Personal Injury Law

Melamine Contamination In Cadbury Chocolates Made In China

By Jane Akre

While the European Union and its 27 member nations have taken steps to ban or limit milk products from China, now British candy maker Cadbury says it's recalling 11 different types of Chinese-made chocolates found to contain the plastic component, melamine. 

Cadbury says the only goods affected are those made in the Beijing factory and not the chocolates produced in the UK or elsewhere.

Suppliers may have added melamine to the chocolates which have been distributed to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia.

American candy makers Mars and Hershey say their chocolate is safe to eat. Hershey says it never has purchased milk ingredients such as milk powder from China.  Mars says its China operations do not get ingredients from involved in the melamine-contamination scandal.

China has reportedly tested Mars milk powder supplies and found them free of melamine.   

Still, US candy makers Kraft Foods and Mars will adhere to the recall of Chinese-made Oreos, M&Ms and Snickers in Indonesia where that country's version of the FDA found traces of melamine in chocolates and biscuits made by Kraft Foods and Mars. The companies say they plan independent testing.

The BBC has a map of all of the countries affected. So far, Canada has conducted a recall. There are no Chinese-made chocolates in the U.S.

China is the only country that has had deaths from the melamine scandal.  

22 people have been arrested and 480 pounds of the industrial chemical seized in the raids in China, according to AP.  19 of the 22 people managed pastures, breeding farms and milk purchasing stations. They are accused of watering down milk, then adding the plastic component which measures as extra nitrogen.

Police in northern China raided the network, which is accused of adding the banned chemical to baby formula that,so far, has killed four infants. About 54,000 children have been sickened, many with renal failure.   

While the Sanlu Group milk powder was found to contain the industrial chemical, 22 other companies have also been implicated.  Melamine has also been found in Yili ice cream samples. Yili was an Olympic sponsor.  

In China, many are considering lawsuits against dairies or officials who failed to disclose the problem. 

"About two dozen of the lawyers have called these past days to say they want to quit the volunteer advice group," Beijing lawyer Li Fangping told Reuters news agency.  "Some of them said that they or their offices were told they would face serious repercussions if they stayed involved," he said.

Melamine is combined with resins to make plastic fire resistant and is used to make fertilizer.  Chronic exposure can cause cancer or reproductive damage. 

Melamine is the same ingredient found in pet food and blamed for killing thousands of cats and dogs in the US.  It may have also been added deliberately to wheat and rice gluten to increase the appearance of higher protein levels. 

Parents had reportedly been complaining since last winter that baby formula was making their infants sick. The Chinese News Agency Xinhua says that the Sanlu Group did not report the problem to local authorities until August who then waited another month to pass the concern to health authorities.

A Chinese human rights organization says the government is suppressing media coverage of this issue, news that is vital to assign blame and prevent its spread.  #

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on September 29, 2008 (boomark / email).