The Chinese milk powder scandal has gone international. European Union regulators have ordered testing of imported food products that contain at least 15 percent milk powder. They are worried that some imported food products containing the tainted milk powder may be making their way around Europe. In particular, the regulators are worried about cookies, chocolates and toffees.
From the NY Times:
In 2007, the European Union imported from China about 19,500 tons of
confectionary products, including pastries, cake and cookies, and about
1,250 tons of chocolate and other prepared foods containing cocoa.
Consumer groups in the U.S. have called on the FDA to take similar action and restrict food imports from China that contain any dairy until this whole mess gets sorted out.
The United States has imported two million pounds of a milk protein
called casein this year, along with other powdered milk proteins that
are used as ingredients in many processed foods, according to figures
from the United States Department of Agriculture. This includes 293,000 pounds that were imported in July.
Ew and yuck! Is there any way to tell whether the ingredients in your Oreo are domestic or imported and if imported, from where? No.
Again, the Times:
In an increasingly globalized food economy, manufacturers use raw
ingredients from all over the world, often making it difficult to track
the origins.
For example, Kraft Foods,
the maker of Oreo cookies, recently moved one of its large cookie
factories from Australia to China. But Claire Regan, a spokeswoman for
the company, said that most of the products Kraft made in China were
distributed within China, although a limited number were exported. Most
do not contain milk products from China, she said, and, when they do,
the levels of such ingredients are very low. The Oreo product line does
not contain milk ingredients from China, Ms. Regan said.
The milk products which have caused nearly 50,000 Chinese kids to become sick -- and several have died -- contained melamine, an ingredient that diluted the milk but maintained its level of protein. Oh, and tends to cause kidney stones in babies who eat too much of it.
THIS JUST IN -- Now recalls over the melamine tainted milk product include Heinz baby cereal sold in China and Hong Kong and a bunch of cookie products sold in Japan.
AND THIS TOO! -- You might want to give up your Mr. Brown instant coffee habit. And if you're a fan of milk tea products from China, which are widely available in the U.S. The FDA is warning the two products may contain some of the tainted milk powder from China.
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Photo: chron.com
