up from its unquestioning subservience to the Chicom regime.

[TigerLikesRooster]

I had the same idea. It does not rise up to the severity of Chernobyl disaster, but something similar on the smaller scale. Endangering the health of their own people with callous disregard to safety.

With a couple of disasters like this, their regime will be shaken to the core.

[blam]

I’ve read in other articles that the main milk company Sanlu is 43% owned by A New Zealand company and the New Zelanders hold three of the seven board positions at Sanlu...It was the NZ board members who sent out the melamine alerts. If not for them, we may still not know about this posioned milk.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Yes, they are instrumental for sending out warnings.

[sinanju]

“Why in God’s name would a dairying nation like ours import Chinese milk?”

__________________________________________________________________________________—

Kin yew say “New England Dairy Compact” boys and girls?

I knew yew could.

[dr_lew]

Not sure of your point. The New England Dairy Compact that you cite seems to be an effort to prop up local ( i.e. New England ) dairy farmers, which effort involves price support for milk, since the price would otherwise fall if the states submitted willy-nilly to global market forces, driving the local dairies out of business.

[Ronin]

I have been shocked at how prevalent Chinese ingredients are in Japanese foodstuffs — as are a lot of people here. In fact, in what I think is a damn good idea, there is a movement afoot to require food manufacturers to clearly indicate on their package the origin of ALL the ingredients.

Nothing made in China makes it into my kitchen if I can help it. But I am finding myself looking closer and closer at each label to make sure the ingredients are made domestically, and if I am not sure, I tend to do without.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Yes, their use is far too extensive. Some of them are in soup to provide more 'meaty' quality.

I hope Chinese sell them only domestically if they have to. Export ban for ten years.

[Ronin]

The most horrifying thing about this most recent scandal is that the people who added this toxic chemical to the milk KNEW they were poisoning CHINESE babies.

All the crap about the pesticides in the gyoza that was sent for export was bad enough, but how despicable of a cretin do you have to be to willingly sell poison in your own country?

And — if they are willing to do THAT, it's totally obvious they would have even less respect for anyone else.

[VeniVidiVici]

Check your apple juice jug.

Last Mott’s jug I looked at stated it was made from Chinese apples.

[beaversmom]

I’ve read that most apple juice is from China at one time or the other. Sometimes a company will get the apples from the U.S. Other times from another part of the world. And at other times from China.

[Ronin]

Thanks for that tip. I normally buy apple juice regularly, but didn’t think of adding it to my list of suspect products. Now I will.

[beaversmom]

You are welcome. I’m sure I read that at FR, but I couldn’t find the article.

[Calpernia]

Look at how fast the melamine in wheat quieted down. There is no way they could have fixed that so fast. The rat poison is used in their fields. They couldn’t have plowed new fields and grew wheat again to remain in the market.

That rat poison is in their entire food system.