[7], Melamine is used to manufacture melamine-formaldehyde resin, a type of plastic known for its flame-retardant properties and commonly employed in countertops, dry-erase boards, etc. Geng Jinping managed a milk production center which supplied milk to Sanlu Group and other dairies. We are learning that regulators have lost the ability, if they ever had it, to truly monitor the extent of the danger. [16], The bulletin board of the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) indicated a rare occurrence of kidney stones in children–all causally traced to Sanlu milk formula–was flagged by at least one member of the public in June 2008[39][40] and by a urologist in a paediatric hospital on 24 July 2008. The Kjeldahl and Dumas methods used to test for protein levels fail to distinguish between nitrogen in melamine and naturally occurring in amino acids, allowing the protein levels to be falsified. [10] Melamine adulteration of food products also made headlines when pet food was recalled in Europe and the U.S. in 2007. The State Council ordered an overhaul of the dairy industry, and promised to provide free medical care to those affected. [73] By 27 September, China Daily reported Sanlu was close to bankruptcy, and might be taken over by the Beijing Sanyuan Foods Company. [98], On 29 September, British confectionery group Cadbury was forced to withdraw its 11 chocolate products in China on suspicion of melamine contamination, in turn causing it to close down its three factories in China. [143], Poorer consumers reliant on local infant formula, which was approximately half the price of imported brands, had been left without alternatives to feed their children. [226] Wholesalers have refused to stock products without melamine inspection certificates. ", ... Everyone knows that at present average production facilities use large quantities of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. [8] Melamine is known to cause kidney failure and kidney stones in humans and animals when it reacts with cyanuric acid inside the body. [15][16] However, the procurement chain is also implicated, as milk agents are often politically well-connected. Because of 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". ", "Where an Internet Joke is not just a Joke", "Retailers crack down on baby formula limits amid parent pressure", "Sri Lanka biscuit maker says withdrawing product to clear doubts", "China's contaminated food scandal widens", "Hong Kong tests more China food after egg scare", "Hong Kong finds third egg sample tainted with melamine", "Chinese protein powder contains melamine: DOH", "Report: China's animal feed tainted with melamine", "Melamine: Khong Guan, Khian Guan biscuits recalled", "Biscuit ingredient tainted with melamine", "Taiwan government urged to locate melamine-tainted leavening agent", "China melamine scandal prompts mass chicken cull", "Hong Kong finds melamine in yet more China eggs", "China detains three in new toxic milk scare", "Shanghai dairy shut after melamine scare: report", "Melamine tainted milk re-emerges in northwest China plant", "Tainted Dairy Products Seized in Western China", "Lower milk standard to ward off melamine use", Recalled Product – A Consumer Newsletter About Product Recalls, Alerts & Warnings, 2008 United States salmonellosis outbreak, 2017–18 South African listeriosis outbreak, 2018 Australian rockmelon listeriosis outbreak, Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2008_Chinese_milk_scandal&oldid=996146008, Economic history of the People's Republic of China, Articles with dead external links from April 2014, Articles with dead external links from June 2016, Articles with dead external links from January 2011, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Making and supplying melamine-laced "protein powder", Aiding and abetting her husband Gao Junjie, This page was last edited on 24 December 2020, at 20:24. [117] According to the HK government, the regulation is not applicable to "powdered formula that is exported in the accompanied personal baggage of a person aged 16 or above leaving Hong Kong if the person did not leave Hong Kong in the last 24 hours and the formula does not exceed 1.8 kg in total net weight". A group of parents whose children were rendered ill by melamine-contaminated milk held a news conference to draw attention to the plight of their sick children; five were allegedly detained by police and taken to a labour camp outside Beijing. At a pH below the pKa of the stationary phase carboxylate group, the hydrophobic interaction is the primary retention mechanism. At the top of the list was Sanlu Group, with 11 batches of milk powder found to have melamine. [58], The Wall Street Journal reported that the suppression of bad news had not improved since the scandal was uncovered: media rigidly adheres to the official line, as ordered; Chinese consumers were ill-informed about the extent of global recalls. By Simon Elegant / Beijing", "Countries should test Chinese dairy products: WHO", "Calls for Chinese food ban after milk scandal", "Asia Food Tainting Spreads, Leading to Recall in U.S", "China's Melamine Milk Crisis Creates Crisis of Confidence", "Breastfeeding Drop Exposed in Milk Scandal, WHO Says", "Sanlu Group website hacked, Header bar changed to "Melamine, "Melamine" added as a product name, Sanlu Group – Products Show", "Chinese go online with food safety jokes", "China Authorities Avoid the true Reasons For Contaminated Milk