page_title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal
section_title: Taiwan
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal / Response / Taiwan
caption_attribution_description: Oct 25 2008 Taiwan demonstration
context_page_description: The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a significant food safety incident in China. The scandal involved milk and infant formula along with other food materials and components being adulterated with melamine. The chemical was used to increase the nitrogen content of diluted milk, giving it the appearance of higher protein content in order to pass quality control testing. Of an estimated 300,000 victims, 6 babies died from kidney stones and other kidney damage and an estimated 54,000 babies were hospitalized.
  The scandal was first exposed on 16 July, after sixteen babies in Gansu Province were diagnosed with kidney stones. The babies were fed infant formula produced by the Shijiazhuang-based Sanlu Group, then one of the leading producers of infant formula in the country. After the initial focus on Sanlu, further government inspections revealed that products from 21 other companies were also tainted, including those from Arla Foods–Mengniu, Yili, and Yashili.
  The issue raised concerns about food safety and political corruption in China and damaged the reputation of the country's food exports.
context_section_description: The melamine food scare became a focal point against the warming relations between Taiwan's government and the Chinese government, and a major demonstration was held by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party on 25 October 2008 to voice dissatisfaction with Taiwan's increasingly closer ties with Beijing, notably related to the incident. Protesters fearful at reunification blamed the Kuomintang for the melamine scare, and criticised it for failing to stand up to China over the contamination. One citizen voiced concern that President Ma Ying-jeou's promise for closer ties with China would bring in more tainted products to Taiwan. The Minister of the Department of Health, Lin Fang-you, was heavily criticised for raising the legally acceptable limit of melamine in food products from zero to 2.5 ppm. The public outcry subsequent to the move forced Lin to resign. His successor, Yeh Ching-chuan, announced a return to the original zero-tolerance policy to melamine.
caption: Half a million participated in anti-China demonstrations in Taiwan
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "3888", "Image ImageLength": "2592", "Image BitsPerSample": "[16, 16, 16]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS Kiss Digital X", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2014:06:13 10:41:24", "Image WhitePoint": "[313/1000, 329/1000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[16/25, 33/100, 21/100, 71/100, 3/20, 3/50]", "Image ExifOffset": "408", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[25, 1, 61/500]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[121, 31, 57471/1000]", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[6, 52, 54]", "GPS GPSDate": "2008:10:25", "Image GPSInfo": "1090", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1358", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7817", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:10:25 14:52:54", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:10:25 14:52:54", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "125237/16384", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode, red-eye reduction mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "48", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2430", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1620", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3888000/877", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "432000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Gamma": "11/5"}