Recall of White Rabbit Candy

That used to be my favourite candy while growing up. I must have consumed packets of it so far. Maybe that explains why I didn't graduate with honours.

Also other foods officially recalled include the Dutch Lady brand of strawberry milk. Which has also been shown to contain melamine.

Melamine - used to manufacture glues, fabrics, flame retardants and inks. It is also used to make fertilizers. It is an irritant when inhaled or in contact with skin. Ingested, it can lead to acute renal failure, kidney stones, reproductive damage and bladder cancers. Melamine crystals don't dissolve easily and there is potential for chronic toxicity. (Wikipedia)

In 2007, there was a recall of pet foods due to the amount of melamine found in them, causing hundreds of pet deaths in the US. Melamine has no nutritional value but is high in nitrogen content It was added to increase nitrogen content in the pet food and hence artificially elevate the amount of 'protein' in the food to pass minimal requirements. (Wikipedia)

Now, it's milk products from China. Suppliers believed to be trying to cut costs have added it to watered-down milk to cover up the resulting protein deficiency. It's estimated that about 20% of milk from China is contaminated with melamine. With thousands of infants affected and already 4 deaths, those involved should be shot. Not only that, but it appears that the milk company may have already known about the contamination as early as July/August but withheld this information from the public and didn't recall any of it's products. It was only when a NZ company notified the NZ government which in turn informed the Chinese government then did the situation come to light.

Who knows what other things are going on in China. I'm checking all food labels from now on, I'll avoid anything from China. And I'm prepared to pay the premium for imported milk/foodstuff from Australia/NZ.