What do milk products and politics have in common? *Gasps*

[Dark-San]

In a the mist of the US financial and economical fallout, North Korea's threat of restarting their nuclear facilities and other world aspects. None of these comes close in affecting where I stayed, Singapore. The recent scandal of the Chinese dairy product tainted with melamine had affected closest to me than the rest of these depressing issues.

I walked through the supermarkets these days and found that most of the milk products that got imported from China got cleared from the shelves. Two of my frequently consumed snacks, White Rabbit Creamy Candy and Silang's Puffed Rice Rolls, tested positive on melamine. Making matters worse, even Dutch Lady Strawberry Flavoured Milk which I consumed almost like twice in a week gets into the ban list. With so many dairy- related products getting banned, I am at a loss on the type of milk substitutable products that I can have for breakfast.

This scandal had got me frustrated since it means more checking on the ingredients of the food I consumed when I purchased them from the supermarket. Secondly, it gives me more headache on what should I have for my breakfast since no longer could eat my usual stuff. Thirdly, this incident make me lose my confidence on products that have the 'Make in China' tag.

What got me pissed off the most is that the Chinese government had already knew of this problems beforehand and had it covered up in order not to tarnish the Beijing 2008 Games (Refer to report (http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20081001/twl-china-food-safety-child-media-920821f.html) here). It makes me wonder if they even take into the consideration the lives of the baby infants that their product had endangered comparing it to the glory of the Olympics and the medals won. The Chinese government had me wondering if they are talking about human lives at stake being insignificant. We are talking about consumer responsibility here. Is the government actually doing something besides compensating all those affected by it?

This is so contradicting of what I had learn in my Global Marketing, where we had discussed of how Chinese product being made with low cost but with improving quality levels. Screw it dudes, this is the last time I am purchasing a 'Made- in- China' product. Luckily for the time- being, I found a substitute of all my daily dairy- consumed products to those manufactured from Australia and Malaysia.

Now I am hoping that my Nintendo DS and my HTC Touch Cruise, both I believe to be manufactured in China, doesn't get spoiled. In any case, replacing them would definitely burn a large hole in my pockets.

1) How has this scandal affected your area?
2) your daily supermarket shopping activities?
3) If so, what steps is your local mart doing to prevent these tainted goods from being bought?
4) What milk products that you have been consuming on a daily basis and got banned recently because of this incident?
5) What other 'Made- in- China' products do you have in your current possession and you hope that it wouldn't get spoiled?
6) Has this incident made you lose your faith in Chinese manufactured products?

[firepokemon]

1) How has this scandal affected your area?

New Zealand company Fonterra owned by New Zealand diary owners had a 43% share in that big Chinese company. That company has basically been written off meaning farmers back here are hurting just a bit. It means that brand is now useless and I think personally its hurt Fonterras reputation. This combined with lower forecasts for milk due to prices falling means farmers here get hurt and ultimately the whole country suffers because Dairying earns a lot of New Zealand's income.

2) your daily supermarket shopping activities?

None. We get New Zealand milk, it isn't a problem. Its just been milk lollies in asian grocery stores that have been a worried.

3) If so, what steps is your local mart doing to prevent these tainted goods from being bought?

Voluntary withdrawals.

4) What milk products that you have been consuming on a daily basis and got banned recently because of this incident?

Look above.

5) What other 'Made- in- China' products do you have in your current possession and you hope that it wouldn't get spoiled?

Personally I'm not that concerned about it.

6) Has this incident made you lose your faith in Chinese manufactured products?

No but I guess one should question all chinese products. With plastic one has to think about the environmental damage considering the waste made from plastic likely just goes back into waterways and stuff. I'm not that concerned myself but its something to think about I guess.

Nice topic Dark San, hopefully I can add more to this post tomorrow or something.

[Blademaster]

1. How has this scandal affected your area?

What scandal? Never heard about it before now.

2. your daily supermarket shopping activities?
Haven't been to the supermarket in like a week.

3. If so, what steps is your local mart doing to prevent these tainted goods from being bought?
...

4. What milk products that you have been consuming on a daily basis and got banned recently because of this incident?
...

5. What other 'Made- in- China' products do you have in your current possession and you hope that it wouldn't get spoiled?
This is America. EVERYTHING I own is probably from China.

6. Has this incident made you lose your faith in Chinese manufactured products?
I lost my faith in the Chinese market when those thieving fuckheads first unmasked the Chintendo Vii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vii).

[mr_pikachu]

Is the government actually doing something besides compensating all those affected by it?

Answer: No.

(I have no proof of this, but I'm inclined to believe it.)

1. Not much, thankfully. I've heard a bit about this scandal in recent weeks, but it hasn't gotten a bunch of attention since (as far as I know) we don't get many dairy products from China. Let's face it; shipping such time-sensitive stuff on a regular basis probably wouldn't be worth it.

