MLBA13: February / March 2010

 

 

 

 

It happened just months after the melamine incident in China where at least four babies died and no less than 300,000 others were taken ill by contaminated milk.  The Thai version, which broke out at the height of the Chinese melamine crisis, didn't cause any death. But it created a crack in Thailand's well-cultivated image as a world model on food safety and security.

 

Since the 2004 Asian bird flu crisis that almost wiped out its broiler export industry, Thailand has made poultry bio-security a national obsession. Such sterling safety record, unfortunately, isn't shared by other sectors in the meat industry. The bulk of the country's pig production, for one, remains in the hands of smallholders or backyard raisers whose food-handling reputation is abysmal.

 

Thailand's dairy industry fares no better.  Early last year, milk powder clearly labeled for animal-feed use ended up being served to public school children.

 

China's scandal involved the use of toxic melamine to make milk products appear to have more protein content. The Thai version was about passing off substandard milk - or milk fit only for animals - for the government's school-feeding programme.

 

Both incidents had two things in common - greediness in business and the lack of government oversight.

 

There was one big difference, however. The Chinese scandal hogged headlines around the world.  The global attention prompted the US and other countries to ban imports of dairy products and those with dairy contents from China. The fallout was so huge that other countries started scrutinising other Chinese food products.

 

In comparison, the Thai milk scandal hardly made any ripple at home. The impact on the country's business of the December siege of Bangkok's international airports got better coverage in the local media. The milk anomaly was buried in the inside pages along with the social news.