Cadbury Recalls Chocolate Products Made In China

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Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Regulatory Affairs / Drug Approvals
Article Date: 29 Sep 2008 - 10:00 PST

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Various media sources are reporting that Cadbury, the world's largest confectionery manufacturer, is recalling 11 Chinese made products distributed in the Far East, including Dairy Milk bars, after finding they contained traces of melamine, the toxin that is suspected to have killed four babies and made over 54,000 others ill with kidney related problems after they ingested contaminated milk products made in China.

A spokesman from the company told the press it was too early to say how much of the toxin was found in the chocolates, which are made in a Beijing factory and sold in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia, according to the Telegraph.

He said these were preliminary tests and they can't say where the source was or the extent of the contamination. All the dairy suppliers had, however, been cleared by Chinese government tests, said Cadbury's.

Last week there were reports that parents and child carers were switching to foreign baby milk because they did not trust the ones made in China.

China's state news agency, Xinhua, reported this week that police in Hebei Province in the north of China have detained 22 people thought to be part of a network making and selling melamine and then deliberately putting it in the milk where it can pass off as milk protein.

Because the ratio of Nitrogen to other elements in melamine is similar to milk protein, the contaminated product passes tests using standard equipment. Also, since this is a deliberate contamination and not a byproduct of production, testing for melamine is not routine in many food testing protocols.

Among those detained were 19 managers of pastures, breeding farms and milk purchasing stations. The police said melamine was being produced in underground plants and then sold to breeding farms and purchasing stations. One suspect named Gao confessed to producing "protein powder" since last year. He was selling it to purchasing stations.

Another suspect said he started adding melamine to his milk because it kept failing the protein level check by Sanlu, the company at the centre of the contamination scandal. He said he was told if he added a chemical (melamine) to the milk it would pass the protein test. Melamine is used to make plastics and damages the kidneys.

So far the police in China have seized over 480 pounds (218 kg) of melamine.

Source: Telegraph, Xinhua.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD


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