China and melamine again, this time people food.

[annmarie]

If you haven't already heard about this, I'm sure you will. I don't entirely understand if this applies to food sold in the US or not. I get the impression that no one is really sure yet. Regardless, I thought I should pass this along in case any of you have a bowl of M&M's or Oreo's sitting in front of you.
(One more reason to produce our own food. Anyone got a good recipe for Oreo's?)

Melamine scandal hits candy makers
HONG KONG, China (AP) -- British chocolate maker Cadbury on Monday became the latest foreign company to be hit by China's tainted milk scandal, ordering a recall of its Chinese-made products after saying tests "cast doubt" on their safety.
Two U.S. food makers were meanwhile investigating Indonesian claims that high traces of the industrial chemical melamine had been found in Chinese-made Oreos, M&Ms and Snickers, but stressed the same goods had tested negative in other Asian countries.
They said they were looking into all possibilities, including counterfeiting.
The milk scandal erupted earlier this month when China's public learned that melamine, which is used to make plastics and fertilizer, had been found in milk powder and was linked to kidney stones in children. Contamination has since turned up in liquid milk, yogurt and other products made with milk.
Four deaths have been blamed on the bad milk and some 54,000 children have developed kidney stones or other illnesses after drinking tainted baby formula.
Countries across Asia have removed items from shelves or banned them outright.
Myanmar added its name to the list on Monday, saying dairy items from China would be barred from entering its military-ruled country. The Philippines warned exporters they would be locked out of its market if they did not fully disclose the origins of their products. Watch how far the scandal has spread
"Of course it's always good to have evidence rather than just speculate, but we will have to shift the burden of proof to them because our duty is to protect public health," Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in laying out the new regulations.
Cadbury, the British candy maker, said in a statement issued by its Singapore office Monday that tests had "cast doubt on the integrity of a range of our products manufactured in China."
It was not immediately clear whether they revealed melamine, but Cadbury said it had recalled 11 chocolate products made at its factory in Beijing which are distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia.
Hong Kong's government ordered that the chocolates be immediately removed from shelves.
U.S. companies Kraft Foods Inc. and Mars Inc. said they would adhere to a recall order of Chinese-made Oreo wafers, M&Ms and Snickers in Indonesia, but said they wanted to conduct their own tests with outside experts.
So far only a local agency has checked the products for melamine, but the levels found were considered very high.
"We have asked our trade partners and retailers to suspend the sales of our products in accordance to the agency's order," Mars Indonesia spokesman Bondan Ardi said.
Hong Kong supermarket chain PARKnSHOP also pulled its Chinese-made Oreo, M&M and Snickers products as a precaution, spokeswoman Pinky Chan said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

[enjoy the ride]

This is one of the things on which I wish Congress would take real action.
But like so many things, money people make the decsions and their decisions are based on what is good for them not for the country.
This sort of thing will continue until some people in the US are killed and/or made sick enough that some reporter will make a scandal public enough to get some finger pointing going in the government.
Basically the US had made the decision to accept the risks from every country in the world for the sake of money. Now doesn't that sound familiar.

 

[FarmerChick]

Sad state of affairs.
It will happen again and again. Control of "foreign" products is just hard to do.....but yes, I agree, grow your own, make your own and eat US products like candy and such if you can. What more can ya do to protect yourself...the govt. sure doesn't help much???? Problem is, you just don't know where the ingredients come from in almost all foods now???? potluck people!?

we are on our own folks, LOL....

 

[enjoy the ride]

Farmer Chick- you are so right- darn it all. It's next to impossible to get away from it now.
At Costco, I found food product after food product made outside the US. Even the ones make in the US use outside ingredients and I don't suppose they have to report that on the label.
Even blasted canned fruit..................

 

[roosmom]

I am really careful about Tuna, I always make sure it says wild caught and canned in the us. I try to make sure that all of our food is from the us, but they print it so small it is hard to find sometimes. I asked one of our pregnant employees if she was going to breast feed, that was back when all this first started. Thank god she said yes.
The news has said repeatedly that this is not pertaining to foods in the US, SO FAR. Yeah, so far. Just like the beef industry and E-coli. We stopped eating at fast food joints after I read the book "fast food nation". Real eye opener. I will learn to drink my coffee with creamer if I have to.
All we can do is YES.... grow our own, eat US, buy US made, basically support US, not china, tiawan, indonesia, etc,etc. And try to get people who will make a difference in the whitehouse.

 

[Homesteadmom]

A lot of apple juices are made with apples from China. I refuse to buy any food product from there anymore. I read the labels very carefully. Makes me want my orchard up & running now!!!!!

 

[annmarie]

It's so hard to not be paranoid when this stuff happens. It seems like everytime one of these tainted food/product scandals unfold lately, first we hear that it's only limited to one or two products, or in one or two countries, and the next thing you know it's affecting everything. Of course, now the two things I'm sitting here wondering about is the powdered milk I used in the homeade yogurt I made this past weekend, and I'm also wondering about a family member who's suffering from kidney stones, who's never had these before and has no family history. I have a feeling the government will not be on top of this one at all with the whole bail-out fiasco going on. I understand that the EU has already stopped selling and importing all food from China. I wish they'd do that here, at least until they figure out what the story is. Not to mention, I would love to see what the grocery store looks like if everything from China was pulled off the shelves.

 

[Homesteadmom]

It's so hard to not be paranoid when this stuff happens. It seems like everytime one of these tainted food/product scandals unfold lately, first we hear that it's only limited to one or two products, or in one or two countries, and the next thing you know it's affecting everything. Of course, now the two things I'm sitting here wondering about is the powdered milk I used in the homeade yogurt I made this past weekend, and I'm also wondering about a family member who's suffering from kidney stones, who's never had these before and has no family history. I have a feeling the government will not be on top of this one at all with the whole bail-out fiasco going on. I understand that the EU has already stopped selling and importing all food from China. I wish they'd do that here, at least until they figure out what the story is. Not to mention, I would love to see what the grocery store looks like if everything from China was pulled off the shelves.

It would be interesting to see how bare the shelves would be with no China products at all. Not just the grocery stores.

 

[FarmerChick]

now for me, I still do buy things from China or any other country....but........I am just careful what I purchase cause sometimes it has to be that way

I am looking more and more at labels and where things are made etc. etc. Just a work in progress trying to find and buy the US items.

You ALL are right....I would love to see a store without "any" imported products on the shelves. It would be virtually empty I am sure..LOL

And yes, the fine print on items is hard to read....you sure have to search each product to see what is truly in it! And what they don't tell you is just as bad!

 

[enjoy the ride]

I'd love to see a US farmer co-op producing things from only US and Canadian grown products- maybe Mexico too if they can make and keep some of the US standards. I would love to be able to mail order things like powdered milk, canned and dehydrated foods from US producers only.