Adulterant
Encyclopedia
An adulterant is a chemical substance
which should not be contained within other substances (e.g. food
, beverages, fuel
s) for legal or other reasons. Adulterants may be intentionally added to more expensive substances to increase visible quantities and reduce manufacturing costs or for some other deceptive or malicious purpose. Adulterants may also be accidentally or unknowingly introduced into substances. The addition of adulterants is called adulteration.
The word is only appropriate when the additions are unwanted by the recipient, otherwise the expression would be food additive
. Adulterants when used in illicit drugs are called cutting agent
s, while deliberate addition of toxic adulterants to food or other products for human consumption is known as poison
ing.
and/or poor/nonexistent monitoring by authorities; sometimes this usage has even extended to exceedingly dangerous chemicals and poisons. In the United Kingdom
during the Victorian era
, adulterants were quite common; for example, cheese
s were sometimes colored with lead
. Similar adulteration issues were seen in industry in the United States
, until the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act
of 1906. More recently, adulterant use in the People's Republic of China
has inspired much public attention. (See: Food safety in the People's Republic of China
).
Adulterant usage was first investigated in 1820 by the German chemist Frederick Accum, who identified many toxic metal colorings in food and drink. His work antagonized food suppliers, and he was ultimately discredited by a scandal over his alleged mutilation of Royal Institution
library books. The physician Arthur Hill Hassall
later conducted extensive studies in the early 1850s, which were published in The Lancet
and led to the 1860 Food Adulteration Act and subsequent further legislation.
At the turn of the 20th century, industrialization in the United States saw an uprise in adulteration and this inspired some protest. Accounts of adulteration led the New York Evening Post to parody:
However, even back in the 18th century, people recognized adulteration in food:
A history of food poisoning and adulteration is found in the textbook, Death in the Pot: The Impact of Food Poisoning on History.
, in order to interfere with the accuracy of drug test
s. These adulterants are often oxidative
in nature - hydrogen peroxide
and bleach
have been used, sometimes with pH-adjusting substances like vinegar
or sodium bicarbonate
. These can be detected by drug testing labs, but some less expensive tests do not look for them.
Chemical substance
In chemistry, a chemical substance is a form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. It cannot be separated into components by physical separation methods, i.e. without breaking chemical bonds. They can be solids, liquids or gases.Chemical substances are...
which should not be contained within other substances (e.g. food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
, beverages, fuel
Fuel
Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
s) for legal or other reasons. Adulterants may be intentionally added to more expensive substances to increase visible quantities and reduce manufacturing costs or for some other deceptive or malicious purpose. Adulterants may also be accidentally or unknowingly introduced into substances. The addition of adulterants is called adulteration.
The word is only appropriate when the additions are unwanted by the recipient, otherwise the expression would be food additive
Food additive
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its taste and appearance.Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling , salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines...
. Adulterants when used in illicit drugs are called cutting agent
Cutting agent
A cutting agent is a chemical used to "cut" illicit drugs with something less expensive than the drug itself.-Overview:The classical model of drug cutting A cutting agent is a chemical used to "cut" (dilute) illicit drugs with something less expensive than the drug itself.-Overview:The classical...
s, while deliberate addition of toxic adulterants to food or other products for human consumption is known as poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ing.
In food and beverages
Examples of adulteration include:- Mogdad coffee, whose seeds have been used as an adulterant for coffeeCoffeeCoffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
- Roasted chicoryChicoryCommon chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Various varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons , or for roots , which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. It is also...
roots, whose seeds have been used similarly, starting during the Napoleonic eraNapoleonic EraThe Napoleonic Era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory...
in France (and continuing until today as a moderately popular additive for cheaper coffee) - Roasted ground peaPeaA pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
s, beanBeanBean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s, or wheatWheatWheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, which have been used to adulterate roasted chicoryChicoryCommon chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Various varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons , or for roots , which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. It is also... - Diethylene glycolDiethylene glycolDiethylene glycol is an organic compound with the formula 2O. It is a colorless, practically odorless, poisonous, and hygroscopic liquid with a sweetish taste. It is miscible in water, alcohol, ether, acetone, and ethylene glycol. DEG is a widely used solvent...
