Risk register · entry
Q-F · Fraud2008 Chinese melamine milk scandal
Melamine faked the protein in baby formula. It passed the nitrogen test. The kidneys knew better.
The fifth quadrant, where the thing was never real. The tell is that the story is too clean.
Why this quadrant
Protein tests infer protein from total nitrogen and cannot tell where the nitrogen came from. Melamine is cheap nitrogen. Added to watered-down milk it produced a passing protein reading in a product that had less protein than it claimed, and it kept passing, across 22 producers, for months. What failed was verification rather than engineering. Six infants died and about 294,000 children were affected.
The record
- China's Ministry of Health reported 294,000 children affected as of 1 December 2008, of whom 51,900 were hospitalised, and 6 deaths.certain
- About 22.4 million children were screened in the national response to the contamination.high
- Melamine was found in Sanlu infant formula at up to 2,563 mg/kg, with random samples ranging from 150 to 4,700 mg/kg (median 1,900 mg/kg).high
- 22 producers of powdered infant formula were found to have melamine-contaminated product; about 9,000 tonnes of milk powder were recalled and more than 2,000 tonnes seized.high
- Sanlu detected melamine in its products in June 2008 and reported it to local government in August 2008, but the provincial government was not notified and public reporting did not begin until 9 September 2008; parents had complained of sick infants from December 2007.high
Sources
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