Melamine Contamination - Khong Guan and Khian Guan biscuits

Just as the melamine contamination in dairy products first started in infant milk powder seemed to have blown over with no more infant deaths (Thank God) and only 5824 children remained hospitalised in China (11,000 were reported a week ago), the Malaysian Health Ministry reported of another melamine contamination discovered today. This time, it is much closer to home.

According to the Star newspaper today, melamine above safety limit was detected in 18 types of biscuits manufactured by Khong Guan and Khian Guan. The level of contamination is reported to be 33.4ppm and 508ppm for Khong Guan and Khian Guan respectively. The permissible level is only 2.5ppm. This round, the source of melamine is not in the dairy raw materials such as milk but found in the raising agent which is ammonium bicarbonate that was imported from CHINA (do I sound surprised??).

With this recent news of contamination, we could expect a possibility of more dairy products being tested positive since the contaminated ammonium bicarbonate could be used by many other biscuits manufacturers. So, the question remains unanswered. "What is safe for consumption?" "What else would be contaminated?".

Since we are so dependent on raw materials from China (believed to be much more cost economical for most manufacturers), it is therefore questionable as to what other raw materials imported could be contaminated, probably not with melamine but some other cancer causing agent for example.

If we can't even give Malaysian made biscuits to our children, what else can we give them?

Here is a list of biscuits reported with excessive melamine content from Khong Guan:-

• Biskut Soda
• Biskut Lemon Puff
• Biskut Lemon Pof
• Biskut Butter Cream
• Biskut baby Fish
• Biskut Healthy Cracker (not sure how healthy it would be now?)
• Biskut Cocoa Puf
• Biskut Sandwich Oren
• Biskut Family Crackers (yeah right. Family total contamination)
• Biskut Bentuk Binatang (Binatang is the word to describe those who use excessive melamine to make extra profit. Binatang meant `animal' or `beast' in Malay)
• Biskut Rokok (a cigarette biscuit? Meant for children? Are we sending the wrong message here?)
• Biskut Mini Puff

Here is a list of biscuits reported with excessive melamine content from Khian Guan:-

• Biskut Creamy Chocolate
• Biskut Lemon Puff
• Biskut Square Puff
• Biskut Cocoa Puff
• Biskut Jagung Puff

Meanwhile, White Rabbit is hitting the stores again as their new stock have been reportedly cleared of any melamine contamination in China. It was reported on Wednesday that Guan Sheng Yuan Group general manager announced that the new candies would carry a label that reads `No Melamine' to restore consumers confidence in the 50-year-old brand.

Yeah right. And those contaminated should carry a label that reads `Poisonous. Eat at your own risk. Ideal for suicide.'

Before too long, each product would require a label so long that lists down a list of poisons that we should not used in the first place. `No melamine, no cancer causing agent, no formaldehyde. no etc no etc....'. Now, that's comforting...

White Rabbit's Melamine contamination 54 times over permitted limit

The Star reported today that the Malaysian Health Ministry has tested samples of White Rabbit Creamy Candy and found them contaminated with melamine. The shocking discovery is that the contamination is 54 times above the permitted level.

They found that the melamine content was 135 parts per million (ppm) while the permitted level by the Health Ministry is only 2.5ppm. If this is not contamination, I really don't know what is.

Therefore it is sufficed to say that if we consumed one piece of contaminated white rabbit, the amount of melamine that we consumed in that one piece is equavalent to consuming 54 pieces at one go!

So, for those who have been popping 2 or 3 of these candies a day in the past, you are actually consuming melamine contamination level equivalent to eating 108 to 162 ppm a day!

We all read about the contamination of White Rabbit but I would never imagine the shocking level of contamination found. To think that this candy have received such an acceptance worldwide and the number of stores that carries them, and the number of people and children who have consumed them unknowingly worldwide is mind boggling. I just can not imagine how many thousands if not millions would still be consuming this `Candy of Sweet Poison' if the melamine contamination was not detected in infant milk powder.

White Rabbit Candy - Second Time Around

The Singapore's AVA was reported to have found traces of melamine contamination in the While Rabbit Candy 2 days ago and have issued a ban and recall of this product. Following Singapore's discovery, our government has issued a similar directive. But what is interesting to me was the fact that this is not the first time that the White Rabbit Candy was caught in the limelight. An article by the Star Online dated 30th July 2007, reported that the Malaysian government has already instructed stricter checks (especially in Sabah) on this brand of candy after reports in the Philippines that samples were tainted with formaldehyde, a preservative and embalming chemical that can cause cancer. However, AP reported that China has resumed shipments of candy to the Philippines after tests by the Chinese government showed the chemical was not present in the product.
According to Shanghai-based candy manufacturer Guan Shen Yuan Company, distributors in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong had performed their own tests and found the confection to be formaldehyde-free. One year later, I guess all these governments would have to ban the same product that is now tainted with melamine. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/30/nation/18433637&sec=nation.

Malaysia was reported to be imported a total of RM58bil worth of goods from China in 2006 and is the third largest buyer of China-made products. Given the current melamine contamination scandal and the list of products banned by many other countries due to various contamination, this is definitely not welcoming news for a normal consumer in this country. The question is, can we live without any China-made products in our lives?