China Bad Milk Recalls Now Global

Western Nations Pull Imported Products Over Fears Of Melamine Contamination

(AP)  An industrial chemical that made its way into China's dairy supplies and that authorities blame in the death of four babies has turned up in numerous Chinese-made exports abroad - from candies to yogurt to rice balls.

British supermarket chain Tesco removed Chinese-made White Rabbit Creamy Candies off its shelves as a precaution amid reports that samples of the milk candy in Singapore and New Zealand had tested positive for melamine - an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertilizer.

The Shanghai government's quality watchdog was investigating whether the chemical was in the candy, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted government spokesman Chen Qiwei as saying. The government also urged a Bright Food Group Co. subsidiary to stop selling the candy, pull it off store shelves and recall exports that are likely to have problems, it said.

The subsidiary, Guan Sheng Yuan, has been making White Rabbit candies for almost 50 years, with exports to Southeast Asia and Chinese communities overseas.

A man who answered the phone at the company said Bright Food Group is having a meeting to discuss what to do next after reports the candy had tested positive for melamine. He did not give his name, saying the company has yet to appoint a spokesman.

Chinese baby formula tainted with the chemical has been blamed for the deaths of four infants and the illnesses of 53,000 others in China. Health experts say ingesting a small amount of the chemical poses no danger, but melamine can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure. Infants are particularly vulnerable.

More than a dozen countries have banned or recalled Chinese dairy products. One of the latest was France, which does not import Chinese dairy products but has halted imports of Chinese biscuits, candy or other foods that could contain Chinese dairy derivatives. The French government described the measure as a precaution.

South Korea announced late Wednesday that it was banning imports of Chinese-made food products containing powdered milk. The food watchdog Korea Food and Drug Administration said tests found high levels of melamine in two biscuit products imported from China and Hong Kong.

Also Wednesday, Indonesia distributed a list of 28 products that it said may contain tainted Chinese milk, including Oreo cookies, Snickers bars and M&M chocolate candies.

U.S. and European consumer safety officials urged Beijing to better enforce product safety standards.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said White Rabbit candy has been added to its list of products being inspected at ports of entry, but that no melamine-tainted goods from China of any sort have turned up yet. Nonetheless, some ethnic grocers started removing the popular candies from their shelves.

A woman who answered the phone at AsianFoodGrocer.com in San Francisco said the company is no longer selling White Rabbit candies. "Everything has been taken off-line," said the woman, who would not give her name.

Britain's Tesco said that it had withdrawn White Rabbit Creamy Candies off its shelves as a precaution. The candies had been sold in a small number of the chain's stores as part of the supermarket's ethnic range.

Australia and New Zealand also issued recalls Thursday for imported White Rabbit candy.

New Zealand's Food Safety Authority recalled White Rabbit candies after tests showed they contained dangerously high levels of melamine and advised people not to eat them.

"This product contains sufficiently high levels of melamine which may, in some individuals, cause health problems such as kidney stones," deputy chief executive of the authority, Sandra Daly, said in a statement.

New Zealand expected all White Rabbit sweets to be off shelves within 24 hours and was testing numerous other products for melamine contamination, said Food Safety Authority spokesman Geoff Allen.

"We are looking at a wide range of products ... primarily baby formulas as they pose the highest risk, and now we're moving through all the other .... products that may contain adulterated milk," he told National Radio.

Australian food regulators issued a statement late Wednesday announcing they had formally requested that wholesalers and importers voluntarily withdraw White Rabbit Creamy Candies pending further testing.

In China's tropical Hainan island some supermarkets in the capital Haikou have pulled White Rabbit candies from the shelves, according to a report on the Web site of People's Daily Thursday.

It is not clear if China's safety watchdog has ordered a nationwide recall of the candy.

Melamine has been found in infant formula and other milk products from 22 Chinese dairy companies. Suppliers trying to cut costs are believed to have added it to watered-down milk because its high nitrogen content masks the resulting protein deficiency.

Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, known as AVA, recalled White Rabbit candies earlier this week and said Wednesday that more Chinese-made food had tested positive for melamine, including Dutch Lady-brand banana and honeydew flavored milk, Silang-brand potato crackers and two kinds of puffed rice balls.

The crackers and rice balls listed milk as ingredients.

In New York Wednesday, China's premier sought to ease the growing concern abroad over the growing crisis over Chinese food exports by vowing to strengthen product safety checks and meet international standards.

China needs to better enforce checks at every stage of production and step up efforts to protect consumer interests, Premier Wen Jiabao said on the sidelines of a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.

"We want to make sure that our products and our food will not only meet the domestic and international standards, but also meet the specific requirements of the import countries," Wen said at an event organized by American organizations.

Also Wednesday, a Chinese official issued a public apology to consumers in Taiwan as the island's president, who won March elections on a platform of closer economic ties with the mainland, blasted Chinese milk producers.

