Melamine Aftermath

Since the tainted milk scandal broke out in the mid September, the Chinese government has been trying to resolve the problem. Up till now, 27 people are arrested for tampering with milk; while the top food quality inspection official Li Changjiang was forced to resign. Yet, there are still more and more dairy products, including cookies and chocolates, found containing the industrial chemical melamine.

People worldwide have definitely lost confidence in purchasing Chinese dairy products. According to a Beijing-based media research, less than half of respondents (out of 900) who formerly purchased major Chinese dairies brands said they would consider buying them again. As more and more food products are found contaminated, over 30 countries restrict Chinese dairy products or even all Chinese food imports. China’s two largest dairy producers, Mengniu and Yili, combined losses were expected to top 526 million over the next four months.

Hopefully, though painful and saddening, this will be a lesson for the Chinese food manufacturers and businessmen to learn. Gaining profit unscrupulously could only make things worse. At the same time, the Chinese government should really re-examine its food safety regulations; and more importantly, the whole food safety administration. There should be no more babies being harmed by tainted milk!

One positive aspect on this issue would be the Chinese milk producer once again shifting back towards sourcing milk from larger U.S. style farms. This way, the dairy products would go through fewer hands before being manufactured to the market. Food safety control could also be done with fewer complications as modern milking technology would allow for better quality control. On top of that, as the Chinese government is now more watchful of the food safety officials, corruption between officials and manufacturers could no longer be tolerated!

Let’s hope that the red banner slogan of Yili will be what all the food manufacturers in China are certain about – “Provide 100 percent safety to consumers.”