(Melamine Suspected) Chinese Officials Say Baby Formula Tied to Kidney Stones

[menusux]

Binzhou Futian and its various aliases and Xuzhou Anying made the same statements on AliBaba and websites like this about their "wheat gluten", "rice protein concentrate" and corn gluten.

[menusux]

They are all exporting to the US--they're not telling anyone exactly the quality of what they're exporting to the US, but they apparently feel that says it all.

The Peidi group, AKA Pingyang Pet Leather, has the same glowing praise of itself--that they export Dingo, and the like.  What they don't tell the world is that they have been on the detain without physical examination for salmonella since 2001 with FDA and that they were the source of melamine contaminated bird and small animal foods and treats which Eight In One attempted to import and were confiscated by the FDA more than once.

[3catkidneyfailure]

http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/ChinaFood/data/pop/pop_7.htm
92.7 million of the Chinese people are children, aged 0 to 4 (estimated 2010)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html
8%
note: 21.5 million rural population live below the official "absolute poverty" line (approximately $90 per year); and
an additional 35.5 million rural population above that but below the official "low income" line (approximately $125 per year) (2006 est)

Reply 12, page 1 of this thread:
"San Lu, which is based in Hebei province, is China's biggest milk-powder producer and one of the 'big six' Chinese dairies that control
over half of China's fresh milk market."

.08 (Chinese children living in poverty CIA Factbook) x 92.7 million (Chinese children ages 0 to 4) =  7,360,000 Chinese children living at or below poverty level


Anyone besides me doubt the accuracy of the Chinese government report of 53,000 to 55,000 children affected here?

The food industry spinmeisters and the Chinese Communist Party seem to be filling the media with disinformation this week maybe?

[catbird]

I agree that there is something missing from the official numbers, 3cat.  I'd guess that part of the reason is that many of the children in poverty just don't see a doctor.  And the spin-meisters use that to their advantage.  The real numbers of affected children would probably be staggering, if we knew them.

It's IMO similar to what was seen with our pets in 2007--certain numbers reported, and through Pet Connection's count we know that at least 4000 died, but the actual numbers of those affected were probably much higher.  Many people may not have taken affected animals to a vet, and they recovered or died, but weren't counted.

[menusux]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e677c69c-8f34-11dd-946c-0000779fd18c.html

FT.com October 1, 2008

"Unilever said it would stop using Chinese milk powder for some products after it found melamine, an industrial chemical that has made thousands of Chinese children sick, in batches of Lipton-branded tea powders exported to Hong Kong. It recalled four batches of milk powder.

"The recalls have forced food companies to test their own products for signs of contamination, rather than rely on food safety checks from local authorities, and more carefully assess their suppliers. Most multinational food companies buy ingredients locally.

"Unilever, which had imported milk powder for use in its tea sachets from New Zealand and Europe until May, when it switched to Chinese suppliers, is switching back to imported powders.

"Unilever could not comment on whether imported powders would be used for the ice cream it makes and sells in China. It does not use Chinese milk powder in the ice cream it exports from China, but it does use local powder in the ice cream it sells in China."

So it looks like what we are seeing here is a VERY similar situation to how the contaminated "wheat gluten" and "rice protein concentrate" were used for pet food--nobody checked anything on their own, but relied on what they were told.

[3catkidneyfailure]

None of the US pet food manufacturers knew who the original suppliers were either, any more than these
multinational food companies look beyond the middleman who supplies them because there are no international
food ingredient traceability systems in place and it's too costly to safety test proteins for melamine. That's why each
country and every government needs to test food imports from everywhere now until controls are put in place and
every food manufacturer is testing from field to fork in the global food supply. How many times is the same devastating
mistake going to be allowed? The pet food recalls provided the road map. These hundreds of thousands of babies
possibly are the current victims being run over. And China, always China, has brought on each immediate crisis.
That has got to be blocked until changed beyond a doubt. It just doesn't get any clearer it seems to me.

So what's everyone doing for Halloween candy? The ones with milk are out at my house because I'm not hearing from
my government or seeing manufacturer tests.

[JustMe]

So what's everyone doing for Halloween candy?

Nothing.  No more Halloween in our household as of last year. 

[lesliek]

Bought some skittles & twizzlers in snack sizes. Keeping an eye out for snack size pretzels or chips on sale. Thought about juice boxes,but most juice concentrates come from our favorite country.

