DadTalk

Food Recalls FDA to Detain Milk Products From China

Chinese products that contain milk will be detained at the U.S. border unless tests show they are not contaminated, reports The New York Times.

The new Food and Drug Administration Watch List is a belated effort to get a handle on Chinese products containing the industrial chemical melamine, which has sickened 50,000 infants and killed at least four.

While the contamination has not been widespread in the United States, melamine has been found in products ranging from nondairy creamer to instant coffee. More worrisome: China ships milk-produced supplements, protein powders and shakes, which may be covered under the new rules, to the United States.

The new restrictions are expected to cause problems at U.S. ports, which move huge quantities of Chinese products. The new rules do not apply to egg and fish products, which are derived from animals often fed melamine-laced feed.

Additional:

• Toxic Chemical Is Found in Fish Feed in Hong Kong
• China Company Admits Presence of Melamine

Melamine Risks Extend Beyond Eggs and Milk

While all eyes are still focused on the economic crisis facing the world, the Chinese food disaster continues to worsen. Earlier this week, we learned that some eggs coming from China were tainted with melamine, a chemical often used in the manufacture of plastic.

As a result, companies and nations are now checking eggs for the chemical. About 6.5 percent of China’s eggs are exported to North America, reports The Wall Street Journal.

In recent months, we’ve learned that melamine had been added to Chinese-produced milk, which sickened more than 54,000 children and killed at least four babies. But there is more to this story. If eggs became contaminated because melamine was added to animal feed, the question becomes: was melamine added to other animal feeds?

Chinese media outlets are hinting that the answer is yes, reports The Associated Press:

Part II Vote to Help Hungry Children

A few days ago I asked DadTalk readers to vote for the International Medical Corps, which is competing for a $1.5 million grant to help malnourished children around the world.

The organization made it into the final 5 – and won $100,000 – by a mere 147 votes, the publicist tells me. I like to imagine that my readers helped the Corps make it into the next round.

“I would be so grateful if you could repost to keep the conversation and awareness out there, and if you could thank your readers for voting for us too,” writes the publicist.

To win the full amount, though, the Corps must win in a final round of voting, which has already started.

If you’re interested, go here to vote again.

Thanks.

Food Recalls Melamine Found in Famous Brands Sold Outside U.S.

The contaminated milk crisis continues to spread outward from China into Europe and other nations. Although food company’s generally don’t reveal where various ingredients in there products originate, the current crisis is revealing China’s growing role in the world’s food supply.

The most recent food recalls and actions:

*Two U.S. food makers were reportedly  investigating Indonesian claims that high melamine levels were found in Chinese-made Oreos, M&Ms and Snickers, reports Inquirer.net. (Hey, I just had a handful of Oreos at my bank the other day.) Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s take on the story.

*Cadbury chocolates have been removed from the shelves in Hong Kong and the Philippines over concerns the products are contaminated with melamine, reports Inquirer.net. Hong Kong authorities are saying the level of melamine found was “legally acceptable,” reports The Associated Press, but Cadbury is still recalling the products.

*Melamine was found in 31 batches of milk powder, reports Shanghai Daily.

*Koala Brand chestnut and chocolate flavored cookies have been recalled in the Netherlands, reports the Voice of America.

*South Korea is recalling Nabisco Ritz cheese and rice crackers made by a Chinese company.

*Unilever is recalling Lipton Milk Tea sold in Hong Kong and Macau, reports CNN.

*Tokyo-based Marudai Food is recalling five products, reports another CNN story.

*Hong Kong reports that a Heinz cereal and wasabi crackers were recalled after excessive melamine were found.

The biggest irony? The U.S. government’s new rules on requiring country-of-origin labeling kicked in on Tuesday. Under the rules, country-of-origin stickers must be placed on meats, produce and some nuts, reports The New York Times. Seafood origin stickers have been around for a while.

Sadly, the rules exclude processed and other foods with mixed ingredients. Of course, it may be impossible to achieve some processed foods have dozens of ingredients listed.

Vote to Help Hungry Children

Sometimes I get so caught up with what is negative in the world, I fail to embrace the positive. I recognize that as a personal failing that I’m constantly working to improve.

Here’s an attempt to fix that. A nice lady at the International Medical Corps has been asking me to post on their organization’s attempt to win money for malnourished children, which is obviously an important theme to DadTalk.

To get $1.5 million in funding, though, the organization needs your help by voting for them as part of the American Express Members Project.

But here’s the rub, you got to vote before the day is out. I should have alerted readers sooner, but I apparently missed the earlier emails and then failed to act quickly on the ones I started seeing a couple days ago.