, used by some winemakers to fake sweet wines - Oleomargarine or lardLardLard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter. Its use in contemporary cuisine has diminished because of health concerns posed by its saturated-fat content and its often negative...
, added to butterButterButter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying... - AlumAlumAlum is both a specific chemical compound and a class of chemical compounds. The specific compound is the hydrated potassium aluminium sulfate with the formula KAl2.12H2O. The wider class of compounds known as alums have the related empirical formula, AB2.12H2O.-Chemical properties:Alums are...
is added to disguise usage of lower-quality flour in expensive flours - AppleAppleThe apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
jellies, as substitutes for more expensive fruit jelliesFruit preservesFruit preserves are preparations of fruits and sugar, often canned or sealed for long-term storage. The preparation of fruit preserves today often involves adding commercial or natural pectin as a gelling agent, although sugar or honey may be used, as well. Prior to World War II, fruit preserve...
, with added colorant and sometimes even specks of wood that simulate strawberry seeds - Artificial colorantsFood coloringFood coloring is a substance, liquid or powder, that is added to food or drink to change its color. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking...
, often toxic - e.g., copperCopperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, zincZincZinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
, or indigoIndigo dyeIndigo dye is an organic compound with a distinctive blue color . Historically, indigo was a natural dye extracted from plants, and this process was important economically because blue dyes were once rare. Nearly all indigo dye produced today — several thousand tons each year — is synthetic...
-based green dyes added to absintheAbsintheAbsinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel... - Sudan ISudan ISudan I , is a lysochrome, a diazo-conjugate dye with the chemical formula of 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol. Sudan I is a powdered substance with an orange-red appearance. The additive is mainly used to colour waxes, oils, petrol, solvents and polishes...
yellow color, added to chili powder, as well as Sudan IISudan IISudan II is a lysochrome azo dye used for staining of triglycerides in frozen sections, and some protein bound lipids and lipoproteins on paraffin sections. It has the appearance of red powder with melting point 156-158 °C and maximum absorption at 493 nm.-Other names:Its other names are Solvent...
, Sudan IIISudan IIISudan III is a lysochrome diazo dye used for staining of triglycerides in frozen sections, and some protein bound lipids and lipoproteins on paraffin sections. It has the appearance of reddish brown crystals and a maximum absorption at 507 nm.Sudan III is a dye used for Sudan staining...
, Sudan IVSudan IVSudan IV is a lysochrome diazo dye used for the staining of lipids, triglycerides and lipoproteins on frozen paraffin sections. It has the appearance of reddish brown crystals with melting point 199 °C and maximum absorption at 520 nm.Sudan IV is one of the dyes used for Sudan staining. Similar...
and Sudan Red GSudan Red GSudan Red G is a yellowish red lysochrome azo dye. It has the appearance of an odorless reddish-orange powder with melting point 225 °C. It is soluble in fats and used for coloring of fats, oils, and waxes, including the waxes used in turpentine-based polishes. It is also used in polystyrene,...
for red color - WaterWaterWater is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
, for diluting milkMilkMilk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
and beer and hard drinksAlcoholic beverageAn alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption... - Low quality black teaBlack teaBlack tea is a variety of tea that is more oxidized than the oolong, green, and white varieties.All four varieties are made from leaves of the shrub Camellia sinensis. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine than the less oxidized teas. Two principal varieties of the...
, marketed as higher quality tea - StarchStarchStarch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
, added to sausages - Cutting agentCutting agentA cutting agent is a chemical used to "cut" illicit drugs with something less expensive than the drug itself.-Overview:The classical model of drug cutting A cutting agent is a chemical used to "cut" (dilute) illicit drugs with something less expensive than the drug itself.-Overview:The classical...
s, often used to adulterate (or "cut") illicit drugs - for example, shoe polishShoe polishShoe polish , usually a waxy paste or a cream, is a consumer product used to polish, shine, waterproof, and restore the appearance of leather shoes or boots, thereby extending the footwear's life...
in solid cannabis - UreaUreaUrea or carbamide is an organic compound with the chemical formula CO2. The molecule has two —NH2 groups joined by a carbonyl functional group....
