More Melamine tainted milk for the Masses in China , Heads will roll over it this time , nobody learned from the First round of Convictions and Executions .
It sure seems like China is just out to Poison everyone they can !
(Reuters) - Chinese authorities seized 64 tonnes of milk powder and products laced with the same deadly toxic additive that sparked an uproar in 2008, officials and state media said, underscoring the persistence of food safety breaches.
Samples of milk powder found in northwest China's Gansu and Qinghai provinces had levels of the chemical melamine up to 500 times the permitted limit, and suspected tainted powder also turned up in the country's northeast, said a report from the Xinhua news agency on Friday.
As well seizing 38 tonnes of milk powder found with 500 times the limit, police in Qinghai seized 26 tonnes of dairy powder with lower amounts of melamine and 12 tonnes of finished products, an official in the Qinghai quality watchdog told Reuters. He would not give his name and did not specify the products.
The exposure of tainted milk products in a poor and remote parts of China's northwest has underscored the persistence of food safety problems that have alarmed consumers and sparked criminal scandals that led to executions and official sackings.
Two years ago, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 children fell ill from drinking powdered milk laced with melamine, an industrial compound added to fool inspectors by giving misleadingly high results in protein tests.
Friday, July 9, 2010
New toxic milk powder scandal hits China
Friday, February 12, 2010
China says "most" melamine-tainted milk destroyed
"Most" ?
I guess getting it all is just out of the Question .
BEIJING (Reuters) - Most of the melamine-tainted dairy products which have resurfaced in China over the past few months have been destroyed, and none has hit shop shelves or been exported, state media said on Saturday.
A number of cases of melamine in milk have appeared in the past few months, some of which appear to have come from old batches of contaminated powder that was never destroyed despite a scandal that damaged the reputation of China's dairy industry.
"Due to early discovery and timely checks, as of now, most of the tainted milk products have been recalled and destroyed, and none has entered the market or been exported," Xinhua news agency cited the National Food Safety Rectification Office as saying.
There have been no reported deaths or illnesses from the latest batches of tainted milk. About 300,000 children sought medical treatment, many with kidney stones, in the 2008 scandal.
Monday, February 8, 2010
China seizes more melamine-tainted milk powder
Here they go Again !
Not only did it happen once , which would be bad enough , but now a second time with the Melamine laced milk !
Some coming from the batches of Milk products they removed the last time , it was re-labled and re-distributed right back to the people !
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese inspectors tracing new cases of contaminated milk have shut dairy firms in the northwest and seized 72 metric tons of milk powder tainted with melamine, an industrial compound that killed at least six children in 2008.
Nearly 100 metric tons of tainted milk powder may still be on shop shelves, the China Daily reported Monday in detailing the closure of a Ningxia firm that sold the product.
A number of cases of melamine in milk have surfaced in the past few months, some of which appear to have come from old batches of contaminated powder that was never destroyed despite a scandal that damaged the reputation of the Chinese dairy industry.
Tiantian Dairy Co Ltd in Ningxia was closed after it was found to have repackaged and sold 170 metric tons of melamine-tainted milk powder that it received as a debt payment, the China Daily said, citing the local government.
The paper did not say where the milk had come from. Last week, three people at a dairy firm in neighboring Shaanxi province were arrested for manufacturing or dealing in products laced with melamine, a compound commonly used in plastics or fertilizer but which can also be added to foods to show high protein levels in tests.
Another dairy firm, Ningxia Panda, was shut because of its ties to Shanghai Panda Dairy Co, which was closed late last year for selling products tainted with melamine.
There have been no reported deaths or illnesses from the latest batches of tainted milk. About 300,000 children sought medical treatment, many with kidney stones, in the 2008 scandal.
China executed two people in November for their role in the 2008 scandal that further sullied the made-in-China brand after a string of health and product-safety scares.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
China faces new melamine scandal
Some melamine laced Biscuits with your Breakfast ?
The thing that kill's me about this is that once it was discovered that there was a problem with their milk , they went after the ones responsible !
But some Assholes thought they could still get away with dosing up their product !
To me it shows that this is a wide spread problem in China ! Deceit !
Guaranteed the ones "Caught" will pay the price , The ones they don't catch , they certainly will continue to their path of deception !
....
BEIJING (Reuters) - More than 1,500 boxes of Chinese biscuits exported to Hong Kong and Singapore have tested positive for melamine as suspects in the protracted tainted-food scandal go on trial in China, local media reported on Tuesday.
The scandal has battered faith in Chinese-made products after a series of food- and product-safety scares and led to recalls of Chinese-made dairy products around the world. At least six babies died after drinking contaminated formula in China and hundreds of thousands fell ill.
Melamine is an industrial compound used in making plastic chairs, among other things, and is added to food to cheat nutrition tests.
