The China milk scandal have alerted all countries to divert attention to the quality of all export products from China. In the aim to enhance the nutritional value of milk, the dairy firm, Sanlu Group, added the industrial chemical melamine, which is normally used to make plastics. Instead of improving protein levels through this "improved" milk formula, many children had developed kidney stones which can cause death.
In China alone, a total of 53,000 children have been sick and the figures are still increasing despite stringent measures on food safety after 2 children died. The death toll today marks a total of 4, and it prompted a host of nations to ban, or at least scrutinise Chinese dairy imports, further tarnishing the "Made in China" label.
Public anger was only directed to the second and third tier officials, mainly communist officials in various provinces. This was partly due to the fact that when Sanlu received complaints of sick children, these provincial officials delayed referring the matter to higher authorities for over a month after Sanlu told them about the problem in Aug 2. It was obvious that the chinese government did not want to disclose it internatonally because it would mean negative publicity in the period of the Oympics.
Personally, i find that this was a rather selfish act. The fact that the Oympics clashed with this incident negatively, puts the chinese government in a great dilenma, to disclose it or not. The decision they made was not a very considerate one. They saved the nation from negative publicity, only at the expense of its people. Now that the situation has worsened, their initial objective was also unfortunately backfired. Not only does China's children suffer, the nation also faces a crisis in maintaining its market reputation.
Another aspect of this issue is globalisation. With globalisation, we are able to get access to more goods and services produced around the world. At first thought, we would think that this seems rather beneficial. However, through this incident, i realised that globalisation gives rise to grave disadvantages too. It aids in the spread of harmful effects very quickly and in this case, tainted milk has affected everyone internationally in one way or another.
Babies and children are the most innocent ones who are affected by this scandal. Due to this, mothers start to breastfeed or even hire nannies, instead of relying on any milk products.
I believe majority of us would often think twice before buying products made in China for safety reasons after what had happened.
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To be honest, I'm one of the "victims" of this incident. My family and i have been snacking on "House of Potato" biscuits for quite some time and recently, found out that it could also cause danger, through the news!!!!!!!!! We were all shocked upon the notice, so i think it is very very important to check the safety of our food before we consume anything.
(Thank God only 30 packets of "House of Potato" a day,can cause serious problems.)
Anyway, here is a list of food items to take note in Singapore:
Dutch Lady banana flavoured milk
Dutch Lady honeydew flavoured milk
Silang - House of Steamed Potato - potato biscuits
Puffed Rice Rolls - butter corn flavour
Puffed Rice Rolls - cheese flavour
Yi Li Choice Dairy Fruit Bar Yogurt Flavoured Ice Confection
Dutch Lady Strawberry Flavoured Milk
White Rabbit Creamy Candy
8 comments:
China China China!
The once ever-mighty and cultural kingdom is facing one of the most serious repuitation issues while struggling desperately to be keep on the toes of modernisation.
We heard of so many complains on China's food hygiene. The recent milk scandel is definitely not like a drastic shock to everyone. It seems like "Oh, bad products. It's China again.. as expected"
IMHO, i think it's the fact that China is so eager to gain high economic growth which resulted in negligence and compromising of health standards during manufacturing of massively produced goods. Furthermore, there is certainly a problem of moral-lacking in some manufacturers who cut corners in their production.
The govt shld definitely take up more stringent measures and checks to reduce their embarrassing incidents revealed to the world. This, i feel, shld be China's TOP PRIORITY and not what focusing on 6 Party Talks with NKorea. If a gvt cannot handle simple domestic food issues, why bother to poke ones nose in other nation's affairs.
All the glamour and prestige; and the so-called "BEST OLYMPICS IN HISTORY" is now put to waste just because of this recent milk scandal. Why bother billions of dollars and millions of labour to put up the best show, the best front, the best act during Olympics and dump all hygiene matters far far away?
Many food safety incidents have been widely publicized as the causes of the 2007 outcries. These incidents began as early as 2004 and reached a climax in 2007. These incidents are meant to be illustrative of the overlapping duties of food safety agencies in China.
2004
Counterfeit baby formula
Contaminated Longkou noodles
Adulterated pickled vegetables
Counterfeit alcoholic drinks
Soy Sauce Made from Human Hair
2005
Sudan I Red Dye
2006
Counterfeit drugs
School food poisoning
Contaminated turbot fish
Pesticide residue on vegetables
Infected snail meat
Poisonous mushrooms
2007
Counterfeit drugs
Potential carcinogen used in frying oil
Contaminated wheat gluten and rice protein used for export
2008
Tainted Chinese dumplings
Contaminated powdered ginger
Chinese milk scandal
So which food shld we avoid next?
"If China can send men to space, why cant they make milk safe?"
Indeed it is very unethical of the Chinese government for delay the disclosure of such happenings. Group think could have come into play since it was a unanimous decision by to the government to withheld the disclosure. Would our government do a similar thing?
Its indeed a very unethical and inhuman act which affected so many people. It will definitely be a big project for China to regain the trust in consumers worldwide. This incident will also be a 'warning' for other countries. There must be stricter rules and checks for the importing and exporting of food products. I don't think I will ever consume China made food products as there are too many of such incidents already.
In one desperate move to save China's glorified pride, it took the lives of many innocent young kids. Is this really worth the risk?
I for one, recognize the great, maybe even enormous impact that China has towards the world; you might realize that their exports throughout the world is so eminent and important.
However, apart from that, it fails to realize their responsibility in keeping up to the quality standards of the world, and that their actions so forth should be condemned. If many poorer countries could adhere to the standards, why isn't China doing its part? Was is because they wanted to keep the world from such a ugly issue to make way for a more glamourous and perfect Olympics? And if there weren't any death cases from this scandal, would they have just shut their mouths up until something disastrous strikes upon?
For now, we need the Chinese government to give a satisfying answer and help the victims of this situation. Perhaps they also have to educate the need for proper and morally correct business practices. Most importantly, this situation should never happen again, not in China, not even in any other countries.
it is unethical and inhumane for them to commit such selfish acts.
trust them to poison food that will go into people's mouth?! i think their effort of a glorious Olympics had gone down to drain. What comes to my mind now when asked about China would be poisoned milk powder and not Olympics 2008.
I think it is a shameful act and they can only blame themselves if people lose trust in them.
I feel sorry for the poor innocent babies who are the victims of this major food poisoning issue.
I believe that everyone has been caught unaware of this shocking discovery, as we find out about the unethical food handling methods of china's food production industry.
I think that such issues will keep arising until china takes action to correct it's mistakes. Seriously, something has to be done as we can no longer tolerate or condone such food scares.
i would agree with many that unethical as many people have suffered greatly because of this esp. the babies. They should be ashamed of themselves for trying to cover this up so as to maintain a great name during the olympic games.
I truly wonder what respect people have for them now that we know how much they have beenhiding and placing so many lives in danger. Shame on them...
Well, this is not the first time that we heard about the problems with China food products, yet, what is so special about this particular issue that brought the world to attention at China's doorsteps?
Is it because of China's recent success in the Olympics? YET, following this success is the milk scandal.
Or is it the high number of deaths that it has brought? Sigh. Those poor children. 53,000 children? God bless them.
I think that, now, people, will be more careful with what they put into their mouths.
yijing
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