, melamineMelamineMelamine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses....
and other non-protein nitrogenNitrogenNitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
sources, added to proteinProteinProteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
products in order to inflate crude protein content measurements - Powdered beechBeechBeech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
nut huskHuskHusk in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. It often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective outer covering of a seed, fruit or vegetable...
aromatized with cinnamic aldehyde, marketed as powdered cinnamonCinnamonCinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
. - High fructose corn syrupHigh fructose corn syrupHigh-fructose corn syrup — also called glucose-fructose syrup in the UK, glucose/fructose in Canada, and high-fructose maize syrup in other countries — comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce...
or cane sugar, used to adulterate honeyHoneyHoney is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
; C4 sugarsC4 carbon fixationC4 carbon fixation is one of three biochemical mechanisms, along with and CAM photosynthesis, used in carbon fixation. It is named for the 4-carbon molecule present in the first product of carbon fixation in these plants, in contrast to the 3-carbon molecule products in plants. fixation is an...
serve as markers, as detected by carbon isotopic signatureIsotopic signatureAn isotopic signature is a ratio of stable or unstable isotopes of particular elements found in an investigated material...
s - Glutinous riceGlutinous riceGlutinous rice is a type of short-grained Asian rice that is especially sticky when cooked. It is called glutinous Glutinous rice (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa or Oryza glutinosa; also called sticky rice, sweet rice, waxy rice, botan rice, biroin chal, mochi rice, and pearl rice, and pulut) is a...
coloring made of hazardous industrial dyes, as well as tinopal to make rice noodlesRice noodlesRice noodles are noodles that are made from rice. Their principal ingredients are rice flour and water. However, sometimes other ingredients such as tapioca or corn starch are also added in order to improve the transparency or increase the gelatinous and chewy texture of the noodles.Rice noodles...
whiter (to serve as bleach) - Noodles, meatMeatMeat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
, fishFishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, tofuTofuis a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and others. There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu...
preserved with formaldehydeFormaldehydeFormaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
in tropical Asia, to prevent spoilage from the sun - HamHamHam is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
has been used as a thickenerThickening agentThickening agents, or thickeners, is the term applied to substances which increase the viscosity of a solution or liquid/solid mixture without substantially modifying its other properties; although most frequently applied to foods where the target property is taste, the term also is applicable to...
for peanut butterPeanut butterPeanut butter is a food paste made primarily from ground dry roasted peanuts, popular in North America, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. It is mainly used as a sandwich spread, sometimes in combination as in the peanut butter and jelly...
. - Water or brineBrineBrine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
injected into chicken, pork or other meats to increase their weight.
History
Historically, the usage of adulterants has been common in societies with few legal controls on food qualityFood quality
Food quality is the quality characteristics of food that is acceptable to consumers. This includes external factors as appearance , texture, and flavour; factors such as federal grade standards and internal .Food quality in the United States is enforced by the Food Safety Act 1990...
and/or poor/nonexistent monitoring by authorities; sometimes this usage has even extended to exceedingly dangerous chemicals and poisons. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
during the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, adulterants were quite common; for example, cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
s were sometimes colored with lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
. Similar adulteration issues were seen in industry in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, until the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906, is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines...
of 1906. More recently, adulterant use in the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
has inspired much public attention. (See: Food safety in the People's Republic of China
Food safety in the People's Republic of China
Food safety in the People's Republic of China is a growing concern relating to agriculture. China's principal crops are rice, corn, wheat, soybeans, and cotton in addition to apples and other fruits and vegetables. China's principal livestock products include pork, beef, dairy, and eggs...
).
Adulterant usage was first investigated in 1820 by the German chemist Frederick Accum, who identified many toxic metal colorings in food and drink. His work antagonized food suppliers, and he was ultimately discredited by a scandal over his alleged mutilation of Royal Institution
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain is an organization devoted to scientific education and research, based in London.-Overview:...
library books. The physician Arthur Hill Hassall
Arthur Hill Hassall
Arthur Hill Hassall was a British physician, chemist and microscopist who is primarily known for his work in public health and food safety....
later conducted extensive studies in the early 1850s, which were published in The Lancet
The Lancet
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
and led to the 1860 Food Adulteration Act and subsequent further legislation.
At the turn of the 20th century, industrialization in the United States saw an uprise in adulteration and this inspired some protest. Accounts of adulteration led the New York Evening Post to parody:
Mary had a little lamb,
And when she saw it sicken,
She shipped it off to Packingtown,
And now it's labeled chicken.
