The New York Times ran a story today about Chinese eggs in Hong Kong. The eggs tested with high levels of melamine. The eggs came from Dalian, a coastal city in the North of China. The melamine contamination came from the feed the chickens ate. There is a general concern that chickens in Dalian are not the only animals in the mainland being served up melamine meals.Today I went to Metro for my once-every-three-weeks stock up. I spent 2400 yuan (roughly $350 USD, or what our driver makes in three months.) My bill was dramatically higher than normal because I exclusively bought imported cheese, milk, yogurt, granola bars and other snacks.
After talking with ayi this afternoon we decided organic eggs might be the best way to go. Those chickens eat worms and bugs rather than traditional feed. But, she added, they cost a lot more. (I was trying to get the image of the wooden trays of writhing worms out of my head… the trays we see along pet street where the bird sellers squat on tiny stools and listen to their birds sing.)
The melamine crisis for us has meant a little more effort in shopping, and a greater grocery bill. The melamine crisis for others in China is dramatically more life altering.
This is the sad story:
The family of a migrant worker loses their infant after spending the equivalent of several years of wages to find out why he can no longer pee. The doctors they take him to are baffled by his condition. He dies. They mourn by not mourning. They destroy every memory they have of him save a single photograph and a tin of Chinese formula. They think their six-year-old daughter has forgotten him, but instead she cannot get him off of her mind. Theirs is the story of the melamine problem in China. And there are so many others like them.
Please read this article from the NY Times:
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