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Protein bluff and export crisis

Samya E Farooq
Melamine produced in underground plants and sold to breeding farms and milk purchasing stations was used in watered-down milk to mask protein deficient dairy and pass quality tests.
Melamine produced in underground plants and sold to breeding farms and milk purchasing stations was used in watered-down milk to mask protein deficient dairy and pass quality tests.
Toxic poisoning is killing the human race. No, this is not an anthropological account of what's to come; it's a black and white reality of life today! Our concrete encased lives are void of nature and its purity. Instead smog, soot, toxins and artificial, synthesised products of every kind are engulfing us.
The global food crisis has been fuelled by the state of the economy, fuel crisis, production costs, and adulterated agricultural means, as well as fading land masses, all of which are bearing the brunt of pollution. The latest in this toxic crisis is melamine traces in milk! China is at the core of the crisis.
Melamine is a nitrogen-based industrial product that is combined with formaldehyde and urea to produce melamine resin, which is a durable synthetic polymer that is heat or fire resistant. Melamine resin is also used in whiteboards, floor tiles, kitchenware, fire resistant fabrics, commercial filters and formica, as well as melamine foam, polymeric cleaning products and fertiliser in some parts of Asia.
Melamine can be easily moulded while warm, then it sets into a fixed form. Thus, it is suitable for industrial products, but is difficult to recycle. In other words, melamine has many uses in industry, but is clearly detrimental if used in foodstuff.
Melamine consumption leads to kidney stones and painful renal complications leading to kidney failure, particularly in children aged two or younger. Many experts in Asia even advise against the use of melamine dishware, as small amounts of melamine may be transferred from dish to food.
Since the scandal broke, 54,000 babies have become sick and four have reportedly died in China alone. Since then, the Chinese dairy export industry has been teetering precariously on the brink of collapse. Over a dozen countries in Africa and Asia have banned import of powdered milk, baby formula, ice-cream, yoghurt, chocolates and so forth, from China.
International supermarket giant Tesco, for instance, pulled White Rabbit Creamy Candies (found to contain high levels of melamine) from its outlets worldwide. The European Union also banned imports of Chinese dairy products, while in Asia-Pacific Cadbury chocolates were recalled after melamine was detected in the batches produced in China and distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia.
Britain recalled 11 Cadbury brand products made at the company's Beijing based factory, which produces 0.5% of Cadbury’s global production.
TWenty-two individuals suspected of introducing melamine into the supply chain were arrested in Hebei province, where more than 485 pounds of melamine were seized. Of the individuals arrested, seventeen were managers of pastures, breeding farms and milk purchasing stations.
The industrial chemical, according to investigations, was produced in underground plants and then sold to breeding farms and milk purchasing stations. Milk suppliers, according to authorities, added melamine, which is high in nitrogen, to watered-down milk to deceive quality tests, since nitrogen makes products appear to have higher protein content, thus masking protein deficient products.
The Sanlu Group (headquartered in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei) has been identified as the source of contaminated powder milk. Moreover individuals arrested in Hebei claimed to be producing "protein powder" (a term coined for melamine tainted milk) sinc^ last year. Another individual said he was aduised to lace his dairy with melamine to increase the proportion of protein and help the milk pass the Sanlu test: a test, which is clearly below standard and flawed.
An additional five arrests were made in the wake of China's dairy crisis, though details have not been made public. China has tightened its policies on media freedom, to essentially curtain the public from the "truth" and curb the world's outrage over tainted milk products.
Many parents in China's one child per family government policy have crossed the border to Hong Kong to purchase dairy based baby food. Meanwhile, the ever "business minded" China has turned wet-nursing into a profitable enterprise, where mothers from poor families (for a price) feed rich babies.
The head of China's quality watchdog, Li Changjiang, resigned in the wake of the tainted milk products fiasco. China's food quality watchdog revealed finding melamine in products made by Mengniu Dairy Co, the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group and the Bright Group.
Meanwhile, more Chinese made dairy product imports have been recalled/banned because they contained melamine. They are: Unilever's Lipton-brand milk tea powder (from Hong Kong and Macau), walnut and coconut cakes (from Hong Kong). Koala brand cookies (from the Netherlands), Nabisco Ritz cracker cheese sandwiches and rice crackers (from Korea), among others.
This melamine tainted dairy scandal, which follows last year's debacle over contaminated seafood, toothpaste and tainted pet food, has stirred doubts and questions over the credibility of the "Made in China" label once again.
Many attribute the problem not just to a few corrupt offi-cials/businesses but rather to China's quick transformation from being a communist style economy to an unrestricted participant in market economy, eager to etch a solid economic presence in the world; an image now tainted with infamy.
Sam ya F Farooq is a freelance con trbulor to The Darty Star