The New York Timesreports that a China firm named the Sanlu Group is recalling 700 tons of baby formula that was contaminated with melamine. The baby forumla has been linked to at least one death already.
The producer of the suspect formula, the Sanlu Group, recalled 700 tons of it after determining Thursday that it had been contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical.
The official Xinhua news agency cited Zhao Xinchao, the vice mayor of Shijiazhuang, in Hebei Province, where Sanlu is based, as saying that the police had questioned 78 people, including dairy farmers and milk dealers. The police suspect that some may have diluted milk with water to increase the volume for sale to Sanlu, and then added melamine to disguise the dilution, Mr. Zhao told the news agency.
A common industrial test for the protein content of dairy products or animal feed gives an inaccurately high reading if melamine is present.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration said that no infant formula from China had been approved for import. But the F.D.A. advised consumers to be cautious since limited quantities might have found their way into some ethnic groceries.
This is exactly the kind of news parents do not want to hear. It wasn't too long ago that many people's pets died and/or suffered because of pet food tainted with melamine. It is good to know that after serious problems like the pet food scandal the U.S. would not be giving baby formula imported from China easy passage into our stores. However, it is disconcerting to learn that ethnic groceries may have obtained some of the melamine tainted formula. (via ParentDish)