Quality inspectors in Dongguan in the southern province of Guangdong found the latest contaminated biscuits after examining 13 batches of 4,800 boxes for export after neighboring Hong Kong, a "special administrative region" of China, and Singapore reported tainted samples, the China News Service said.
The tainted products had been destroyed while others were sent back to the manufacturer, it said. Investigations showed the melamine in the biscuits came from milk powder, it added.
Tian Wenhua, former chairwoman of Sanlu Group, goes on trial on Wednesday along with other three senior executives of the company that was at the heart of the scandal and since gone bankrupt, the Beijing News said.
By Monday, 17 suspects involved in producing, selling, buying and adding melamine into raw milk had gone on trial, the China News Service said.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
FDA says ,feed your babies plastic ,Acid!
This is crazy , the FDA feel's that it is O.K. to feed babies plastic and acid , To me any "Acceptable level" is un-acceptable ! this is the same stuff that killed hundreds of pets last year , banned for pets it seems to be alright for humans!!!
....
Calls for national infant formula recall spread
(AP)
Disclosure that laboratory tests have detected traces of contamination in several major brands of infant formula generated concern and confusion Wednesday, with a national consumer's group and the Illinois attorney general demanding a Food and Drug Administration recall and the federal agency saying it had released inaccurate information on what chemicals were found in which top selling products.
As worried parents called manufacturers looking for guidance about the presence of melamine and a key byproduct in U.S.-made formula, the FDA reiterated its position that the baby food is safe and parents should continue feeding it to their babies, contending the extremely low levels of contamination do not present a health danger.
Also, a spokesman for one major manufacturer criticized the FDA for its release of the inaccurate information.
"We're getting inundated by calls from moms confused about the situation," said Pete Paradossi, a spokesman for Mead Johnson, one of the three major manufacturers of U.S.-made formula involved in the problem detections.
Melamine is the industrial chemical found in Chinese infant formula — in far larger concentrations — that has been blamed for killing at least three babies and making at least 50,000 others ill.
The FDA and other experts said the melamine contamination in U.S.-made formula had occurred during the manufacturing process, rather than intentionally as was done in Chinese production. The manufacturers insist their products are safe.
"The levels that we are detecting are extremely low," said Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "They should not be changing the diet. If they've been feeding a particular product, they should continue to feed that product. That's in the best interest of the baby."
Part of the confusion Wednesday stemmed from the FDA's own statements.
While proclaiming that the very low concentrations detected of melamine and a similar compound called cyanuric acid pose no health danger to infants, the FDA has maintained it is unable to identify any exposure level of melamine in infant formula "that does not raise public health concerns."
Further complicating the situation was inaccurate data that FDA released to The Associated Press, which was first to disclose the formulas' brand names and other details in an investigative report Tuesday.
A spreadsheet the AP obtained from the FDA under a Freedom of Information Act request stated that Mead Johnson's Infant Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron contained traces of melamine.
On Wednesday, FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon said that spreadsheet contained an error — that the FDA had incorrectly switched the names of the Mead Johnson product with Nestle's Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron. That meant, Leon said, that the Nestle's Good Start had melamine while Mead Johnson's Enfamil had traces of cyanuric acid.
The FDA said last month that the toxicity of cyanuric acid is under study, but that in the meantime it is "prudent" to assume that its potency is equal to that of melamine.
Problems with melamine-spiked formula surfaced this fall in China, where unscrupulous manufacturers intentionally dumped it into watered-down milk to falsely elevate protein levels. The concentrations in China were as much as 2,500 parts per million — about 10,000 times greater than what the FDA found in the U.S.
The FDA said there have been no reports in the United States of human illness from melamine. The chemical, which legally can be used in product packaging and a solution to clean manufacturing equipment, can bind with other chemicals in urine, potentially causing damaging stones in the kidney or bladder and, in extreme cases, kidney failure.
Mead Johnson spokesman Paradossi said he was frustrated that the FDA had provided inaccurate information for worldwide distribution by the AP. He said the FDA informed his company of the test results, as well as the inaccurate disclosures only Wednesday, during an emergency conference call the agency staged with major manufacturers and the industry's trade group. During a similar call Monday, the FDA told the industry about the upcoming AP investigative report.
Nestle did not returns calls seeking comment Wednesday.
At the same time, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan called on the state's public health department and the FDA to recall both the Nestle and Mead Johnson products — and urged the companies to take that step regardless of what any government agency does.
Madigan also criticized the FDA's handling of its test results.
"The agency apparently withheld the results of its testing from the public for over three weeks, and then only disclosed the information in response to a FOIA request by The Associated Press," she wrote in a letter to Michael Leavitt, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA.
