Oreo, Snickers, and M&M's May Contain Melamine?

Chocoholics could be in serious danger.  Some can't go more than a few hours without a fix.*

But in a report on the tainted Chinese Milk Scandal I read that the problem is spreading out from the mainland.  (Well the news of the spread of the problem is spreading.  The tainted products have already been out there.

Babies tend to drink the same formula all day and day after day so they were the canaries in the coal mine in this case, and people who are not constantly consuming the product should be able to avoid the kidney problems it brings.  Or so the story goes.

But what happens if milk is in most of your foods, and most of that milk is tainted.

The Chinese milk scandal is beginning to spread geographically and into other foods, the kind of foods that would contain milk.  

But what I want to know is if the products made in Asia from the tainted milk are like what goes on in Vegas, or are the tainted products waiting for us on our store shelves.

Excerpt AP report "China tainted milk crisis triggers global recalls "

More than a dozen countries have banned or recalled Chinese dairy products. One of the latest was France, which does not import Chinese dairy products but has halted imports of Chinese biscuits, candy or other foods that could contain Chinese dairy derivatives. The French government described the measure as a precaution.

South Korea announced late Wednesday that it was banning imports of Chinese-made food products containing powdered milk. The food watchdog Korea Food and Drug Administration said tests found high levels of melamine in two biscuit products imported from China and Hong Kong.

...Wednesday, Indonesia distributed a list of 28 products that it said may contain tainted Chinese milk, including Oreo cookies, Snickers bars and M&M chocolate candies.

So were those snacks made in Indonesia from Chinese milk, or made in Indonesia for export?  Are we going to see ever widening circles of food products that have the potential to damage our kidneys or kill us?

Remember, in the pet food crisis, it was just a few brands and of them just a few kinds of foods.  By the end it was a huge variety of products in the pet food line from cheap pet food to exclusive web purchased specialty pet foods that supposedly only contained animal proteins like venison.

The US government is right on the job ready to make an pompous statement at all times:

Speaking in China, where U.S. and European officials were attending seminars on product safety, a U.S. official said China's troubles with contaminated milk highlight the need for better enforcement of product safety standards in manufacturing.

"The melamine situation just underscores the message that we are trying to deliver, and that is you have to know what's coming into your factory and what's going out of your factory," said Nancy Nord, acting head of the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.

Since Ms. Nord has never been one to push for more enforcement of safety standards.  I believe the commissioner even turned down some of the money that was supposed to go to her department to be used for keeping our families safe. Awakening reported a lot on her last year.

Also notice the commissioner's own words look like she does not believe the government should do anything. She's talking to manufacturers (because she is in China where manufacturing should be done according to the Bush administration.  I mean, has China ever hurt us before? In the melamine case in the US the importer of the tainted "wheat gluten" was jailed and the company that made the pet food was fined, IIRC.

But no one is talking about mandatory inspections before products exit China or before they enter the US, which would keep the fat cats who are using China as a sweat shop from earning lots mo money, which, in turn would keep them from delivering big campaign donations.

Of course not.

*OK, I'm kidding about the chocoholics, and since that was a joke, I felt free about them not being able to go more than a few hours without a hit.   I can usually get through half a day, myself so I know it can be done. Haha. The rest of the post is based on the news reports I've read lately and last year. But this is about much more than chocolate candies.  Think about all the products that have milk in them, from  frozen veggies in "butter sauce--possibly made with no actual butter" which might be made instead with a milk powder.  Breads, biscuits, cookies, sauces for frozen dinners might have either milk powder or wheat gluten.  We know some farmed Chinese fish ate melamine tainted pet food from the US (oh wait they promised that was all cleared up, unless, of course the US companies were allowed to sell their tainted food off to some third world country who then sold it to Chinese fish farmers).  Dry milk in cereals, especially those oatmeals with milk already in them.  How about the ever popular kid snack or family dinner, boxed macaroni and cheese.  Pretty soon that's a lot of melamine.  How're your kidneys feeling now?  Return to * above .

tags: chocolate  candy  china milk  scandal  food safety  nancy nord  

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