The Long Tail - October'08

Sanlu powder-puffed
Shijiazhuang-based dairy producer, Sanlu announced in mid-September it would recall as much as 700 tons of baby milk powder linked to a rash of kidney stones in infants, reigniting fears about Chinese product safety.

Fool's Mountain: Blogging for China
URL: http://blog.foolsmountain.com/

Blogger: Nimrod

The post: Tainted baby formula scandal blows up in China
What it says: The blog posting, which is probably one of the less-opinionated around, reckons that Netizens will not only blame Sanlu and government agencies but Baidu could feel the heat as well for "for allegedly having PR protection agreements with the brand to filter search results for damage control. The author also highlights how the Sanlu brand and other domestic food manufacturers may suffer as a result of this scandal.

"While many would like to support a successful indigenous company with a long history like Sanlu, some believe that this episode spells the end of Sanlu and some other domestic food manufacturers, as no parent would trust Sanlu or similar brands again. They also note that in richer urban regions, parents already paid premium prices to buy imported formulas like Nestle, and it was only the poor rural families, who could only afford the inexpensive domestic brands, that now suffer."

ChinAid
URL: http://chinaaid.org/

Blogger: China Aid Association

The post: Poisoned powdered milk scandal hushed for months to avoid disturbing Olympics
What it says: The author of the post reckons that authorities knew about an unusual number of children being hospitalized with kidney stones "but everything was silenced to avoid scandals ahead of the Olympics, and the media were prohibited from even speaking about it." It also poses the question how Sanlu did not discover and announce the contamination earlier, "how many dishonest producers there must be to contaminate the tons of product kept off the market and the tons recalled".

"Repercussions on the international market are expected: melamine was found in 2007 in exported animal feed that killed dozens of dogs and cats in the United States, and the fear is that it is frequently used as a food additive, without being identified by inadequate safety controls."

Alliance
URL: http://alliance.org.nz/

Blogger: Alliance Party of New Zealand

The post: Alliance attacks Fonterra on Chinese child poisoning
What it says: As it is a communications tool for the Alliance Party, the post hits out at New Zealand's largest company, Fonterra which has a 43% stake in Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group.

Quoting Alliance Part spokesperson, Victor Billot, the author says Fonterra must be held to account for the death and illness of children caused by Sanlu manufactured products. "Mr Billot says that there are inconsistencies about Fonterra's claim that it asked for a product recall in August 2008. New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra says it knew in August its Chinese joint venture partner was selling contaminated milk since linked to the death of at least one baby. He says that as a major shareholder, Fonterra management are responsible and must be held accountable."

China Law Blog

URL: http://www.chinalawblog.com/

Blogger: Dan

The post: China Baby Formula. Here We Go Again.
What it says: Dan says whenever there is a big food safety scandal, companies start calling them asking if we can protect them from such problems, and the press starts calling us with questions as to what went wrong. Quoting China Law Blog's Steve Dickinson, who was responding to questions from Bloomberg, the posts reckons that the problem may stem from cost pressures combined with government price-caps.

""These companies aren't really permitted to price their products at a commercially reasonable price,'' Dickinson said in a telephone interview from the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao. ``Yet their superiors are beating on them to make money. Melamine allows them to get higher-rated protein content at no extra cost.'' Dickinson added that so far, the central government's efforts to improve food safety haven't filtered down to the local level."