Dr. Sladjana Velkov...

The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a food safety incident in China. The scandal involved milk and infant formula along with other food materials and components being adulterated with melamine.

China reported an estimated 300,000 victims in total.[1] Six babies died from kidney stones and other kidney damage and an estimated 54,000 babies were hospitalized.[2][3] The chemical gives the appearance of higher protein content when added to milk, leading to protein deficiency in the formula. In a separate incident four years prior, watered-down milk had resulted in 12 infant deaths from malnutrition.[4]

The scandal broke on 16 July 2008, after sixteen babies in Gansu Province were diagnosed with kidney stones.[cm 1] The babies were fed infant formula produced by Shijiazhuang-based Sanlu Group. After the initial focus on Sanlu—market leader in the budget segment—government inspections revealed the problem existed to a lesser degree in products from 21 other companies, including an Arla Foods-Mengniu joint venture company known as Arla Mengniu, Yili, and Yashili.[5]

The issue raised concerns about food safety and political corruption in China, and damaged the reputation of China's food exports. At least 11 countries stopped all imports of Chinese dairy products.
...
On 25 September 2008, the EU announced a ban on imports of baby food containing Chinese milk. The European Commission also called for tighter checks on other Chinese food imports;[125][126] isolated contaminated products were found in the Netherlands, and the French authorities ordered all Chinese dairy products off the shelves;[127] Tesco removed White Rabbit as a precaution from its stores in the United Kingdom.