Sanlu Milk Crisis Essay

The Ontario Dairy Herd Improvement Corporation, run by general manager John Meek, aims to improve the efficiency and profitability of dairy farming through an accurate, rapid, and cost effective milk testing service. Milk testing is an essential herd management component for all dairy processors as it measures the amount, quality and contents of the dairy products. Supply management agencies limit milk production; thus, profit is maximized through acquiring premiums from quality dairy with high levels of protein and butter fat as opposed to mass production and distribution. The dairy herd is the largest source of revenue for farmers, data from milk testing helps maximize milk production as farmers

The powered milk became such a commodity that the local produce dairy farms couldn’t sell their milk. A memorable scene in the film was when the dairy farmers had to spill out all their surplus milk that was only a days worth to make room for new milk since it wasn’t being consumed. A dairy farm used to produce 3,000 quarts per day and after America subsidized the milk industry, dairy farms were producing only about 600 liters. Dairy farmers were run out of their businesses and it’s sad to say but some dairy farmers were forced to convert to butchering their cows in order to make profit (Black).

Relevance to Audience: I’m sure everyone in this room has consumed a dairy product whether it be an ice cold glass of milk with cookies, or a nice piece of cheese on a big juicy burger.

The other thing that we should consider before using dairy products is from the ethical point of view. Drinking cow’s milk or consuming any dairy product is equal to torturing thousands of cows, due to changing their nature and way of living in order to make them useable for ourselves. It has become evident that milk is not the only source and product that we can reach vitamins, proteins and calcium from, in fact there are many natural and healthy products that we can reach out those factors that we are looking for it in milk, for instance fruits. Contrary to common belief, people should stop consuming milk because it is unhealthy, unnatural and unethical.

In 1990, there were over 9300 dairy farms in Ontario housing almost 450,000 cows. The farm-gate value of milk produced exceeded 1.3 billion dollars. At the retail level, dairy product sales in Ontario exceeded 4 billion dollars. The number of dairy herds in Ontario on a milk-testing program had declined from about 7100 in 1985 to 6000 in 1990. Moreover, a continued decrease was projected.

The dairy industry is an integral part of Canadian agriculture. It is the third largest

Dairy farmers should make sure their businesses are in the right shape to seize the opportunities

The government has put a limit on the amount of milk powder that can be purchased by Chinese who travel to Hong Kong. The People’s Daily, the official publication of the Communist Party, said in a commentary that since 2008, foreign milk powder companies had increased their prices in China by around 30 percent (Edward, 2013). Foreign milk powder has 60 percent of the market share in China compared with 30 percent before 2008, the commentary said (Edward, 2013). Since August 2008 when the enactment of the antimonopoly law the Chinese government have really been going against foreign companies for antitrust

Milk and dairy products are in great abundance throughout the state of California, and is a constant stream of revenue for the state. Therefore, the CDFA sees it fit to make sure that all of the dairy and milk that is produced locally is safe for consumption and that it will live up to a certain standard set by the department. As described in the mission statement from the CDFA, “The Milk and Dairy Food Safety Branch (MDFS) is charged with the mission and responsibility of ensuring that California's milk, milk products, and products resembling milk products are safe and wholesome, meet microbial and compositional requirements and are properly labeled.” (cdfa.org) As milk and dairy is also a big staple of interstate commerce, it must be adequately prepared even when conditions are less than ideal. A big example of this is seen when we examine the effects that the long drought has had on the crop. Some farmers from outside of the state have even tried to persuade California farmers into moving. As CNBC states in an article, "Increasingly every year, there are more states showing up at the World Ag Expo to entice California dairies to move to their states, and they're finding a receptive audience.” (Daniels) The promise of a stable water supply and the chance to be more competitive in a smaller state is apparently attractive to some farmers, and they seem to be weighing up their options. Without sufficient

will result in lower prices, more variety in dairy products, and an increase in quality from

Canada 's dairy sector operates under a supply management system based on planned domestic production, supervised pricing and strict controls on dairy product imports. The system was adopted for industrial milk in the early 1970s to address the unstable prices, uncertain supplies and fluctuating producers and processor revenues which were common in the 1950s and 1960s. By enforcing this system, farmers attempt to strike the most accurate balance between supply and demand of dairy products (Canadian Dairy Commission, 2010).

Based on the initial declaration of findings from the Conference Board of Canada analysis of supply management, consumers are highly affected by the system as dairy prices in Canada are

Which brings us to the quality of the milk, lots of commercial farms put steroids in there cows to produce more milk than a regular cow could produce, prolactin, steroids including estrogens, progesterone, corticoids, and androgens, these are just some of the steroids commercial farmers inject in there cows. Sometimes when a cow produces too much milk they could develop mastitis in cows, mastitis is an infection or inflammation in the udders which makes them produce chunky milk it can be potentially fatal in the mammary gland and very expensive for the dairy commercial/industrial farms says HDB dairy, if the udders of a dairy cow doesn 't work they often get shot and get butchered for meat just because the farm was pushing them to hard

The worse is neither Sanlu nor local government inspect/ supervise these milk collection stations, not to mention some of the station were found operating without valid licenses. The outsourcing which aims cost control only with no control of quality leads to crisis is not a surprise.

The Sanlu Group not only damaged the reputation of China 's food exports, but also destroyed the foundation of domestic dairy industry, leading to losing people 's confidence in food