Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries,

Klein, Kurt K.

Xiu, Changbai

English

Research Papers in Economics

China's Melamine in Milk Scandal: Failures All Around 
Changbai Xiu
1 and K. K. Klein
2 
 
1 Professor of agricultural economics and assistant president of foreign affairs at the Inner 
Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China. His email is: cbxiu@126.com. 
2 Professor of economics at the University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. His email 
is: klein@uleth.ca. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Poster prepared for the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society annual conference, Denver, 
Colorado, July 25‐27, 2010. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright 2010 by Changbai Xiu and Kurt Klein.  All rights reserved.  Readers may make verbatim copies 
of this document for non‐commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice 
appears on all such copies.  Changbai Xiu, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University and K. K. Klein, University of Lethbridge
China's Melamine in Milk Scandal: Failures All Around
Regulating Food Safety: A Framework
Timeline Institutional Building
Responsibility Building
© 2010
July 24, 2008, 15 batches of baby milk 
powder produced by Sanlu were found to 
have significantly high content of melamine.
August 13, Sanlu decided to keep on selling 
the powder with less than 10 grams of 
melamine per kg.
September 9, public media released a report 
claiming that the 14 babies with kidney 
stones were victims of the Sanlu-produced 
tainted powder.
September 11, Sha’anxi, Ningxia, Hunan, 
Hubei, Shandong, Anhui, Jingxi and Jiangsu 
provinces reported that they found the same 
problems.
September 12, investigation team confirms 
that “melamine-tainted powder leads to 
kidney stones in people, especially children.” 
A woman, whose child died from drinking 
tainted milk, holds a sign reading 'Give 
me back my child' outside Shijiazhuang 
Intermediate People's Court 
- 6 babies died
- 300,000 babies hospitalized 
- 60 persons arrested 
- 2 sentenced to death 
- 1 other death sentence with reprieve 
- 4 sentenced to life in prison 
- 12 sentenced 5 years or more
- Sanlu went bankrupt
- Huge financial losses to dairy 
companies and farmers
Consequences
- basic morality bottom line should be 
created in minds of all suppliers, 
producers, middlemen and processors
- clear division of responsibilities among 
different players in food supply chain
- Several government ministries (MOA, MOHC, 
GBQSIQ, BFDSM) currently are involved in 
food production, inspection and regulation
-farmer’s organizations to establish an internal 
self-controlled mechanism
- government agencies
•No single government agency was responsible 
for food safety before the scandal. 
Need to establish laws, regulations, and 
policies, including
- strict regulation of industrial inputs
- state level  inspection system 
Organization Building
Morality Building

China's Melamine in Milk Scandal: Failures All Around

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Research Papers in Economics