Bad Milk Powder Drives Out Good

• In Event: The Dynamics of Food Crime

Abstract

The title refers to Gresham’s law about bad money driving out good money. Instead of debased coins that make the more valuable commodity disappear from circulation, debased milk powder seems to have the same effect. Due to a big scandal with milk powder in China, valuable brands are being hoarded and exported from retail shelves in the Netherlands. This has resulted in retailers restricting sales to (Chinese) customers. However, continuing market demand for good milk powder has led to new strategies and new market participants, some of them criminal. Remarkably, each strategy seems to be focused around a different ethnic group. This would suggest routine activity and rational choice at play.

Author

• Melvin Soudijn, National Police of the Netherlands