Learning from China's milk scare

China’s tainted milk scandal should serve as a warning to the world, said the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in an editorial. “Because of global trading, there's no knowing where the tainted milk threat ends.” We clearly can’t rely on China for protection, and food trade has grown faster than any adequate system of international regulation.

Consumers need the tools to protect themselves, said the Los Angeles Times in an editorial. New U.S. laws will require “country of origin” labels on fresh meats and produce, but people need to know where ingredients in packaged and processed foods come from, too. “How can consumers send a message to this rogue food-producing nation if they don't know they're eating its food?”

Other countries should do more than sneer at China in “arrogant horror,” said Janet Bagnall in Montreal’s The Gazette. Milk-laced products in China have killed four babies and made more than 50,000 sick. But the death toll in Canada from listeria-tainted meat has reached 19. Maybe we should all get our houses in order.

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