Powder", "China Lawyers Face Pressure in Milk Cases", "Parents file lawsuit in China against dairy firm", "Hong Kong Adds Tests For Melamine in Food", "China's Tainted Food Products Only Harm the Average People, High-Ranking Officials Have Their Own Specially-Supplied Food Sources", "Amid milk scare, China's elite get special food", "China's Poisoned-Milk Scandal: Is Sorry Enough? [79], The government stressed that no new cases of melamine-related illnesses had been detected since 20 September,[172] and that test results on samples from 31 brands of baby formula, 84 brands powder for adult consumption, and 75 domestic brands of liquid milk produced after 14 September did not contain melamine, the AQSIQ said. At a pH above the pKa of the stationary phase carboxylate group, both cation-exchange and hydrophobic interactions contribute to retention, depending on the structures of analytes. [11] One academic suggested cyromazine, a melamine derivative pesticide commonly used in China for a long time, is absorbed into plants as melamine; it may therefore have long been present in products such as poultry, eggs, fish, and dairy products. [149], 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 powdered milk to Nanning Yueqian Food Additive Company, in Guangxi. On investigation the adulteration of the food and feed melamine was traced back to China. The Chinese market has grown at an average annual rate of 23% since 2000. Nitrogen (N2, 99.999%) was from Lumin Gas Works (Shanghai, China). In 2006, milk production reached 30 million tons, ten times the volume of a decade before. [198], An op-ed in the New York Times compared this to the "swill milk scandal" in New York in the 1850s in which 8,000 children reportedly died from milk from cows fed swill which was then whitened with plaster of Paris, thickened with starch, eggs and hued with molasses". Farmers reportedly poured away milk and faced selling cows to a buyerless market. Why was melamine added into milk and powdered infant formula. [35], The scandal began with revelations of contamination of Sanlu milk products. Queues formed outside Sanlu's offices for refunds. The collected eluents were dried with N2 at 50 °C. [54], On 2 January, a website created by individuals protesting against Sanlu was also blocked by the authorities. [32], 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. Qin concluded that the Chinese public were told by state-controlled media that the contamination of milk was a well orchestrated process, and they "are very sad, very frightened and very concerned". Mitigate your risk of Food Fraud. The source was traced to melamine being added to animal feed, despite a ban imposed in June 2007 following the scandal over pet food ingredients exported to the United States. The ministry was reported to have investigated 98 dairy producers and farms, banned 151 illegal companies and indicted three manufacturers for feed containing melamine. [citation needed], On 17 September 2008, Health Minister Chen Zhu stated tainted milk formula had "sickened more than 6,200 children, and that more than 1,300 others, mostly newborns, remain hospitalized with 158 suffering from acute kidney failure". "按照目前的三聚氰胺价格，在饲料甚至原料奶中添加这种物质，从经济上而言并不合算。如果奶粉或者液态奶中出现的三聚氰胺是由于添加三聚氰胺废料引起，那么值得担心的不仅仅是这种物质", "中國奶業協會常務理事王丁棉向記者透露,事件對伊利、蒙牛、光明這三大品牌一線企業的打擊與影響,是較嚴重的。 " 他们的近期产品销售业绩已一落千丈,跌至同期数据的30%–40%。就全国乳品行业而言,它所受到的负面影响也是很大的,此场危机的最低谷波峰期可能要维持至2至3个月之久,至明年中期前仍会处于一个恢复期中。过了恢复期,市场应该开始有明显的反弹,整个事件的阴影淡化直到出现全面的复苏,也许还需要1至 2年的时间。但复苏的速度完全取决于消费者消费信心的恢复与树立。” ", Zhu Yonglan, Director of the CGOSFSC – speech to Shandong KR Biomedical, 18 August 2008[151], Premier Wen Jiabao apologised to the nation, saying he felt "extremely guilty" about the poisoned milk products, in the same way he had previously asked the people's pardon for the deaths of coal miners, polluted drinking water, and train passengers stranded by the authorities' inadequate response to the severe snowstorm during the New Year. [36] A Fonterra director had given Sanlu management a document detailing the European Union's permitted levels of melamine, but Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier has stated that at no time did Fonterra say small amounts of melamine were acceptable. "[201], Hu Xingdou (胡星斗), a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, said: "There hasn't been an effort to establish a moral foundation to the market economy, and this incident is the inevitable result." [118], Although the Hong Kong government imposed a strict 2-can limit on the export of infant formula in March 2013,[119] spurred price differentials caused by sales tax on the mainland and lax customs, trafficking activity including for powdered milk has continued, exacerbating the Hong Kong-Mainland conflict. A researcher at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said that any amount exceeding 1 ppm would give reason to suspect its presence was intentional. In the year 2008 there were several reports that high levels of melamine have been detected in food and feed from around the world which triggered large-scale melamine testing of food products. [44] The state-controlled media report did not initially identify the company involved, postings on Tianya.cn, a Chinese social portal, named Sanlu as the culprit. The World Health Organization called the incident "deplorable" and at least 11 foreign countries halted all imports of Chinese dairy products. [232] 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. More than 53,000 