China’s Dairy Farmers say they are also victims

“I’m desperate,” said Jie Cun’ai, 66, who with his son cares for 56 cows. “I’m one of the biggest losers in this village. The provincial television station says our government will take care of us, that they won’t let us kill our cows or dump our milk. But they are lying. For 10 days, we’ve been dumping our milk.”

Indeed, few in China or abroad will buy milk, infant formula or other dairy products since tests have found that more than 20 companies were selling products contaminated with an industrial chemical, melamine, which can cause kidney failure or kidney stones.

The dairy farming villages around Shijiazhuang came under sharp scrutiny last month after investigators arrested dozens of farmers and milk station operators for spiking milk with melamine, which if blended into food can artificially inflate protein readings, helping it pass quality tests.

But dairy farmers here insist that they never used melamine, and that the real culprits are dairy companies and the milking stations that they operate. They also complain that they have been squeezed by the price controls on food that went into effect last year, which may have created incentives among some farmers and big companies to dilute milk and use chemical substitutes.

Adulterating milk, of course, is hardly unknown in China. For years, experts say rice porridge, starch and other chemicals have been used to doctor diluted milk to earn extra profits. In 2004, at least 14 children died in a poor area of Anhui Province after consuming what the government later determined was a fake baby formula. The case shocked the nation and led to government calls for sweeping reform.

Dairy experts, however, say regulations still have not caught up with industry con men.