With Cadbury Recall, in China, Not Even Chocolate is Safe

Cadbury Recall is Another Tragedy in Food and Product Safety

First we had to worry about our kids playing with lead paint-contaminated toys from China. Now we have to be concerned about the young ones (and the adults too) doing something as simple as eating candy from overseas.

Cadbury has always been a slightly premium brand, no Godiva to be sure, but up there in status. Today we are learning that the milk chocolate and the dark variety and the hazelnut praline may be somewhat suspect. Cadbury, made by a British company, has recalled 11 of its candy products made in China.

Cadbury seems to be the victim not of its own doings, but of a corrupt group of milk producers in China. Still, the recall says something about doing business - or purchasing products - from an "emergency economy" that makes even the United States' occasional lax oversight seem airtight by comparison. Cadbury has a plant in Beijing, and products are shpped out of Hong Kong.

A chemical known as melamine first reared its ugly head in powdered infant formula, and now has shown up in dozens of other products. More than 53,000 people, mostly children, have become sick. Four babies have died. Numerous countries have banned or recalled Chinese milk products.

There is an added dimension. When food contamination takes place, the norm is that the companies (and their governments) may have been lax in attention, and may have focused on keeping costs down, but still they did not poison the food chain on purpose. In China, it appears that the contamination took place with intent.

Melamine is known to create the appearance of a higher protein level, and thus the producers of this particular milk added the chemical so that they could also also add some water. A real cringe comes with this explanation, according to CNN: "Melamine is commonly used in coatings and laminates, wood adhesives, fabric coatings, ceiling tiles and flame retardants."