2008 Milk Scandal in China (Case Study Sample)

2008 Dairy Milk Scandal in China Background In 2008, a milk production scandal broke out in China. Children had fallen ill due to contaminated milk consumption. It was later reported that the milk formula was contaminated with an ingredient supposedly for plastic production. This ingredient got mixed with the production of baby formula which was sold to the market. It led to the children and infants developing kidney stones because of the contaminated formula (Austin and Yang). The company involved in the scandal was the Sanlu Group which was the biggest dairy product manufacturer in China. Their neglect of the safety of food production led to sickness and misfortunes of around 300,000 babies in China. Although the contamination may seem like an accident, it was rather added to the formula illegally as an addition to the protein content of their products. However, melamine, the ingredient that contaminated the products, is a material for plastic production which is why it is toxic for human consumption (Austin and Yang). The Health Crisis of 2008 The milk scandal in China had put thousands of infants' lives at risk. Some even died of a complication brought by the consumption of contaminated milk. Because of the large number of affected children, it has become a health crisis in China. Parents and children would crowd the hospital for almost the same reason: the consumption of poisoned food. China's milk scandal has mostly affected children because the products' target market was infants to children. It was the younger population who had consumed most of the products that contained contaminated dairies. That was why, in 2008, children with kidney problems filled the hospitals. Most cases were children who had developed kidney stones because of the long-time consumption of contaminated milk (Austin and Yang). This scandal had developed into a health crisis because of the widespread danger the milk brought to the local consumers. The Sanlu company was a known company that was popular for its dairy brands. Their big reputation meant wider patronage in China. Simultaneously, it implied how wide the scandal was going to reach. World Health Organization had also considered the milk scandal as one of the biggest crises to have happened in the world (Tehrani, Kavon, and Pontell). Because China exports dairy products internationally, the scandal must have affected children even outside their borders. That was why it had been impossible not to look at it as a health crisis. Melamine was the product that contaminated dairy products in China. This particular ingredient is primarily not for human consumption but rather a component for plastic production. When animals consume melamine, their bodies produce renal stones. As for humans, it can result in kidney stones and kidney failure (Chan, Griffiths, and Chan). Since children were mostly affected by the milk scandal in China, the health impact was more alarming and dangerous. Infant organs are more vulnerable and underdeveloped. Their intake of toxic substances like melamine may cause them even to endangering illnesses. Some of the dangers that infants faced due to milk consumption were kidney failure, renal problems, and, at worst, death (Chan, Griffiths, and Chan). What was alarming at that time was that most children had developed complications after a long period of consuming the same contaminated products. It meant that a lot of children must have taken the milk products but have not yet developed a serious health condition. In the future, it may bring more serious complications on top of another. Another implication of the long period of health illness development is that the company of these dairy products has been doing the illegalities for a long time. This meant that, aside from a wide reach of their product that may endanger more lives, their products must have contributed to the health condition of a child or worse, have worsened an existing illness. Looking at how vast the danger of this health crisis had brought not only to China but to the world, it would root in another problem. For instance, to further explain what I have mentioned above, some of the children who were regular consumers of the contaminated milk products may have had a preexisting or developing health condition. If they had consumed the melamine in the milk products, the contamination may have affected their health condition in a bad way. This is more serious to think about when we realize that this had not been only a few children out there. There would have been millions of them. That is why the health crisis that the scandal brought was not only about milk consumption but also the connecting health issues it could have created all over the world. Ineffective Response to the Scandal Because of the alarming health issue brought about by the scandal, China made adjustments to its laws in response to the food contamination. In 2009, the Food Safety Law was passed in an attempt to regulate food safety production. Under this law, food security was enhanced which has been why unauthorized food ingredients have since been prohibited (Yanzhong). However, although melamine was already considered a toxic and inappropriate food ingredient as it is for plastic production, milk producers were still...