"I condemn the mainland manufacturers that have produced fake milk and dairy creamer," Ma Ying-jeou said.

Authorities there ordered 160 products containing Chinese milk and vegetable-based proteins off store shelves, saying the goods had to be tested before they can go back on sale.

"We feel extremely painful about the damage that the milk powder brought to people in Taiwan. Our government attaches great importance to it and is taking a series of measures to minimize the damage and influence," said Li Weiyi, a spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office.

Speaking in China, where U.S. and European officials were attending seminars on product safety, a U.S. official said China's troubles with contaminated milk highlight the need for better enforcement of product safety standards in manufacturing.

"The melamine situation just underscores the message that we are trying to deliver, and that is you have to know what's coming into your factory and what's going out of your factory," said Nancy Nord, acting head of the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.

The Chinese government has been scrambling to show it is tackling the problem. In recent days, the government announced high-profile arrests and forced resignations of officials.

The dairy at the center of the scandal, Sanlu Group Co., will not be able to recover from the damage it has suffered to its reputation, its New Zealand partner said Wednesday. An investigation into the contamination found Sanlu received complaints about its infant formula as early as December 2007 and covered up the problem for months, state media reported earlier this week.

The Chinese government has taken control of Sanlu, which is 43 percent owned by New Zealand's Fonterra Cooperative, and shut down its operations, Fonterra Chief Executive Andrew Ferrier said at a briefing. Sanlu is based in northern China's Hebei province.

"Sanlu has been damaged very badly by this tragedy," Ferrier told reporters as he announced Fonterra's annual results. "The brand cannot be reconstructed."

There was no immediate response Wednesday from Sanlu. Several calls during the day were answered by temporary workers in the company's media department who took down questions but said it was up to senior company officials to decide whether to reply. The workers refused to give their names, which is common among Chinese employees.

[scotch41-2009]

CHINA IS WINNING WORLD WAR III WITHOUT EVEN FIRING A SHOT!!

[oneworldusa]

I''ve been saying for years we need to stop buying from China. I mean consumers. Now, the situation is dire. They''ve poisoned our pets, our children, and now their own children. Problem is, it''s hard to find anything these days not made in China.

And in today''s economy, go without what you don''t absolutely need to have, and for what you do need to have, if you can''t find it Made in the USA, at least buy from Guam, Indonesia, Italy, wherever, but from anyone who''s not poisoning our people.

Eventually it will send a message to companies that it is no longer profitable to trade with China. I can''t think of anything else we as consumers can really do except speak with our wallets.

Do not buy anything from China! Please!

[blackyowe]

I wish we knew which foods were from China I want NONE of it!

[labyrinthine]

That reminds me of the Soviet Union, whose ''''''''industrialisation at any cost'''''''' caused some of the biggest pollution disasters ever. But the Chinese seem to be doing an even worse job.


Posted by rwsmith29456 at 05:57 PM : Sep 25, 2008

Perhaps its a wrong in our sentence, China is not Soviet Union, the matter is not ''''industrialisation at any cost'''', the matter is ''''Socialistic market-oriented economy at any cost'''', Meanwhile, the merchants can do anything for profit, even that it would broke the law.
Furthermore,The Chinese Party offical are ''''ADMINISTRATIVE NONFEASANCE & "CORRUPTION", they receive bribes from companys and lost their responsibility,nobody can control them cause from they promoted by Party orgnization expect voters.
In this case, I only can say is "we have to drink soybean milk instead of cow milk"

[ajmarine111]

That reminds me of the Soviet Union, whose ''''industrialisation at any cost'''' caused some of the biggest pollution disasters ever. But the Chinese seem to be doing an even worse job.


Posted by rwsmith29456 at 05:57 PM : Sep 25, 2008



Many parts of both countries are becoming septic tanks.

[rwsmith29456]

AJMARINE111 said: M"y question is,......"If they are suppose to be one of the new economic power houses, does it seem like they stand a good chance of killing themselves off before this happens,..........or is it just me"?" That reminds me of the Soviet Union, whose ''industrialisation at any cost'' caused some of the biggest pollution disasters ever. But the Chinese seem to be doing an even worse job.

[ajmarine111]

Poison chemical in milk, poison chemicals in pet foods, led paint used on toys. I have lost all confidence that any product coming out of China is safe. It is time to start a boycott of Chinese goods.


Posted by redbds at 03:38 PM : Sep 25, 2008



During the Olympics, all we heard about was the smog and poor air quality, not to mention all the other things that would drive our EPA mad, problems that China has.

My question is,......"If they are suppose to be one of the new economic power houses, does it seem like they stand a good chance of killing themselves off before this happens,..........or is it just me"?