As for possible consideration of a recall, the FDA's Leon said: "The agency would only seek to remove a product on the basis of a risk, based on scientific evidence. That's not what we're talking about here."
Consumers Union said that the FDA's assurances are of small comfort to parents and caregivers.
"The FDA originally said there was no safe level for these contaminants in infant formula. So this formula is contaminated," said Jean Halloran, the group's director of Food Policy Initiatives. "It is very disturbing to us that no recall has been requested."
She urged the FDA "to immediately make public all of the results of its tests for melamine contamination in food," even those with levels below what would trigger agency action."
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., a frequent critic of the FDA, also has called for recalls.
During a series of calls with formula manufacturers starting Monday — put together hurriedly, according to several participants, as the AP was preparing to publish its story — the FDA has told manufacturers it has taken 230 samples of various products, including pediatric supplements and ingredients used in infant formula. Leon said that 87 of those samples are of infant formula, and that 77 of those have been analyzed.
Under the corrected information she relayed Wednesday, the results were:
_ Nestle's Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron had two positive tests for melamine on one sample, with readings of 0.137 and 0.14 parts per million.
_ Mead Johnson's Infant Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron had three positive tests for cyanuric acid, at an average of 0.247 parts per million.
Separately, a third major formula maker — Abbott Laboratories, whose brands include Similac — told AP that in-house tests had detected trace levels of melamine in its infant formula. Those levels were below what FDA found in the other formulas, an Abbott spokesman said, and below any nation's safety guidelines.
The three firms — Abbott Laboratories, Nestle and Mead Johnson — manufacture more than 90 percent of all infant formula produced in the United States.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
U.S. finds trace of melamine in baby formula
This was bound to happen Here , with the outsourcing of everything , it is hard to keep track of what is going on !
Melamine, is not a food Item ,it is not intended for Human consumption!
Yet the FDA feel's that there is an acceptable level of the "PLASTIC" in your baby's formula !
They say there is no problem here , don't get exited about it !.....
But that is also what China said , Before their little problem !!!
....
WASHINGTON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - U.S. health officials have found trace amounts of the chemical melamine in one sample of infant formula sold in the United States, a Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
"There's no basis for concern because we're talking about trace levels that are so low ... that there's absolutely no risk," FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon said.
Melamine-tainted formula was found earlier this year in China, where thousands of children fell ill and several died. In September, the FDA sought to assure parents and said there was no similar contamination threat in the United States.
The chemical, normally used to make plastics, has been found in milk powder, wheat gluten and other Chinese-made ingredients used in products ranging from pet food to candy.
Melamine's ability to make foods appear to have higher amounts of protein during testing has made it a cheap but dangerous substitute that can damage the kidneys.
But Leon said that was not the case with the U.S. infant formula, which in September was determined not to be made with any Chinese ingredients.
The new results "are most likely a result of the manufacturing process or what comes into contact with formula in cans. It's not adulteration and it's not contamination," she said.
Leon declined to name the manufacturer of the sample found to contain melamine. U.S.-approved makers include Abbott Nutrition (ABT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) unit Mead Johnson Nutritionals and Nestle USA (NESN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
Industry trade group the International Formula Council sought to reassure consumers.
"Infant formula manufactured in the United States remains safe and nutritious," the group said in a statement. "U.S. infant formula products meet the highest standards and specifications."
Mead Johnson Nutritionals, the maker of Enfamil baby formula, said that by testing samples of its products and raw materials using published FDA methodology, it had not detected any level of melamine.
"We maintain stringent standards at all our manufacturing sites to ensure the high quality and safety of our products," Mead Johnson spokesman Pete Paradossi said.
'OUT OF STEP'
Leon said the FDA has deployed more sensitive tests in recent weeks as it has expended tests for melamine in all food products, including infant formula.
FDA scientists conducted two tests of the formula sample, one finding a melamine level of 137 parts per billion (ppb) and another measuring 140 ppb. A level of 250 ppb or less is considered a trace amount, Leon said.
But some consumer advocates said it was premature to say there was no risk for infants.
The FDA's earlier determination that 250 ppb of melamine was a trace amount was intended for foods other than infant formula, said Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst with the Environmental Working Group.
"This is out of step with what the FDA said earlier," she told Reuters.
"We need to have a zero-tolerance policy for contaminants in infant formula," Lunder said. "Babies eat only formula for months and months on end. They are exception vulnerable."
Leon said the FDA was in the process of determining what amounts of melamine pose a risk to infants and would release a public advisory later. In the meantime, parents should not change their babies' feeding habits, she said.
"We found one positive test on one sample at a level so low that it has absolutely no impact on the health of babies whatsoever," Leon said. "So there's no reason for any parent to be concerned for any reason."
The FDA was not yet ready to release results of tests of other food products, including dietary supplements, Leon said.
