The Systematic Problems of the Milk Scandal

More than 50,000 babies are affected, of which more than 12,000 have been hospitalized. So far, 4 children have died, and more than 100 babies are in serious condition. The number of victims of harm milk is piling up. The practice of adding melamine and other harmful materials into diluted milk now in the dairy industry has become a well-known matter of fact. This dirty open secret within the diary industry has finally been exposed to the public in China, only at an extremely high human cost.

In addition to Sanlu Group, Mengniu and Yili, another two famous brands of diary products have failed the test of melamine. Those two brands have more media exposure on the state media, generally employing celebrities to be advertising spokespersons. In fact, the manufacturing facilities in those factories can be called state of the art, which have attracted tourists in the cities like Hohhotm, and site visit of those modern factories easily leaves trustworthy impression on visitors.

The big picture is that China is in high demand of diary products, ranking the third in the world regarding diary products consumption, which understandably resulted from the improvement of common people's living standard. However, the current supply of diary products is lagged behind the demand. According to some projections, milk production is expected to grow at the 6%-9% annually, and it's quite obvious that individual dairy farmers as the primary suppliers of raw milk couldn't cope with such a growing demand.

According to this SCMP report, only one out of 90 cows is fed at the modern farm park in Hohhot alone, and most of cows are raised in the ragged backyards of dairy farmers. This should be a typical case as Hohhot is the hub of China's dairy industry. The problems such as lacking technical know-how, and the support from both the government and manufacturers are still prevailing. Safety loopholes are actually quite easy to be identified as this insider's account recalled the malpractice before the scandal broke out :

"Whenever my milk failed the quality test, they [used to] direct me to a different place and ask me to unload my milk into a factory milk container" (Wu Tianhua, a milk dealer from Licheng county in Hohhot)

The fundamental issue is the quality of raw milk, and manufacturers are directly responsible for allowing contaminated milk to enter into production lines.

As a result, the chief quality inspector Li Changjiang, head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine resigned today, and so far several officials accountable for the problem both at the city level have been sacked, including Wu Xianguo, the Communist Party chief, Mayor Ji Chuntang and Vice Mayor Zhang Fawang of Shijiazhuang city, where Sanlu Group is located.

This report says 'under the Civil Servants Law effective as of 2005 and the State Council Regulations on the Punishment of Civil Servants of Administrative Organs enacted last April, heads of administrative organs who fail to fulfill their duties and cause avoidable severe accidents to happen will face removal and severer punishment.'

However, for those directly involved in the scandal, including diary farmers, manufacturers and the third party officials in charge of quality inspection, the ultimate legal reference should be the Food Safety Law that which the draft version was publicized in April, and thereafter has been submitted to the legislature for the rectification.

According to the draft version, manufacturers who produce harmful food could be jailed for life, but it does not cover food products from the farm to the final consumers, observed by WHO China's representative Hans Troedsson.

The Ministry of Commerce and State Administration for Industry and Commerce (AQSIQ) also worked out an important measure which requires food product to carry a code allowing consumers to trace back their place and time of origin. It's supposed to be implemented by the end of June, but was postponed to the end of this year.

So far, it's not clear when the draft of the Food Safety Law will become the law, but the latest milk scandal offers a rare opportunity for the legislative members to review the draft more thoroughly. The final version should cover the complete chain of food products from the farm to the final consumers, and basic agriculture products such as rice need to be covered as well.