Due to the invasion of rats in my house, I have been cleaning out my cupboards in the kitchen and the dining room and found a couple of suspicious dairy products that may be laced with the dangerous melamine. Just read from CNN that Lipton Milk Tea was found to be laced with melamine also. Here is a partial list of products currently being tested by BFAD.  I am shocked to see,  Anchor Products and several Nestle products included in the list.

I have checked BFAD’s website to see if there are any SOP for recalls and if we could still get a refund for products purchased suspected with melamine. However, I only found this memo in their website.  There are no indication that products returned shall be refunded.  Shouldn’t that be in the law?  Years ago, there was a recall for Gerber products in the US and in the Philippines and I noticed a copy of this memo posted on the aisle in Shopwise (memo from the distributor of Gerber) but there was no indication if consumers like me can return the babyfood and get a refund in return. I was deeply disturbed by this since we, as consumers should be able to return any defective products and get a refund for that, right?  I know that the DTI has a  primer for this in their site.  If you find yourself with a defective product, you may return, refund or replace that said product.  Happened to me years ago, in SM Megamall.  We bought one of those huge televisions from Sony and found it defective in less than a month.  We tried to turn the product and SM Appliance refused until we went there ourselves and demanded to see the manager.  The manager chose to hide but they promised to replace the item in a weeks time.  But they only did this after we hassled them for 4 hours.  Costumer is always right, supposedly…

If you have complaints against any establishment, feedbacks about defective products, you might want to file a complaint with DTI’s Consumer Welfare Desk.

I just read from my FDA feed that there is a recall for White Rabbit Candies in the United States due to possible contamination of melamine. Not only that, Cadbury is also recalling 11 types of chocolate products found to be laced in melamine.  Remember, all of this started when the infant milk in China was found positive with melamine.

What is melamine and why should we be concerned about it when I have read in an article that “melamine in food products is considered safe by Hong Kong health authorities at 2.5 parts per million or less.”  First what is melamine?  Melamine is a plastic made from copolymerizing a white crystalline solid with formaldehyde; it is also a compound used in resins used to manufacture synthetic resins in leather tanning.  Warning signs!!!  Leather tanning?  Formaldehyde?!?  Plastics???  The scandal in China broke out when it was reported that Sanlu’s infant formula is causing kidney stones in infants and children.  It can also cause urinary tract infections, eye and skin irritations… Due to the serious effect of the infant milk which was found to cause death, our BFAD has also banned liquid and powdered milk, candy and biscuits, chocolate bars and drinks, including yogurt and dairy drinks from China– which includes my favorite candy– White Rabbit.

What is bothering is the fact that as usual it was found out that Chinese milk macufacturers has already received complaints about the milk since 2007. Remember during the SARS, including the Avian flu crisis, China has not been upfront about the real number of casualties to the media. China has been so scared of liabilities that they are hiding behind their “red cloak.” Now Chinese officials believe that suppliers added melamine– which is rich in nitrogen, to watered-down milk to deceive quality tests for protein.  Do we expect full disclosure from China?  Currently, the EU, the US and other countries has banned the importation and use of dairy products coming from China.  As usual, all these– when the damage has been done already.