Chinese Milk Dangers

[JimH5]

Does anyone have any information on the Chinese milk product recalls (eg Melamine in milk)? It was a page one story in today's Straits Times.

Specifically, there are some products that have been pulled by the AVA in Singapore including Dutch Lady Strawberry flavored milk produced in China.

Dutch Lady makes a Strawberry milk product that's in UHT Tetrapak packaging that appears to be made in Malaysia, and it doesn't seem to be part of the recall. I saw it at the Takashimaya Cold Storage on Sunday afternoon, along with the Cold Storage at United Square.

Dutch Lady makes another Strawberry milk product that is sold on the same shelves as the UHT milk, but this other stuff is packaged in plastic milk jugs. The plastic bottled product is labeled as a product of PRC. I did not see that product on the store shelves Sunday.

I'm concerned because my daughter drinks A LOT of the UHT product. She has also recently had a jug of Dutch Lady Banana flavored milk produced in the PRC.

Does anyone know what the symptoms of the melamine related illness are? Is this an immediate illness issue, or something that could produce long-term problems?

Thus far, I think we may have dodged a bullet, as she's shown no signs of illness, and she seems to have consumed the boxed product instead of the jugs. Others surely haven't been as fortunate.

Anyway, if any forum members have any additional info, I'd be much appreciated.

[laurakay]

hi,
here (suzhou, china) they are taking away dove choolate bars, snickers, m&m's, wall's ice cream, mentos, yogurt bottles, oreo wafer sticks, monmilk, dutch lady sterilised milk, wall's all natural mango, mini poppers ice cream, , magnum ice cream, moo saandwich ice cream, mini cornetto ice cream, youcan icecream. i don't know what you find tehre, but it is better to stay on the safe side. all we are having now is presidnet and anchor long life milk.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Does anyone know what the symptoms of the melamine related illness are? Is this an immediate illness issue, or something that could produce long-term problems?

Apparently kidney stones and death! You could also possibly turn into a melamine dinner plate. Just turn on the news or read the newspapers. It's full of stuff about it at the moment. 53000 down with medical problems now.

If it's made in china, who knows what's in the stuff, I don't buy ANYTHING made in China or if China was the source of raw materials needed in the manufacturing process, I won't buy that either if I can help it. First world country? Not for a long, long time.

[durain]

pants. even my favourite white rabbit sweets has it. no wonder it always taste so "milky".

[cavalier]

They found traces of melamine in the Dutch Lady Banana Flavoured Milk. There is a Ministery of Health hotline to call: 1800-2254122.

[bkkmum]

It is supposed to only be the Dutch Lady strawberry milk in the plastic bottles - not the UHT packets. My son drinks the UHT ones as well, but to be safe I have thrown all of my stock out. Better safe than sorry!

[JimH5]

Agreed.

I'm limiting us to Aussie or US Milk products for the time being, and will discuss with my daughter's school.

Dutch Lady has taken out newspaper ads and seems to be handling the situation well, but that doesn't mean I need to load up the shopping cart with their stuff. Maybe later.

[durain]

looks like fairprice has reduced the price for dutch lady UHT full cream milk (S$1.90 to S$1.65). just did a little research and looks like dutch lady milk are source from holland, australia and new zealand. just dont touch the strawberry flavoured milk in bottle.

here's a quote from the MD of dutch lady malaysia...

[quote]Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad's managing director Hans Laarakker said within Dutch Lady Malaysia, there are no Dutch Lady products or dairy raw materials sourced from China.

Laarakker stressed that the company’s milk powder was mainly sourced from the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.

“Whatever is being distributed within Malaysia is manufactured within our factories in Petaling Jaya itself or mainly imported fully-packed from countries like the Netherlands and New Zealand.

“On this score, my message to all Malaysians is a strong assurance that Dutch Lady Malaysia’s products are safe and fit to consume,”

[here_i_am]

My son's allergic to cow products, so I've had to be really careful reading and understanding labels ever since he was born. What I can advise everyone here is not to limit your checks to milk drinks only. I've seen my son develop reactions even to seemingly innocuous items like cookies, pastry, soup and pasta. Check as well your cheese, pudding, cereals, bread. These all use milk in one form or another.

In fact, as a general rule, we try to avoid purchasing anything from ROC. Today's news is melamine in milk. Last time, it was lead in paint. Before that, it was fake infant milk that caused malnutrition. Then there was the issue of using low grade cooking oil in restaurants. We also all heard about fake medicines. In fact, I believe they found a serious meningitis causing bacteria in the Sanlou brand of infant formula in ROC as of last week. I dont know what else ROC will come up with in their quest for quick profits, and I dont want to stick around and find out.

Kids have very young immune systems and what we may take for granted can be serious for them.

[durain]

please note, ROC is taiwan. PRC is china.