There is no obligation to vote, but if you don’t have a card, you’ll need to set up as a guest member, which will take about two minutes.

There will be another round of voting after the Top 5 are chosen.

Click here to vote on the malnourishment program. Go here for more on the American Express project.

Chinese Milk Crisis, Credit Market Mess Reveal Flaws in Capitalism

While the milk contamination crisis in China seems completely unrelated to the planned $700 billion bailout being negotiated in Washington this week, there is a universal lesson coming from both crises: free and unfettered markets are not always the panacea they seem.

For those who haven’t been following the milk disaster in China, some background information: At least 53,000 children have been sickened after milk producers added an industrial additive called melamine to their products.  At least three children have died, reports The New York Times.

Why would a toxic chemical, known to cause kidney stones be added to dairy products? Because the chemical masks watered-down milk by making protein levels score falsely higher during tests. And yes, melamine is the same chemical found in feed that sickened pets across the United States in early 2007.

In China, it’s not lack of regulation or even a shortage of inspectors that allowed food manufacturers to run amok. Instead, corruption at all levels resulted in a complete breakdown of oversight.

In the housing and credit market scandals, corruption wasn’t the problem, but the lack of rules to begin with: The federal government winked and nodded at lenders, investment houses, rating firms and insurers saying, “keep up the good work,” despite any misgivings that money was being lent to homeowners with faulty credit or concern over a $60+ trillion economy known as credit-default swaps was creating a casino of worldwide proportions. For a crude explanation of credit-default swaps, read this article.

Even Ben Stein, who a few months ago was proclaiming we should keep our money in the markets, finally realized something is horribly wrong:

Recalls China Formula Recall Is Reminder of Food Woes

Buried behind train crashes and hurricanes, there is a small story in China that should be chilling parents here in the United States: “China Detains 19 as Toxic Formula Sickens Hundreds of Infants,” reads a New York Times headline.

At least 432 additional Chinese children have been afflicted with kidney problems such as stones, because apparently a chemical used in the manufacture of plastic was found in powdered formula. Called melamine, it is the same junk responsible for sickening hundreds of cats and dogs in the United States.

The Food and Drug Administration says none of the 700 tons being recalled were approved for import into the United States, but is warning caregivers to not use any infant formula made in China.

This mess underscores a basic problem in the food supply: Americans can no longer automatically trust what’s in food, whether it’s from abroad or in the states.

Food and Toy Recalls Plague and Pestilence, Bah; I’m Staying Happy Anyway

Let’s see:

Floods? Check.
Drought? Check.
Tornados? Check.
Food shortages? Check.
Rising gas prices? Check.
Rising food prices? Check.
Killer earthquakes? Check.
Housing Armageddon? Check.
Lead-contaminated toys? Check.
Salmonella-tainted tomatoes? Check.

  Jeesh, I’ve been trying so hard to come across positive the last few weeks, and the world is NOT cooperating. Just this afternoon I received an alert that The Children’s Place is recalling 28,000 pajamas because the artwork on the front of the shirt contains LEAD. Let’s not even talk about kids’ jewelry.

But it’s the recall of beloved tomatoes that seems to have everyone’s attention at the moment. After all, it’s the one vegetable/fruit that Americans actually eat regularly.

Consider how much trouble this recall is causing:

Scenes From Immigration Rally

I brought my camera with me for a work-related project before realizing it was May Day, which means Immigration Rally.

Since 2007, I’ve watched the rallies directly from my place of work. In 2006, I was in Los Angeles. This and last year, the protesters passed in front of my office window.

Since working in the financial sector, I’ve heard a handful of derogatory and distasteful remarks about immigrants, especially Hispanics. But the rally was peaceful, at least, when it passed my vantage point on Jackson Boulevard.

I’ve included more photos on the jump.

Food recalls FDA Expands Recalls of Honduran Cantaloupes

When we moved to California in 1998, we quickly gave up cantaloupe and honeydew melons. Why? Because those two fruits have become the white-bread of the melon world.

Instead, we feasted on Crenshaws, Ogens and Santa Claus melons. One taste of those and our interest in over-commercialized cantaloupes and honeydews quickly disappeared.

Sadly, I live in Chicago now. This winter I finally gave in and bought a cantaloupe two weeks ago and a honeydew this week. They tasted sugary, yet flavorless.

At least I did not get salmonella poisoning. Cases of the illness have been linked to a Honduran grower named Agropecuaria Montelibano, which has been fighting massive recalls in this nation and Canada. (Fortunately for me, the cantaloupe and honeydew I ate were from Guatemala.)

Honduras enlisted its President, Manuel Zelaya, to prove they are safe, reports CNN: