Clean melamine residue
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With the dairy products company Sanlu bankrupt and the chief culprits sentenced to death in the wake of the 2008 melamine scandals, many naively thought that domestic dairy producers would learn and behave, and that melamine would be thing of the past.
That is why, despite the initial boycott that almost ruined local dairies, consumers have returned and the Ministry of Agriculture has reported a "better-than-expected" recovery.
But that was prior to the re-emergence of melamine-contaminated dairy products on store shelves. Five companies were found to have used melamine-tainted materials that should have been destroyed in 2008.
Stunning as it is, the discovery might not dampen the overall picture of recovery. After all, authorities have been quick to respond, and an intensive 10-day marketwide probe is underway. They have vowed to thoroughly investigate and destroy tainted milk powders produced in 2008. Considering the special prowess of Chinese-style chain of command, campaigns like this may be very effective when it comes to immediate results. In spite of the appeal for long-term solutions, the current emphasis is on immediate gains.
We have little doubt about the authorities' abilities to ferret out a number of bad examples. But the same old tactic of killing one to deter a hundred is obsolete as the remnants of melamine have clearly shown.
The Shanghai-based Panda Dairy Co Ltd, for instance, had been on the official blacklist of melamine users in the 2008 scandals. The fact that it has survived and even committed new offenses is a serious and loud alarm. And for melamine to be redistributed into the marketplace is embarrassing proof that our food safety monitoring system is not working. Though authorities have retooled the monitoring system by re-enforcing measures, personnel and heightened vigilance, it's still not enough.
Melamine and dairy products made in 2008 are potential threats to food safety. But threats can derive from multiple sources. Melamine is only one of the many harmful additives our creative countrymen have employed to reap illicit profits. Short-lived campaigns that come and go like blasts of wind are no solutions to such problems. We can only hope that Panda is the sole repeat offender in the new melamine scandals.
Besides our best wishes for the 10-day campaign, we hope that there will be a break from the "killing the chicken to scare the monkey" tradition. A real long-term solution must be able to hold all offenders, not just those adding melamine to our daily milk, accountable at all times.
So 10 days later, we need to see more repairs to fix how this nation monitors its food safety.
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