China detains 6 more suspects in milk scandal

You can't "check Quality into" a product...

Maybe you can "arrest Quality into" a product...

BEIJING - China pledged to improve food safety after authorities detained six more people in the country's contaminated milk scandal as the government increases efforts to restore public trust in Chinese-made food products.

The head of China's quality watchdog said the country is also stepping up checks on its exports to ensure they conformed to the food safety standards of recipient countries, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Chinese government has been scrambling to show it is tackling the problem of melamine-contaminated milk powder and products blamed for killing four babies and sickening more than 54,000 children with kidney stones and other illnesses in China.

"Food safety concerns not only the health of the public, but also the life of business," said Wang Yong, the director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the agency responsible for ensuring that China's food supply chain is safe.

Wang, who replaced Li Changjiang, the former director who resigned last month in the wake of the scandal, vowed to make "a substantial change in the production and distribution of dairy products."

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Candy with chemical in Chinese milk found in Conn.

And now we have to deal with it...

But look closely at Paragrapgh 9...when does it change from a few rogue companies contaiminating a product to "Standard Operating Procedure"???...

HARTFORD, Conn. - An industrial chemical blamed for sickening thousands of infants in China was found in candy in four Connecticut stores this week, a state official said Wednesday.

Days after contaminated White Rabbit Creamy Candy was found in California, Connecticut Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. said tests found melamine in bags of the candy sold at two New Haven stores, a West Hartford market and an East Haven store.

"We're concerned, obviously, there may have been bags sold of these before we got to them," Farrell said.

Anyone who has the candy should destroy it, Farrell said.

The contamination has been blamed for the deaths of four children and kidney ailments among 54,000 others. More than 13,000 children have been hospitalized and 27 people arrested in connection with the tainting.

Melamine, which is high in nitrogen, is used to make plastics and fertilizers and experts say some amount of the chemical may be transferred from the environment during food processing. But in China's case, suppliers trying to boost output are believed to have diluted their milk, adding melamine because its nitrogen content can fool tests aimed at verifying protein content.

Melamine can cause kidney stones, leading to kidney failure. Infants are particularly vulnerable.

Melamine has been associated with contaminated infant formula and other Chinese products containing milk protein.

On Wednesday, the Chinese government identified 15 more Chinese dairy companies as producing milk products contaminated with melamine, bringing the total to 20 companies. At least 100 batches of milk powder have been found to contain the chemical, according to data on the food safety administration's Web site.

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The Race to China

Interesting post from Pharmalot regarding Pharma's move to China...

I understand the drivers behind these types of efforts, something to spruce up yet another bland corporate report,...something for senior management to tout as "the strategy"...reducing the costs of an already ineffective R+D effort, etc, etc...

These drivers will have more and more companies jumping on the bandwagon...

How many of these companies are backing up these efforts with a robust plan for maintaining the quality of the products they intend to produce?...and yes, that includes research efforts...or are they just looking at the cost savings?...