Check this out...China's Baby Death Scandal (fake milk powder)

[catgirl]

Washingtom Post Foreign Service

SHANGHAI -- Something was wrong with the babies. The villagers noticed their heads were growing abnormally large while the rest of their bodies were skin and bones. By the time Chinese authorities discovered the culprit -- severe malnutrition from fake milk powder -- 13 had died.

The scandal, which unfolded three years ago after hundreds of babies fell ill in an eastern Chinese province, became the defining symbol of a broad problem in China's economy. Quality control and product-safety regulation are so poor in this country that people cannot trust the goods on store shelves.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402539.html?hpid=topnews

This is a must read article. Scary.

[Deja Q]

1. Unregulated free market, population control, a combination of both, or something entirely different?

[The2ndWheel]

7. Murphy's Law?

[DURHAM D]

2. Is Nestles involved in the bad formula? n/t

[kiteinthewind]

26. My first thought, too. How many babies in Africa died from that?

:cry:

[jobycom]

3. K&R. Interesting that China says it has never exported wheat gluten for pet food.

"Wheat gluten has industrial uses and China has suggested the shipments that made their way into pet food might never have been intended for that purpose. China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said China has never sent wheat gluten abroad for use as a pet-food ingredient. That has raised the question of whether companies that bought the gluten are guilty of misusing it."

[jmowreader]

19. They're right. They never have.

Before you start questioning my sanity (which should not be done because no Home Depot employee has any during the spring season), know ye now that there are three grades of gluten:

INEDIBLE grade gluten is used in things like wheat paste--products which will never be eaten.
FEED grade gluten is used in animal feeds.
FOOD grade gluten is used in human foods.

China exports two grades of gluten--INEDIBLE and FOOD. Animal feed manufacturers purchase FOOD grade gluten.

This is kind of a weasel situation: they know the gluten is going into pet food, but it's the same gluten they sell for human consumption so they can legally say "we didn't export any gluten for pet food" knowing full well they're right because the specific, animal-feed-only grade of gluten is not being shipped.

[jobycom]

21. I didn't question that. But I'm more worried that

the feed makers are importing industrial grade gluten. That would make it the fault of our importers, not the exporters. Unless the exporters lied about what they were selling.

[jmowreader]

22. The industrial gluten may not be right for their processes

The particle size might be wrong, say. That could change process timing in unexpected ways--something you do NOT want to find out with $5000 worth of ingredients that aren't working right because the gluten is the wrong size.

[MADem]

4. People are gonna have to really make some hard choices here.

Consume more...CRAP, or consume less...quality.

The Chinese are getting into the habit, it would seem, of shopping CRAP all around the world. And they're even selling it to EACH OTHER.

Quality control and product-safety regulation are so poor in this country that people cannot trust the goods on store shelves.....Tainted ingredients that originated here made their way into pet food that has sickened and killed animals around the world.

Chinese authorities acknowledge the safety problem and have promised repeatedly to fix it, but the disasters keep coming. Tang Yanli, 45, grand-aunt of a baby who became sick because of the fake milk but eventually recovered, said that even though she now pays more to buy national brands, she remains suspicious.

"I don't trust the food I eat," she said. "I don't know which products are good, which are bad."

With China playing an ever-larger role in supplying food, medicine and animal feed to other countries, recognition of the hazards has not kept up.

By value, China is the world's No. 1 exporter of fruits and vegetables, and a major exporter of other food and food products, which vary widely, from apple juice to sausage casings and garlic. China's agricultural exports to the United States surged to $2.26 billion last year, according to U.S. figures -- more than 20 times the $133 million of 1980.....

I don't think we'll be buying any Chinese foodstuffs any time soon. Not that we eat much processed shit, anyway, but I think we'll be reading those labels very carefully.

[Ian David]

6. To Republickers, the answer is to de-regulate everything and let market forces settle it...

After, of course, capping the amount that consumers can sue manufacturers for damages.

[kestrel91316]

10. These are the same people that oppose food labeling laws,

and don't want consumers to know country of origin. How the hell are "market forces" supposed to work under those circumstances???

Oh, that's right. They're not. Which would be the real point.

[mile18blister]

5. I wondered if the Chinese fed their own people poison crap

or if they just had it in for us. This answers it. Anything for a buck or a yuan. :cry:

[Karenina]

8. They are an equal opportunity poisoner.

Take that to the bank.

[mile18blister]

13. And China is going to host the 2008 Olymics?

Yikes!

[Virginia Dare]

24. That's right, and all bets are off once they're over...

my guess is they'll waltz right into Taiwan shortly afterwards.

[piedmont]

9. Didn't ANYBODY notice a difference between bottle-fed and breast-fed babies?

I would think it would become apparent pretty quickly!

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. How do you like over-population now, eh?

There will be no end to tampered foodstuffs, as the world works its way through deregulation and over-population.

[piedmont]

12. Have you seen the documentary "The Future of Food?"

A very good presentation of a FEW of many food security threats.

[Horse with no Name]

14. Hey Republicans...let me clue you in

THIS is what happens when you allow corporations to make the rules and do their own oversight.
It's not pretty, is it?

[sandnsea]

15. This is terrifying

Here's another article that gets right to it, Port of Seattle. FOURTEEN PERCENT

:wow:

"Last month, FDA inspectors rejected 215 shipments from China, which included food, cosmetics and medical supplies. That accounted for 14 percent of the 1,573 detained shipments. Imports from 75 countries were stopped; only India had more than China, with 278."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/311448_chinafood13.html

[Hubert Flottz]

16. Sounds like where America is headed.

[Shakespeare]

18. Oh, we're already there. The awy USDA handles mad cow is terrifying. n/t

[lovuian]

17. This shows you what a government will do to its OWN people

just for greed The Chinneese people are such slaves My heart goes out to them
and then we BUY food from them OMG of all things babies food

[dddem]

20. How stupid am I?

I can't figure out why we buy wheat gluten from China when we live in America (America, God shed his grace on thee... Amber waves of grain... fruited plain?), the heartland? where the corn is as high as an elephants eye? Clue me in please.

[Virginia Dare]

23. G.R.E.E.D...n/t

[kurth]

25. If the Chinese in China can't trust their Chinese food

What does that tell ya?