Milk candy, China’s favorite treat might be tainted

White Rabbit candy, a taffy made from milk has been a favorite sweet to most Chinese people ever since it first debuted in 1949 in time for the 10th anniversary of the forming of the People’s Republic of China.

In 1972, a bag was given to President Richard Nixon when he made his history making visit.

Yesterday on NPR there was a story about how White Rabbit candy, because it has milk in it, has been pulled from store shelves and the company that makes is has stopped churning it out until after the melamine-tainted milk issue is fixed.

According to the NPR story, the candy, made in Shanghai, is not being sold as a cautionary measure. It is also recommended that if you have some, and you might because it’s exported to 50 different countries, don’t eat it.

Traces of melamine have been found, although, from what I read in this Wikipedia article, “a 60kg adult […] would have to eat more than 47 White Rabbit sweets […] every day over a lifetime to exceed the tolerable threshold for melamine.”

I think melamine would be the least of your troubles if you ate 47 taffy candies every day. A child who weighs half that would only need to eat 23.5 candies.

I’ve eaten White Rabbit candy several times and agree that it is quite good. I can see why it’s been a favorite for so long. Hopefully, all will be right again in candy land and people will feel safe eating it once more.

For an overview of China’s milk problem, here’s Josh’s post as a refresher.