2. The only milk I use, really, is for cooking. So I'm even less concerned than the average shopper, on a personal level at least. As for cheese and other stuff... well, they tell you not to consume dairy products with pneumonia; since I've fought that for the last several weeks, no cheese. ;_;

3. None, as far as I know. Again, I don't think we really get Chinese dairy products in the States.

4. See #2. ^_^

5. I'm with Blademaster on this one. Probably no sense in worrying about it, though, until they come up with something besides Mattel dolls that contain lead. Or arsenic, or whatever the newest "in" deadly chemical is.

6. Faith? What faith?

[mistysakura]

1) How has this scandal affected your area?
It has infiltrated the newspapers every day! Squee! (Give me my news back...) I haven't checked, but I'd say the White Rabbit lollies are gone from all the Asian groceries now.
2) your daily supermarket shopping activities?
None. I love my Australian milk.
3) If so, what steps is your local mart doing to prevent these tainted goods from being bought?
I have no idea. I think everything's being withheld, naturally. Possibly voluntary returns? Everyone else also loves their Aussie milk, so I can't imagine there being much to return, and the Asian groceries are hardly going to be organised enough to do returns.
4) What milk products that you have been consuming on a daily basis and got banned recently because of this incident?
None.
5) What other 'Made- in- China' products do you have in your current possession and you hope that it wouldn't get spoiled?
Most things I own are Made in China. I've given up on hoping.
6) Has this incident made you lose your faith in Chinese manufactured products?
I never had faith. I just dodge the products as the media releases come out, and hope for the best in other cases. You can't stop consuming Chinese products altogether. Most of the time, the products will only have adverse effects when consumed in extreme quantities anyway (like babies consume milk... sigh...)

Okay, since I also live in Hong Kong part of the time, I'll re-answer some of these questions to reflect my other life. :P

1) How has this scandal affected your area?
Oh, I'd say we're pretty screwed. Although most milk in supermarkets is local, we have no idea where restaurants and stuff source their milk from.
2) your daily supermarket shopping activities?
I actually drink Mengniu sometimes. It tastes good. Even with melamine in it. Needless to say, I won't be drinking it any more, but it's a shame.
3) If so, what steps is your local mart doing to prevent these tainted goods from being bought?
Recalls everywhere! They're very efficient. :)

Really, I don't think I'll ever stop buying Made in China products. It may be naive, but as said before they're only really harmful in extreme amounts, you can't avoid them, and products from other countries are not necessarily safer (even Japanese food which is supposedly so safe has been discovered to use expired ingredients and things like that. And we don't want to examine the contents of KFC gravy.) Also, being from Hong Kong, we get news of 'interesting' products all the time. Soy sauce made from hair, fake eggs (god is it that much chepaer than feeding a chicken???), bleached vermicelli, and of course the fake milk powder from 2002... this is just another to add to the pile.

"Is the government actually doing something besides compensating all those affected by it?" Yeah, sure, censorship and distractions like space explorations. (Also, changing legislation so even major brands will have to be regularly tested.)

[Drago]

1) How has this scandal affected your area?
It has infiltrated the newspapers every day! Squee! (Give me my news back...)
Further evidence that I actually don't take in any news information that isn't related to North American sports. I hadn't even heard about this until reading it now. Crikey, I hadn't even realised that Rob Guest had died a couple days ago and I'm a big fan of Wicked. For that matter, Jim Varney was dead for an entire year before I heard about it.
But I digress. Heavily. I assume that the 'foreign goods' section of my local supermarket has gotten a big shake-up especially, but I haven't noted anything particularly substantial of mine that's gotten affected.

2) your daily supermarket shopping activities?
Apparently it hasn't at all yet. Stay tuned, perhaps I'm a fan of some obscure Chinese snack I wasn't yet even aware of. :o

3) If so, what steps is your local mart doing to prevent these tainted goods from being bought?
They must be doing a damn good job because I haven't bought anything Chinese since! (or indeed, beforehand)

4) What milk products that you have been consuming on a daily basis and got banned recently because of this incident?
We've got Australian milk made by Australian farmers who have Australian cows whose proud future is either to make Australian milk or Australian McDonalds patties. Bless them.

5) What other 'Made- in- China' products do you have in your current possession and you hope that it wouldn't get spoiled?
I'm tempted to scour every object I have to see where it's made, but it'd be more a matter of interest than anything else. I'm personally under the belief that most things I have around here are Australian-made. Aussies are big on their local goods, and I'm big on getting cheaper products. I assume I've got some hardware around here manufactured in China, though.

6) Has this incident made you lose your faith in Chinese manufactured products?
It has, but it will not make a lick of difference to my shopping patterns. If I ever in fact note which country a product was made in, it's moreso on the off chance I look at the bottom of it some two years after purchase. And again, it's more a matter of interest than anything else. ...Say, the box for my Norton security says it was made in Singapore. Just a fun discovery for me.
Though this ink cartridge was remanufactured in China... If it goes wrong, I'm going to assume it's China's fault now.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

First off, I mention I printed four of Dark-San's newest threads plus the DSi topic to see how he's making a marvelous comeback at TPM. Now if I have nothing to say about the anime reviews at least I can put some thought on this one.