[redbds]

Poison chemical in milk, poison chemicals in pet foods, led paint used on toys. I have lost all confidence that any product coming out of China is safe. It is time to start a boycott of Chinese goods.

[xmanborg]

Oh NO not Bad Milk from China.

The did the same thing to pet food in the US 2 years ago. I guess the China does not think much about their children and reguards them as pets.

[lewiston14]

"I have NO sympathy for folks who call themselves adults but DON''''T KNOW HOW TO MANAGE THEIR OWN SPENDING!! Am I pissed? You freaking bet I am

Posted by Catherine195

Im sure the goverment will give every consideration to you. How does it feel to be a grunt?

[catherine195]

Tainted food and drink from China - maybe THIS could be a good reason why the next US Pres should bring back to America ALL THE FREAKING JOBS and US companies Bush closed down here to put 600,000+ out of work in his own country! No wonder the US is in SUCH TERMOIL! Foreign countries all over the world USED to look at the US as the richest country (in everything) - now they''re sitting back laughing their ***** off at us while Bush and his posse - who by the way have NO financial cares or woes - about how they intend to get us out of the $7BILLION debt they put us in.

My husband and I take HUGE offense to the millions in the US who way over-shot their wad for home loans that they KNEW sure as *** they couldn''t afford and those stupid *** Fannie May/Freddie Mac loan officers gave them whatever the home owners asked for!! Now they''re crying the blues and asking for help??? I don''t think so!!!!! Why should we tax-payers who have paid off our home loans, don''t make extravagent purchases that we can''t afford, don''t have our 16 yr old kids driving snazy cars, cell phones, not going to school to learn anything, LIVING ON CREDIT CARDS!
I''ll be damned to pay more taxes to bail them out as Georgie Porgi thinks that yet another huge tax increase is okay to pass onto people who currently don''t have two dimes to rub together anymore!!! I have NO sympathy for folks who call themselves adults but DON''T KNOW HOW TO MANAGE THEIR OWN SPENDING!! Am I pissed? You freaking bet I am!!!!!!!!!!!!

[inketolstoy]

Only one way to be sure about your food. Grow it yourself or know who is. Otherwise, step up and take your chances.

[lewiston14]

That is a problem. No one knows where the contents of a product come from. I use a package of Taco mix as an example (but in no way say there is a problem with Taco mix) I picked Taco mix as it uses many spices and other ingredients to make it. The places where these ingredients come from often change Because of prices or the fact that a countries growing and picking season is done for the moment while another countries growing and picking season is just starting. At that point both countries products could be mixed. You will never see a label that includes every place that every ingredient came from. It would be impossible. Milk is a large component of many things yet you just have seen some 200 products pulled off shelves that do list milk products as an ingredient but how many more do not list it as and ingredient? As I understand New Zealand holds ownership too many of Chinas milk producers. How can you not trust NZ but at the same time how did this escape them for so long.

[rushlimpdrug]

The UK supermarket chain, Tesco, that has just removed melamine-tainted, Chinese candy from its shelves, trades in the US as Fresh & Easy.
Posted by juwboy at 05:25 AM

"An industrial chemical that made its way into China''s dairy supplies and that authorities blame in the death of four babies has turned up in numerous Chinese-made exports abroad - from candies to yogurt to rice balls"


More and more "businessmen" are showing
themselves to be dirtbags.

These dirtbags are tainting everything
including the newsmedia.

For YEARS they hounded Clay Akens about whether
he was gay or not.

Yet the story about POISONED (not tainted)
food products have been a back seat.

[juwboy]

The UK supermarket chain, Tesco, that has just removed melamine-tainted, Chinese candy from its shelves, trades in the US as Fresh & Easy.

[airboatboy1]

I heard there are boobies hangin'' out all over the streets of China. For a couple of cents you can get ya a nice, long drink.

[horse3farm]

I wonder if there have been any illnesses among the hundreds of thousands of "foreigners" who attended the Olympics and ate there every day.

[credibility2]

A major US producing of baby formula was recently asked if we needed to be concerned about this, and their reply was "no", since they didn''t get any of the milk powder from China. The implication is that the US baby formula producer gets powder from other non-US sources. Unfortunately, as long as it''s not mandatory to clearly label the countries of origin for food ingredients, the consumer will continue to remain in harm''s way. China can''t be trusted with manufacturing anything. Tainted pet food, toxic toys, tainted baby formula, etc.

[pollroller1]

people buying foods from china
deserve it.Posted by rushlimpdrug at 12:24 PM : Sep 24, 2008
------------------------------------------------------
Here is the problem. There is no way to know when food has ingredients in that come from China. It can be an American company but some of the stuff they add to the product could come from China and we would never know it.

[icewinds-2009]

Easy Solution: DO NOT buy ANYTHING made in CHINA!! Same problem in China as in the U.S., GREED runs the machine.