China is now rolling around in the muck with the revelations that twenty-two baby formula producers in China have added melamine to their products. The result of the melamine additive is the products test higher for protein, meaning more profit for the companies.
The other result is several thousand very sick infants who are being poisoned by the melamine in the products: Three dead so far as their kidneys fail trying to metabolize the plastic that makes the unbreakable dishes at the cottage.
The last time melamine showed up in food was the pet food poisoning of last year, when North American pet food producers bought protein powder from China that was tainted with melamine. A massive recall later, as well as the deaths of several hundred domestic animals, North American producers have smartened up.
China, not so much.
Of course they have also exported the contaminated product to other countries in Asia and quite possibly some third-world countries (Yemen, Burundi and Gabon come to mind) where inexpensive baby formula is in very high demand. Would some of those products be counterfeits of known international brands, or even domestic Chinese brands? Counterfeit products from China? Never…
The telling sidebar is that the producers, have known the baby formula was contaminated since June 28th when very ill infants showed up at local hospitals with kidney stones like an 80-year old professional rye drinker. The Sanlu Group, the makers of the brand, contend that the packaging was fake, while the parents of various infants said they gave their infants Sanlu milk powder because it was cheap. According to the Xinhua News Agency, the company knew about the problem as far back as March. In either case, it isn’t a new story in China.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Anthony Germaine reported from China that the local management of Sanlu refused to take action for months, even when pressured by the parent company, a dairy farmers’ co-operative in New Zealand that owns 43 percent of Sanlu Group Inc.
Funny how a state like China that has now embraced capitalism and welcomes international investment, can’t get a handle on corporate governance or simple things like not putting poison in food. They’re trying, but are nowhere near ready to play with the likes of Spain, Croatia or Egypt.
One supposes that the next outrage will be a Chinese investment bank and insurance company will need a massive government financial bailout, while the directors take their golden parachutes to Singapore, Taiwan or Abu Dhabi. The depositors, shareholders and the guy who changes the towels in the Executive washroom are going to be the ones to take the blame on that one. Especially the washroom attendant: After a six-month show trial, he’ll get 45 years at a re-education camp because he provided comfort to the guilty parties.
Only when China has its own financial freakout, punishes the innocent and does it all with government money will China truly have made it as a first world country.
Only then can China truly embrace the capitalist system. Selling poisoned food to poor families is so 1900’s.
RoadDave 