China melamine-contaminated milk scandal 2008

A major scandal of milk contaminated with melamine has struck China. This scandalous malpractice of adding melamine to increase the “protein content” had caused tens of thousand of children in China to fall ill after consumption of the melamine-contaminated milk and milk products.

In September 2008, several companies were implicated in a scandal involving milk and infant formula which had been adulterated with melamine, leading to kidney stones and other renal failure, especially among young children. By 22 September, nearly 53,000 people had become ill, with more than 12,800 hospitalizations and four infant deaths.

Melamine may have been added to fool government protein content tests after water was added to fraudulently dilute the milk. Because of melamine's high nitrogen content, it can cause the protein content of food to appear higher than the true value.Officials estimate that about 20 percent of the dairy companies tested in China sell products tainted with melamine.