In 2008, the serious safety accident of the Sanlu formula milk powder for infants caused severe harm to over 300,000 sicken babies,many developing kidney from drinking milk made with toxic powder. What was more terrifying was that six of the babes died from drinking Sanlu milk.

The milk powder, produced by Chinese diary giant Sanlu Group, was contaminated with melamine, a common chemical used in coatings and laminates,wood adhesive and fabric coating. Melamine was illegally added to the products to boost their apparent protein content. By adding Melamine, nitrogen could be present at normal levels so the milk is passed as good at a fairly low cost.

When i first read the news, I was totally shocked by the fact that a food production company would add toxic to their production for the sake of higher profits. I felt so furious about Sanlu’s irresponsibilities for its consumers’ safety and for its own reputation as a legal milk company. Although all business’s goal is to seek ways to minimize their costs of the products in order to maximize the profits, they should never do so by cheating the inculpable consumers who trust the company and choose to buy their products. As a food production company, the most basic rule is to produce safe food no matter what tempts are there. If this basic rule is broken, the company is not only involved with an ethical issue, but also big trouble that could exterminate the company.

For more information about this issue, please refer to the news:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7845545.stm