[JJ]

http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/ChinaFood/data/pop/pop_7.htm
92.7 million of the Chinese people are children, aged 0 to 4 (estimated 2010)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html
8%
note: 21.5 million rural population live below the official "absolute poverty" line (approximately $90 per year); and
an additional 35.5 million rural population above that but below the official "low income" line (approximately $125 per year) (2006 est)

Reply 12, page 1 of this thread:
"San Lu, which is based in Hebei province, is China's biggest milk-powder producer and one of the 'big six' Chinese dairies that control
over half of China's fresh milk market."

.08 (Chinese children living in poverty CIA Factbook) x 92.7 million (Chinese children ages 0 to 4) =  7,360,000 Chinese children living at or below poverty level


Anyone besides me doubt the accuracy of the Chinese government report of 53,000 to 55,000 children affected here?

The food industry spinmeisters and the Chinese Communist Party seem to be filling the media with disinformation this week maybe?

Thx for those figures. 92.7 million drank this milk across the - wonder like 3cat how many actually dropped dead and just how high the figure is of children who are in agonizing pain from the stones and no one knows about it. Well they hid the info while the Olympics were taking place.....

[Carol]

an article that is good to see...
http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/75/25101/boston-consumers-should-avoid-milk-products-china.html

Boston Consumers Should Avoid Milk Products From China

Officials from the Boston Public Health Commission and Massachusetts Department of Public Health today advised consumers to avoid milk or milk products from China because of the possible presence of melamine, until laboratory testing is completed to determine whether the products are harmful.

Dr. Anita Barry, director of the Commission's Communicable Disease Control Division, said public health authorities were not of aware of any infants, children, or adults in Boston becoming ill as a result of consuming adulterated milk products from China, and said the warning was "precautionary."

"We think it's prudent that consumers stop using those products until we know more," she said.

Investigations to date in China have revealed the presence of melamine in 22 milk or milk products manufactured in China. Milk and milk products are components of many consumer food and beverage products manufactured in China, such as instant coffee containing a creamer, tea with powdered milk, instant packaged breakfast cereal (3 in 1), candy, and other products.

At least 52,857 infants in China have become sick with kidney stones or kidney failure associated with the consumption of infant formula containing melamine. There have been at least four deaths, and 12,892 people have been hospitalized.

Several countries outside the United States have expanded their investigation of the presence of melamine to include food and beverage items other than infant formula.

Countries including Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and New Zealand have initiated testing and recall of some milk or milk containing products suspected of containing melamine. The presence of melamine in candy (Creamy White Rabbit) has been confirmed in at least one of these countries.

The Public Health Commission and Boston Inspectional Services, as well as state and other local health officials, have not found any implicated infant formula in retail stores in Boston or any other municipality across the state.

State officials are working closely with Boston and other local public health officials to conduct surveillance in areas where these products are more likely to be sold.

The Boston Public Health Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health are working to identify and test consumer products that may contain contaminated milk. Food testing results are not expected to be available for several days.

Dr. Barry said that although no illnesses have been reported in Boston, consumers should examine product labels and avoid milk and milk products from China until more information becomes available.

and one not so good 

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE48T0L920081001
China milk scandal firm asked for cover-up help
Wed Oct 1, 2008 7:12am EDT     

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese company at the center of the scare over tainted milk powder had asked for government help to cover up the extent of the problem, state media said on Wednesday in the newest development in the widening scandal.

In Communist Party newspaper the People's Daily, Shijiazhuang city government spokesman Wang Jianguo said they had been asked by the Sanlu Group for help in "managing" the media response to the case when first told of the issue on August 2, six days before the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

China's latest food safety problem, involving the addition of the industrial chemical melamine to milk to cheat in quality tests, has caused public outrage and put the spotlight back on deficiencies in industry oversight and weak regulatory bodies.

China has already said the city government in Shijiazhuang, home to the Sanlu Group whose contaminated milk sparked a recall now spread worldwide, sat on a report from the company about the tainting for more than a month, while Beijing hosted the Olympic Games.

"Please can the government increase control and coordination of the media, to create a good environment for the recall of the company's problem products," the People's Daily cited the letter from Sanlu as saying.

"This is to avoid whipping up the issue and creating a negative influence in society," it added.

This week, Reporters Without Borders said Beijing had ordered news of the scandal hushed up ahead of the Olympics.

"Several Chinese journalists have said that it is becoming more and more obvious that the authorities in July prevented an investigation into the toxic milk coming out so as not to tarnish China's image before the Olympics," it said in a statement.

