The greed of some unscrupulous businessmen may exceed all limits and turn into poison that is slipped into baby milk, killing infants or exposing them to fatal dangers.
This is what happened in China, and it ended with a court ruling on January 22, 2009, that sentenced two businessmen to death. One of them supplied the Chinese "Sanlu" factories, which specialize in the production of milk powder, with products containing the dangerous substance melamine, while the second bought ready-made products from the company and added dangerous materials to them on his own.
This crime, known as the "2008 China Milk Scandal," resulted in the deaths of six children and left more than 300,000 infants with complications from food poisoning. It was the largest scandal of its kind to rock China and the world, and its repercussions continued for years.
Against the backdrop of this serious case, 21 people found themselves in the dock, including the management of the "Sanlu" company, representatives of the local administration, and heads and employees of companies involved in the distribution of these products.
The head of the Chinese dairy company, Tian Wenhua, was sentenced to life imprisonment and fined the equivalent of US$3 million, while others received prison sentences ranging from 5 to 15 years.
Melamine is an industrial chemical used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizers, and at the time there were no methods for its rapid detection in food. This substance has a high nitrogen content, which makes it appear in food quality tests as if it were a protein.
The leading Chinese dairy company, Sanlu, mixed milk with water to increase its quantity, then added melamine to the mixture to compensate for the low protein content in the milk powder, thus deceiving the government's quality tests.
At the time, Chinese authorities quickly confiscated 76 tons of powdered milk products used in the manufacture of baby formula and other food products, and tests showed that the amount of melamine added to them exceeded the permitted limit by five hundred times!
Melamine is a dangerous industrial substance that damages the kidneys and causes insoluble kidney stones. High doses of this substance can lead to acute kidney failure and death, especially in young children. The scandal came to light in 2008 after a surge in the number of infants suffering from kidney stones was detected across China.
The Chinese authorities responded to this major scandal with decisive judicial action against those involved, and dozens of officials, including the head of the quality bureau in Hebei province, were dismissed or punished.
Furthermore, authorities ordered the establishment of a special fund to cover the costs of treatment and rehabilitation for all victims of the melamine scandal, and announced compensation for the families of those affected, amounting to the equivalent of $23,000 per death. Most importantly, China imposed stricter quality standards in this area.
