Poison milk powder

毒奶粉 (dú nǎifěn): poison milk powder

In the fall of 2008, at least six infants died and hundreds of thousands more were hospitalized after being fed milk powder manufactured by the Chinese company Sanlu. An investigation revealed that the company had been adding melamine, a chemical used in plastics manufacture, to its milk powder in order to give the semblance of higher protein content. From that point on, “poison milk powder” has been a household term.

Since the 2008 Sanlu scandal, there have been numerous additional scandals involving milk contamination and tainted baby formula in China, battering faith in domestic dairy companies and significantly boosting profits for foreign diary firms in mainland China.