Thousands of children fell ill after drinking the milk, and four died. But the rush of people taking their children to hospital for check-ups appears to be slowing, Xinhua news agency said.

"The work involved with offering free check-ups has turned from an emergency situation to normal," it quoted Wen Honghai, Shijiazhuang's top health official, as saying.

Countries around the world have banned Chinese dairy imports, or ordered them to be taken off shelves, as it became clear yoghurt and other products were also affected.

Scores of foreign companies have been forced to recall products made with Chinese dairy ingredients, or to reassure customers their goods are safe.

China has a poor record when it comes to ignoring or glossing over bad news. In 2003, it initially tried to cover up the spread of the respiratory disease SARS.

But Wang, who did not say whether the government complied with the media control request, defended the actions of his colleagues, who he said did send a team at once to probe Sanlu and to look for those suspected of adulterating the milk.

"Yet it was not until September 9 that it was reported to the Hebei provincial government," the newspaper said, referring to the province where Shijiazhuang is situated.

Beijing has already fired several Shijiazhuang officials, including the city's Communist Party chief, for the attempted cover-up.

Wang said the city government had not considered the consequences of their actions.

"We mistakenly thought that taking necessary measures and raising product quality could mitigate the effect and reduce losses," he said.

"The bungling of the best opportunity to report up the handling of the issue caused much harm to people's safety, and seriously affected the image of the Party and the government," Wang added.

He also expressed "deep guilt and pain" for the scandal.

(Editing by Valerie Lee)

[DMS]

None of the US pet food manufacturers knew who the original suppliers were either, any more than these
multinational food companies look beyond the middleman who supplies them because there are no international
food ingredient traceability systems in place and it's too costly to safety test proteins for melamine. That's why each
country and every government needs to test food imports from everywhere now until controls are put in place and
every food manufacturer is testing from field to fork in the global food supply. How many times is the same devastating
mistake going to be allowed? The pet food recalls provided the road map. These hundreds of thousands of babies
possibly are the current victims being run over. And China, always China, has brought on each immediate crisis.
That has got to be blocked until changed beyond a doubt. It just doesn't get any clearer it seems to me.

So what's everyone doing for Halloween candy? The ones with milk are out at my house because I'm not hearing from
my government or seeing manufacturer tests.

I wonder if our government and manufacturers, like the Chinese government and manufacturers who kept this quiet until after the Olympics were over, would try to keep a US contamination of candy quiet until after Halloween so our big multi-nationals don't lose big holiday business.  Why aren't we hearing any test results?  Would they do that to our children, too? 

[menusux]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1PW8Su6EECm-m22gV1dABkLdHJQD93HLH580

Associated Press October 1, 2008

A dozen more Chinese dairy companies accused

"More than a dozen additional Chinese dairy companies were named as violators after new tests on their milk powder products, further broadening a scandal affecting products ranging from baby formula to chocolate, authorities said.

"The contamination has been blamed for the deaths of four children and kidney ailments among 54,000 others. More than 13,000 children have been hospitalized and 27 people arrested in connection with the tainting. An additional 31 batches of Chinese milk powder were found tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, according to data seen on the food safety administration's Web site Wednesday. Out of the 20 companies on the list, 15 have not been named in previous tests.

"The new batches being tested were mostly milk powder products for adults, ranging from full fat milk powder to milk powder said to be high in calcium and zinc. A previous round of testing, results of which were posted on Sept. 16, found melamine in 69 infant milk powder batches.

"The new figure brings to at least 100 the number of tested batches of milk powder found to contain melamine. Dozens of brands sold by more than a score of dairy firms, including some of China's biggest names, have been among those tested.

"Tests have also found melamine in 24 batches of liquid milk produced by three of the country's best known dairy firms.

"It was a national holiday in China and product safety officials could not be reached for comment.

"The Web site quoted the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine as saying it had tested 265 batches produced by 154 different companies prior to Sept. 14. China has a total of 290 companies making powdered milk, the administration said."

Update:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/01/asia/milk.php

International Herald Tribune|Associated Press October 1, 2008

"Melamine has been found in milk powder from 15 more Chinese dairies, the authorities said Wednesday, and Hong Kong's food safety agency said its tests had found melamine in a Japanese-brand cheesecake that is made in China.

"And according to data on the Chinese food safety administration's Web site, 31 new batches of Chinese milk powder were found tainted with melamine. Of the 20 companies on the list, 15 have not been named in previous tests.

