Three men were arrested in Shanxi province last week in connection with selling and producing melamine tainted milk products. These arrests come as part of China latest crackdown on tainted consumer products.
Investigators followed the trail of this melamine tainted milk from the discovery of tainted milk candies found in the market. These candies were found to be produced in plants in both Guangdong and Fujian province. Investigators found that these candies had been produced using a milk powder from Weinan Lekang Dairy Company. This company, the investigation concluded, had purchased 10 tons of expired milk powder from a farmer in Weinan and had mixed it to become 32 tons of toxic milk powder. Over 28 tons of this toxic powder were sold to various food companies who used the powder to make candies.
The central government acted quickly to pull all products produced with this tainted milk from shelves and has destroyed the remaining milk powder. The governments quick action can been seen as an indication of China’s sensitivity towards such issues after 2009’s tainted milk incident which left six babies dead and countless others sick..
While these arrest and China’s latest efforts to catch and punish those producing and selling tainted milk products should be applauded, they are only punitive measures. China has yet to implement an effective system of preventative measures to stop these tainted products from being produced in the first place. It is good to see that China is serious about cracking down, however much more is yet to be done.
For more information please visit our website at
http://blawg.lehmanlaw.com/english/archives/2010/01/15/734.html