Many Chinese doubt food scandals will end

— -- BEIJING — When Charles Shao started spending millions of dollars in 2004 to build a Chinese dairy farm that meets international quality standards, "everyone thought we were fools," he says.

"Now they say, you were right to take such care. Send me your milk!" says Shao, an American and CEO of Huaxia Dairy Farm, an hour's drive from Beijing.

For the past month, China's government and dairy industry have struggled to contain the spread of tainted milk products, from Australia to South America. The government vowed this week to overhaul China's "chaotic" dairy industry. Premier Wen Jiabao apologized to the victims and promised "never again."

But similar crises will happen again, predict Shao and other experts in China's massive food-processing business.

Wu Yongning, deputy director of the government's National Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, says, "For now, farmers won't dare to put additives into milk. But after some time, if the government effort slackens, some farmers will feel the pressure of rising costs and falling profits. The chances of making fake products increase. There will be more food-safety problems after this."

The current scandal, which involves more than one-third of China's producers of milk powder, erupted last month when four babies died and more than 54,000 became ill after drinking formula tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical that fools tests to show a higher protein content. Melamine can produce kidney stones and other ailments. The chemical also was discovered in pet food last year that sickened hundreds of American pets.

"We have not learned enough lessons from the melamine problems last year," says Luo Yunbo, a food scientist at the Chinese Agricultural University. "We need to toughen the inspection system and standards, and also raise the moral standards of businessmen."

That's a tall order, says Laurence Brahm, a political economist and resident of China for 25 years. China "has gone from socialism to extremist capitalism, in which money is absolutely supreme and there is no other value. Everybody takes shortcuts to squeeze costs, and the (consumer) is the one who ultimately suffers."