Melamine Contaminated Dairy Scandal Recurs
Year:2010 ISSUE:2
COLUMN:HEALTH, SAFETY & ENVIRONMENT
Click:206    DateTime:Jan.25,2010
Melamine Contaminated Dairy Scandal Recurs    

Melamine contaminated milk powder has once again struck a public nerve in China at the beginning of the new year 2010, with Shanghai Panda Dairy Co., Ltd. being investigated by the authorities on suspicion of producing and selling milk products with excess melamine content under the national standards.
   Shanghai Panda has been involved in 2008 "melamine dairy case" and the recurrence of the problem has raised concerns whether enough measures have been taken following the 2008 tainted dairy case, a food safety scandal. Food safety issue is again challenging the Chinese government.
   China's dairy industry has been recovering after being seriously hit by melamine incident in 2008. According to data from China Economic Monitoring Center of the National Bureau of Statistics, the domestic dairy production rose 3.42% year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2009 to 14.23 million tons. The ratio between sales and production for dairy products exceeded 95%, while the industry's sentiment index stood at 95.5 points, only 4.5 below history high.
   But consumers again cast doubt on corporate responsibility following the latest tainted milk case brought by Shanghai Panda. And the government departments still need to improve the regulatory regime on food production process.