Chinese demand for formula brings Aussie howls of 'stealing from babies'

15 years after deadly melamine scandal, mainland parents still look overseas

Premium brands of baby formula often run out as savvy Chinese snatch them off supermarket shelves to resell them for a profit at home. © Reuters

HAMISH McDONALD, Contributing writer

January 31, 2019 15:03 JST

SYDNEY -- China's insatiable demand for Australian formula milk has turned some middle-class suburbs in Sydney into hotbeds of petty crime.

Police in this sprawling city are used to seizing illegal stashes, from methamphetamine to stolen luxury goods. But one raid in the genteel suburb of Carlingford last August took them onto new ground. On the premises of a family that operates a modest convenience store selling newspapers, magazines and stationery, they found 4,000 1-kg tins of formula milk.