Chinese Buyers Of Tnuva Promise Only ‘Barely Lethal’ Levels Of Melamine In Milk

Ramat HaSharon, May 25 – Bright Foods, the Chinese conglomerate that purchased a controlling stake in Tnuva last week, is trying to reassure Israeli consumers that drinking melamine-contaminated milk will not usually be lethal.

Bright Foods completed the purchase of 56% of Tnuva’s shares last Wednesday, acquiring them mostly from the British holding company Apax Foods. Bright Foods executives sought to allay Israeli fears of a recurrence of the 2008 Chinese Milk Scandal, in which at least six infants died as a result of melamine-adulterated milk and tens of thousands of people hospitalized. The executives pointed to various factors that would prevent a similar disaster on such a scale in Israel, notably that so few Israelis can afford Tnuva  dairy products now anyway.

The compound melamine can be added to milk to make the protein levels appear higher than they are; the two most common tests for checking the quantity of protein in milk measure the amount of nitrogen, an important structural component of the amino acids that make up proteins. Melamine artificially boosts the nitrogen, making it easier for farmers or dairies to dilute the milk and sell more. However, melamine also damages the kidneys of those who consume it, resulting in renal failure, painful kidney stones, and other life-threatening medical complications.

Bright Foods spokeswoman Yu Rea told reporters yesterday that Israelis had little to worry about. “We do not foresee more than four or five deaths per year from melamine,” she said, calling such mortality levels acceptable by international standards. “Of all nations, we would expect Jews to understand that human lives and their quality are secondary to profits.”

In the 2008 incident, accumulating evidence of the ill effects of melamine was ignored by Chinese health authorities, leading to the dismissal, imprisonment, or execution of several people. In Israel, by contrast, said Ms. Yu, no deaths could be expected from execution, and prisoners would inevitably be released in a deal with Palestinians, meaning that no lasting negative consequences would accrue even if more than a few people died from the effects of melamine.