The Chinese Tainted Milk Scandal

Even as the milk scandal unfolded, many countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, and Indonesia rushed to ban Chinese dairy products. Foreign companies which sold China made products or products which used Chinese ingredients had to recall their products.

As soon the crisis became public, the Chinese Health Ministry ordered the dairy firms to recall the contaminated products.

They were ordered to destroy the recalled products and the products that remained unsold. Sanlu was also asked to stop production and some of the top executives of the company were arrested.

China's Dairy Industry Association announced that the affected children and their families would get compensation from the dairy firms responsible. To support the affected dairy farmers, the government announced that it would give them a subsidy.

On October 04, 2008, the Chinese government announced that tests had shown that there was no melamine contamination in the fresh supply of liquid milk. But the damage had already been done.

The incident raised concerns about food safety standards in China besides delivering a body blow to China's reputation as one of the leading food products exporting countries.