However, even back in the 18th century, people recognized adulteration in food:
"The bread I eat in London is a deleterious paste, mixed up with chalk, alum and bone ashes, insipid to the taste and destructive to the constitution. The good people are not ignorant of this adulteration; but they prefer it to wholesome bread, because it is whiter than the meal of corn [wheat]. Thus they sacrifice their taste and their health. . . to a most absurd gratification of a misjudged eye; and the miller or the baker is obliged to poison them and their families, in order to live by his profession." - Tobias Smollet, The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker (1771)
A history of food poisoning and adulteration is found in the textbook, Death in the Pot: The Impact of Food Poisoning on History.
In drug tests
Adulterants can be also added to urineUrine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
, in order to interfere with the accuracy of drug test
Drug test
A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen – for example urine, hair, blood, sweat, or oral fluid / saliva – to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites...
s. These adulterants are often oxidative
Redox
Redox reactions describe all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation state changed....
in nature - hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is the simplest peroxide and an oxidizer. Hydrogen peroxide is a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water. In dilute solution, it appears colorless. With its oxidizing properties, hydrogen peroxide is often used as a bleach or cleaning agent...
and bleach
Bleach
Bleach refers to a number of chemicals that remove color, whiten, or disinfect, often via oxidation. Common chemical bleaches include household chlorine bleach , lye, oxygen bleach , and bleaching powder...
have been used, sometimes with pH-adjusting substances like vinegar
Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
or sodium bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula Na HCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda . The natural mineral form is...
. These can be detected by drug testing labs, but some less expensive tests do not look for them.
Notable incidents of adulteration
- In 1987, Beech-NutBeech-NutBeech-Nut Nutrition Corporation is a baby food company that is currently owned by the Swiss branded consumer-goods firm Hero Group.- History :...
paid $2.2 million in fines for violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic ActFederal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic ActThe United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act , is a set of laws passed by Congress in 1938 giving authority to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to oversee the safety of food, drugs, and cosmetics. A principal author of this law was Royal S. Copeland, a three-term U.S. Senator from...
by selling artificially flavored sugar water as apple juice. - In 1997, ConAgra FoodsConAgra FoodsConAgra Foods, Inc. is an American packaged foods company. ConAgra's products are available in supermarkets, as well as restaurants and food service establishments. Its headquarters are located in Omaha, Nebraska...
pled guilty to federal criminal charges that one of its units illegally sprayed water on stored grain to increase its weight and value. - In 2007, samples of wheat glutenWheat gluten (food)Wheat gluten, also called seitan , wheat meat, mock duck, gluten meat, or simply gluten, is a food made from the gluten of wheat...
mixed with melamineMelamineMelamine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses....
, presumably to produce artificially inflated results from common tests for protein content, were discovered in many U.S. pet foodPet foodPet food is plant or animal material intended for consumption by pets. Typically sold in pet stores and supermarkets, it is usually specific to the type of animal, such as dog food or cat food...
brands, as well as in human food supply. The adulterated gluten was found to have come from China, and U.S. authorities concluded that its origin was the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, a XuzhouXuzhouXuzhou , otherwise known as Pengcheng in ancient times, is a major city in and the fourth largest prefecture-level city of Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China...
, ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
-based company. (See: Chinese protein adulteration.) - In 2008, significant portions of China's milkMilkMilk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
supply were found to have been contaminated with melamine. Infant formulaInfant formulaInfant formula is a manufactured food designed and marketed for feeding to babies and infants under 12 months of age, usually prepared for bottle-feeding or cup-feeding from powder or liquid . The U.S...
produced from melamine-tainted milk killed at least six children and were believed to have harmed thousands of others. (See: 2008 Chinese milk scandal2008 Chinese milk scandalThe 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a food safety incident in the People's Republic of China, involving milk and infant formula, and other food materials and components, adulterated with melamine....
.)
Further reading
- Friedrich AccumFriedrich AccumFriedrich Christian Accum or Frederick Accum was a German chemist, whose most important achievements included advances in the field of gas lighting, efforts to keep processed foods free from dangerous additives, and the promotion of interest in the science of chemistry to the general populace....
's