What Can We Learn from the 2008 Melamine Crisis in China?

Abstract

.[3] , 294 000 infants and young children in China had been diagnosed to have urinary tract stone by the end of November 2008. Although most patients had no symptoms and signs, acute renal failure did occur in some patients. More than 50 000 infants had been hospitalized with six deaths being confirmed. This food safety crisis not only is a serious issue of the public health but also has a serious impact on the international economy, food trade and even politics. In fact, infant formula from China, no matter which brand, were rejected from importation by many countries; food products other than infant formula from China which contained milk ingredients were also rejected due to the carry-over of melamine from tainted milk. In the Chinese domestic market, the sale of all brands and types of dairy products declined significantly. The whole Chinese dairy industry has suffered from a great deal of economic loss, no matter whether their products are tainted with melamine or not. At the same time, the positive image of China won from the very successful Olympics held in Beijing was greatly tarnished. Many Chinese people consider this crisis is a national shame, although it was only a single case of food adulteration. It took several months to link the increase of urinary tract stones in infants and young children to the consumption of melamine tainted infant formula. Once the cause was identified, the Chinese government implemented a series of vigorous measures to control this crisis. Within one week, with the joint efforts of several ministries, the melamine adulteration crisis was quickly under control. The inspection data show that all dairy products, including infant formula, have been in compliance with the control limits of melamine since September 14, 2008. The whole process in dealing with this unfortunate event is considered as an example of successful implementation of the risk analysis principle recommended by FAO and WHO. The risk analysis usually starts from risk assessment. In this melamine event, scientists and doctors in collaboration with police force quickly identified that the epidemic of urinary tract stones in infants and young children in more than 10 provinces in Mainland China was caused by the illegal addition of “protein essence” (melamine, an industrially synthesized chemical) into raw milk (the main ingredient of infant formula) to falsely increase the protein content of raw milk after dilution with water. Although other brands of infant formula were also found with high levels of melamine, the Sanlu brand had the highest level of melamine