infants have been diagnosed with severe traumas such as … [62] A spokesman for the Hebei Provincial Public Security Department said police had arrested 12 milk dealers and suppliers who allegedly sold contaminated milk to Sanlu, and six people were charged with selling 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. They were quoted as saying the perpetrators of the milk scandal responsible for the death of their child deserved to "die a thousand deaths". [84], The State Council ordered the testing of product of all dairy producers, and to this end, some 5,000 inspectors were dispatched. [161] Protesters fearful at reunification blamed the Kuomintang for the melamine scare, and criticised it for failing to stand up to China over the contamination. [12][13] It is not known where in the supply chain the melamine was added to the milk. [100], On 30 September, Unilever recalled its Lipton milk tea powder after the company's internal checks found traces of melamine in the Chinese powdered milk used as an ingredient. The Association estimates the financial effect of the order of ¥20 billion, and forecasts that confidence may take up to two years to be fully restored. At a pH higher than 5.0, melamine becomes deprotonated and is also poorly retained. [55] The announcement of the AQSIQ test results was relegated to the final item on the CCTV evening news. [citation needed], In the United States of America, which was otherwise unaffected by the scares, the US distributor of White Rabbit candies recalled the product when samples found in Hartford showed traces of melamine. These bases supply the 94 ministries' and commissions' veteran cadres with high quality organic food products ... [Our] products accord with the highest standards. [17], Caijing also reported the melamine in the tainted milk may have come from scrap melamine costing ¥700 per tonne—less than one-tenth of the price of 99% pure industrial grade melamine. [182], Behind the scenes, China's media was ordered to tone down coverage of the unfolding scandal to prevent unrest. Li Changjiang, the then Director of AQSIQ reassured the international community that all the food, including dairy products, was indeed safe. Experiments revealed that melamine is poorly retained when the pH is lower than 3.5. [179], On 16 September, the AQSIQ tests on baby milk powder produced by 109 companies showed 69 batches from 22 companies to be melamine-contaminated; the State Council attempted to reassure that formula produced by most companies in China was safe. Thus, farmers either added melamine contaminant unwittingly, or turned a blind eye to milk adulteration to ensure their milk was not rejected. "[181], On 16 September, the AQSIQ published results of tests on 408 liquid milk producers, and found "most dairy products were safe to drink", although the test results showed nearly 10 percent of batches from Mengniu, Yili and Bright were contaminated. "[170], On 6 October 2008, putting the blame on "illegal production and greed", the country's "chaotic dairy production and distribution order", and the "gravely absent supervision" for the crisis, the State Council announced new dairy industry regulations. [63] Among those arrested were two brothers who ran a milk collection centre in Hebei for allegedly supplying three tonnes of adulterated milk daily to the dairy;[64] the owner of another collection centre which resold seven tons of milk a day to Sanlu, was arrested, and his operation was shut down. [56], Tian Wenhua, Chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu and Secretary of the Sanlu Communist Party chapter was stripped of her party and functional posts during an extraordinary meeting of the Hebei provincial standing committee of the CCP;[57] four Shijiazhuang officials, including vice mayor in charge of food and agriculture, Zhang Fawang, were reportedly removed from office. The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a significant food safety incident in China. Milk powder samples #1-5 (approximately 2 g of each) were accurately weighed into 50-mL centrifuge tubes, and 15 mL of aqueous trichloroacetic acid (1%, v/v) and 5 mL acetonitrile were added to each. In a memo dated 11 August, Beijing-based public relations agency Teller International advised Sanlu to seek cooperation with major search engines to censor negative information. [154] Some mainlanders were also reportedly rushing to import infant formula from Kinmen. [134] WHO and UNICEF also jointly decried the "particularly deplorable ... deliberate contamination of foods intended for ... vulnerable infants and young children"[135] On 26 September, the WHO warned health officials around the world to be alert for dairy products of Chinese origin that could be tainted. They declared to "harshly crack down on the unlawful behaviour of illegally manufacturing, selling and using melamine". Any written replies or accept Sanlu-related cases in the meantime editors were ordered to tone down of! C18 or C8 column ) towards milk producers in China and advises them continuously the! Enforcement and to solve systemic food safety problems tons of powdered milk samples and liquid. C8 column ) food Composition and Analysis2018,69, 98-106. https: //doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2018.02.010 the goal of eliminating it samples brought... Conspicuously labelled `` safety inspection passed '' to allay consumer fears government.... 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