"In the most recent tests, nine of the batches containing melamine were produced by Sanlu, the company at the center of the scandal."



http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/01/asia/AS-Hong-Kong-Tainted-Milk.php

International Herald Tribune|Associated Press

HK finds melamine in Chinese-made cheesecake

"Hong Kong's food safety agency has found the industrial chemical melamine in a Japanese brand's Chinese-made cheesecake, it said Wednesday.

"The chemical was found in a sample of Lotte Cream Cheese Cake manufactured by Japan's Lotte China Foods Co. Ltd. in mainland China, the Centre for Food Safety said in a statement.

"It is the second time the Hong Kong authorities have detected the chemical, which is used to make plastics and fertilizers, in Lotte's products. Last week, the agency and its counterparts in Macau separately found high level of melamine in the company's popular Koala's March chocolate and strawberry cream cookies.

"Calls to Lotte China Foods' office in Beijing went unanswered Wednesday as China is celebrating its National Day with a weeklong holiday.

"The center said the amount of melamine in Lotte's cheesecake exceeded the city's legal limit by 0.9 parts per million. Hong Kong set the safe level at 2.5 ppm.

""Based on the level detected, the public is advised to stop consuming the product concerned," a spokesman said in the statement."

[Carol]

This morning I read this at PC and having been wondering why we are hearing melamine and melamine alone in this milk catastrophe and not cyanuric acid as that was what we were told last year was responsible for the kidney issues...but this might just answer my questions of where is the CA??  Using the scrap from melamine production....

http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/09/28/fda-fiddles-while-melamine-threat-grows/#comment-355322

Everyone seems to keep forgetting about the cyanuric acid. Quoting again from Marion Nestle's book "Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine", page 69:

"Melamine is an industrial chemical which, when mixed with formaldehyde, forms polymers that can be made into hard plastic dinnerware. This process generates wastewater containing melamine AND ITS BYPRODUCTS (emphasis mine), one of which is a related chemical, cyanuric acid. To clean the wastewater and allow it to be recycled, these compounds are reconstituted into 'scrap' containing a mix of melamine, cyanuric acid, and other melamine by-products. Because the constituent chemicals contain nitrogen,melamine SCRAP (emphasis mine again) can be used for fertilizer or for other nitrogen-requiring purposes, legal or not".

Here's the thing - people keep talking about this adulteration as if the scam artists are going out and buying nice, purified melamine powder to fraudulently mix into their wheat gluten and milk products and so on. But they're not. They're bottom-feeding money-hungry con-men who are doing whatever they can to put in as little and get out as much as they possibly can. And they're not buying melamine. They're buying melamine SCRAP. Which - as we see in the quote above - is also going to contain cyanuric acid. From page 87 of Nestle's book (following a great deal of explanatory text):

"Mixed with cyanuric acid, a dose of melamine well below the level considered safe can cause kidney damage".

In fact - the *combination* of cyanuric acid and melamine started causing problems with kidney function at something like a factor of TEN lower than when either chemical (in carefully controlled laboratory studies) was consumed alone. A lot of us who were tracking all of this in "real time" as it happened last year already knew this, but it bears repeating.

The part that I think people either forget or really haven't stopped to consider is that the stuff that the crooks are illegally putting into the food supply did NOT come from "carefully controlled laboratory studies". They're buying cheap salvaged melamine SCRAP, which - according the the description above - WILL also contain cyanuric acid and that therefore - according to all the studies cited in Nestle's book (several of which she had to go to paper records for because they're not on the Internet) WILL be roughly TEN TIMES as toxic as if they were adding melamine (which is all anyone seems to be talking about) alone.

Let's not forget the ugly plot twist of last year's saga. Chances are that what we're seeing here is not a pure adulteration by melamine, but rather, a contamination with cyanuric acid-containing melamine SCRAP. And we know how awful that can be.

Comment by The OTHER Pat — September 30, 2008 @ 8:52 pm

[menusux]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jL7mHkJcSHVOLlejms7eQS2xXDiwD93HGSG00

Associated Press October 1, 2008

New tests find melamine in 31 Chinese milk brands

"An official news organization is reporting that the industrial chemical melamine has been found in another 31 brands of Chinese milk powder.

"The results indicate an expansion in the scandal that has sparked product recalls in China and a host of other countries that received Chinese food exports from infant formula to chocolate.

"Results of earlier tests had showed widespread melamine contamination among infant formula, later spreading to fresh milk and other types of dried milk and milk products."

[shadowmice]

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2008/20080930e.shtml

Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalls Lotte brand Koala's March filled cookies.