Right now Finland is autarkical when it comes to milk products. Only a marketing chain named Lidl imports lots of German stuff. I say right now because the great EU is killing Finnish agriculture.

I don't like dissing China, eventhough it's based on facts. Some friends of mine talk about China in a negative way sometimes, once one of them emphasized "And the culture is adored.". Now I fail to see the connection between the modern China politics and the old Chinese culture, or should I just shut up because I know only a little more about China than them I think?

I hope these posts don't increase the risk of TPM getting blacklisted in China. My own country will blacklist TPM soon anyway because my acts in Whack-a-TPMer remind of school shootings in Jokela and Kauhajoki.

[Dark-San]

A news update! It seems like now Snickers, KitKat and M&M chocolate related products have been taken off the shelves now. There goes all my late night studies snacks. T.T


Some friends of mine talk about China in a negative way sometimes, once one of them emphasized "And the culture is adored.". Now I fail to see the connection between the modern China politics and the old Chinese culture, or should I just shut up because I know only a little more about China than them I think?

Old Chinese culture and modern China politics? I do not see any similarities between both elements. Besides there isn't anything logical about comparing the two elements because they are two totally different concepts.

The Chinese culture your friends are talking about does not just resonate with only the billion worth of Chinese from mainland China. They are also other Chinese immigrants that had moved into countries since ancient times. I am for one a fourth generation Chinese living in Singapore. My great granddad came from Fujian, brought along my grandpa. Although I still totally embraced the old traditional culture closely, I still do not find myself behaving in the same way as those modern times recently migrated Chinese.

From my observations and my unpleasant experiences with the mainland Chinese here, these people tend to be,

1) Loud. Well, it is not like I am any louder than them. But during riding in the train during the morning peak hour where most of the commuters are half asleep, you suddenly get this Chinese migrant chatting on his mobile so loudly that the whole cabin would literally shake. Waking up most of the asleep commuters and yes, I am one of those sleeping.

2) Proud. You love to hate these people when you are talking to them. Time and time again, they would forced their beliefs into you. Even though, they have the wrong concept, they will always insist that they are right. And also in most cases, they would not listen to what other people have to offer.

From the factors, I can conclude simply that China loves to brag and be proud of what they are. Hence which is also the reason partially that they chose not to disclose the crisis before Beijing 2008. You can accused me of sterotyping them but these are what the majority of them are doing.


I hope these posts don't increase the risk of TPM getting blacklisted in China. My own country will blacklist TPM soon anyway because my acts in Whack-a-TPMer remind of school shootings in Jokela and Kauhajoki.

Nah, they wouldn't. Why block access to TPM, a simple Pokemon forum by nature, when they have even more dangerous sites out there like 4chan?

[Bulbasaur4]

The funny thing is, that we have plenty of dairy products here in Hangzhou still. I'm not sure if they're the bad products or not (and they still keep them on the shelves) but I do know that Nestle is getting some profits! They're powdered milk is from Europe, and they're probably getting more business now. :3

AS for me, it hasn't affected me at all really. Dairy products here in China are absolutely horrible. I love Cheese, but the only cheese I'll ever get is the imported because no offense, but China doesn't know how to make Cheese very well. >.>;; I still have my M&Ms, as those have no been recalled from where I am. *shrug* I don't really CONSUME much dairy in China now that I think about it...

[Charles Legend]

What do milk products and politics have in common?
They both are Spoiled over time. ;)

~Charles Legend

[Blademaster]

ZING!

[mr_pikachu]

Yeah, um... turns out you don't have to use spoiled food to make your patrons sick. Sometimes you don't have to serve them food at all.

170 wedding guests ill after powdered rust remover used instead of salt (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081013/lf_nm_life/us_china_feast)

[Drago]

170 wedding guests ill after powdered rust remover used instead of salt (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081013/lf_nm_life/us_china_feast)
Because me personally, I always leave my rust remover in the kitchen. That way I'll always know where it is!! It's beyond me how people can really be that absent-minded; I'll just assume that the guests were just in a massive state of disarray at their flavourless food, to the point where it was less a mistake, more an act of sheer desperation for flavour. Now that'd be dedication!

[Dark-San]

This is just an accidental case of a mistaken ingredient. If I am not wrong rust remover should be white hence seriously mistaken for salt, which possess the same colour. I have also heard rumours of the communist government covering up of mine accidents. So on and so far, this list will go on and on and on.

But one thing is for sure is that if China wants to get over this milk scare incidents, it will take at least five years for them to recover economically. For consumers' confidence- wise, the period will be even longer.

[Drago]

I'm just under the assumption that the advantage of Chinese milk would be its mass production at a cheaper rate, making it an easy import, but I don't see why people would return to it when you can rely on this kind of thing not happening with milk from places like here in Australia. Anywhere I could get an estimate of the price difference on import? Because frankly, with consumables I'd be willing to fork out that little bit extra for something I know will be safe.