More on contaminated Chinese milk products: turning the clock back to 1858 in the U.S.?

It runs out that at least some Cadbury chocolates are also made with Chinese ingredients and contaminated by melamine.  Cadbury has recalled some products, but apparently they were primarily products sold in China.  Last year, Cadbury was fined one million pounds for selling unsafe chocolates in Britain and Ireland during a salmonella health scare.

Some have pointed out that a similar scare arising out of tainted milk products has occurred previously.  Babies poisoned by apparently "pure" milk fed to them by their mothers; no action taken by authoritites until thousands of children had been poisoned.  The New York Times pointed out that it happened in New York City in 1858.  That seems to be about how far backward in time we have traveled, in terms of food safety and regulation.  In the 19th century, 90,000 quarts of milk were delivered by the dairy industry, daily, but mysteriously, 120,000 quarts were sold each day.  Turned out that milk was being "watered-down" and then "restored" with flour or so-called "swill milk" [blue milk produced by cows fed on whiskey mash by-products] doctored with plaster of paris, starch and eggs or molasses.

This is the second milk contamination scandal in China in the past 15 years, and the media was not allowed to report on it or publicize it until the Olympics were over.