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Over the last week news of investigations into China's latest manufacturing scandal has made headlines and once again shaken parents. Shocked consumers are no longer outraged by toxic toys, but toxic infant formula!
The scandal first broke last week as China detained 19 as Toxic Formula Sickens Hundreds of Infants on Monday in connection with substandard baby formula. The company at the center of the spotlight is the Sanlu Group, the country's largest producer of powder formula. Shockingly the news is not as braking as it seems, as the company received complaints about the formula powder back in March, for which it did make some product recalls, however public and government reporting seemed to be a miss. Last week, the Sanlu Group recalled 700 tons of powdered formula, and on Saturday the government said the company had been ordered to stop producing and selling powdered formula.
Infants’ deaths rekindle anger over food safety, as public outcries continue to grow as the number of infants affected by tainted baby formula continues to rise, by Tuesday the number of victims has already almost doubled. Only one day after the story broke the formula had caused the death of two infants and left more than 1,250 others sick. Of those infants who have become ill some 340 are still being hospitalized, of which 53 remained in critical condition. Only hours ago reports hit of a third baby dead in Chinese tainted formula scandal, reached headlines. The numbers of infants who may parish is sadly only looking to increase, as the number of infants affected has skyrocketed; now leaving more than 6,200 ill.
Over the last few years high-profile food scandals in the country haven't been all too uncommon, including formulas. In 2004, over 200 infants became ill and 12 died following the use of a “fake formula” which contained no nutrients at all. With other consumer scandals, such as toys, tires, pet food and toothpaste making constant headlines, it left China to a nationwide crackdown on quality control over the past year. However one is left to wonder as we sit in the midst of another crisis, what has really been done and if one can ever truly trust the consumer product producing giant. What will tomorrow bring for China's infants is unclear; however one can only hope that the numbers will not once again take a substantial leap.
