Melamine addiction in China's dairy industry

It just keeps happening. Last month I blogged about three people arrested for adding melamine to milk even after an offender in the Sanlu scandal had been executed for doing it, suggesting that deterrence wasn't operating very well. Then on Dec. 31st came an announcement from Xinhua News Agency that excessive melamine had been found in milk coming from Shanghai Panda dairy. Now James Areddy writes in the Wall Street Journal's China Realtime Report that apparently the Shanghai Panda melamine problem, like the Sanlu melamine problem, was known by officials as early as April 2008, well before it was announced and products recalled.

Not to worry. On Dec.25th, less than a week before announcing the Shanghai Panda affair, Xinhua assured its readers that "[a]fter melamine scandal, it is impossible to sell poor quality milk."