A little bit of what you fancy…?

Posted by Andrew Wadge on October 17th 2008 in Science, safety and health

Now, we all know that chocolate, in moderation, can be an enjoyable treat.

This week is Chocolate Week – a time to celebrate all things chocolate. It’s ironic, then, that during this week we’ve identified a number of 'novelty' chocolate products that are being withdrawn from the market. Why? They contain melamine. More products affected by the deliberate adulteration of milk in China that I blogged about a few weeks ago.

Now, I’m the first to admit that we don’t get many laughs in the business of food safety. However, although the products we’re talking about this week may raise a smile…or an eyebrow, they underline the fact that food businesses must remain vigilant in checking the quality of the ingredients they use. In the meantime, we’re working closely with industry and local authority enforcers to resolve this ongoing melamine issue.

By the way, I’m old enough to remember the gossip about Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull and another confectionary product but that's another story...

add new comment

chinese choc products in EU

Posted by Yannis Zabetakis (not verified) on 21/10/2008 - 07:52

Dear Dr Wadge,

since I left UK and the University of Leeds, I am teaching Food Safety in Univ. of Athens and also I am a Lead Auditor for ISO22000 and ISO9001.
Sorry for this "playing my flute" intro, I just want to explain why I am a bit suspicious on the proper checks on food all around EU.
The recent scare of sunflower oil from Ukraine was very dramatic...in terms of exposing EFSA to the public...
As a consumer and a father of two, I can not trust that melamine is not present in a country only on the basis that milk imports from China are not allowed!

Older scandals in UK [salmonella in Cabdury's], or in Greece [see this link
http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.print_unique?e=C&f=13209&m=A06&aa=1&eidos=S ]

make me more worried day in day out...

any ray of hope?

Yours
Yannis Zabetakis
Lecturer of Food Chemistry
http://environmentfood.blogspot.com/

Chocolate Week?

Posted by Health Guru (not verified) on 20/10/2008 - 16:34

I had no idea Chocolate week existed!
It definitely needs more publicity since, as you said chocolate in moderation is a wonderful treat and people should get some education about it.

Chocolate

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on 17/10/2008 - 15:24

I think this also highlights the need to maintain a close eye on your staff but I dont think that you will get anyone taking a case againgt these people. Something to do with admiting to use these products in public, in a court of law. Then again you never know