As the world has sadly learned, innocent children in China have suffered as a result of tainted milk products. The cause of the illnesses and a few fatalities is apparently traced to the chemical melamine, known to falsely inflate protein levels of watered-down milk. Essentially, a small dairyman sells his milk to a milk collector who, in turn, sells the milk to a dairy producer for processing, packaging, and marketing to consumers. Somewhere in the supply chain, water and melamine were added to the raw milk to increase both volume and profits.