This entry was posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 7:59am and is filed under Food Safety, Parenting, Media and information, Health, Food Production. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This weekend my husband casually mentioned that we should no longer allow our kids to buy chocolate milk from convenience stores because it came from China and was contaminated with melamine. In shock, I took to the Internet to figure out whether my children really were at risk, and, if so, how much and what I should do.
First, this is not some silly food scare. This is every mother’s nightmare. The melamine found in baby formula has lead to wide spread illness and a handful of deaths in that China.
It’s only rational for Moms here in the U.S. to ask if this crisis is going to hit our shores anytime soon.
So what did I find out? Well, first, a blog post by the Washington Post scared the pants off of me.
And the numerous disavowals by companies that there was nothing to fear did not necessarily quell my disquiet.
Although multiple articles about how hard the FDA is working to ensure we are all safe were helpful.
After a lot of research and digging (much of it on the FDA website – a true treasure trove of important information), I realized that the short answer is that we’re safe. Most of the panic has occurred because of some multi-national subsidiaries in China, which have found minute traces of melamine that are far under the permitted amount allowed by the highly-restrictive EU standard.
However, none of the goods sold in China ever find their way into the U.S. To be clear, once this crisis broke the FDA did extensive checks of all incoming baby formulas and they turned up nothing. As of this moment not one child in America is affected by this disaster, nor is it likely that any of our children will be in the foreseeable future.
But some bloggers are trying to tangentially tie this latest incident in with other imports from China. But there are consequences in raising red flags too often and about too many products. When you muddle the line between clearly dangerous imports and those that are safe, the buying public gets panicky and makes decisions without clear and reliable information to go on. Making that distinction is of the utmost importance. It separates a genuine crisis from a scare.
Because, let’s face it: A lot of safe and nutritious foods that we buy for our kids at the supermarket are imported. While it’s crucial to have firm standards with which to judge the quality of the groceries we let inside our homes, these standards have to hold up to the facts also.
A well balanced mind to serve well balanced meals.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:28am
Thanks for covering this story, Suzanne.
I found myself reading the news coverage of the Chinese milk crisis and really identifying with the parents. I can’t imagine how terrifying it would be for a parent to find that every baby formula in your country has been taken off the shelves, and some of the liquid milk has been found to be bad as well. You’ve already made the decision not to breast-feed. What do you feed your child?
This situation is truly horrifying for a number of reasons:
Melamine, the contaminant found, was apparently placed in the milk intentionally to mislead product testers into believing that the diluted milk held more nutrition than it did. Unlike most cases of food contamination, where bacteria or chemicals are found due to negligence or ignorance, this situation was deliberate.
Melamine was the same chemical implicated in the 2007 Chinese pet food crisis that resulted in a number of pet deaths in the United States.
What I take from this is that anyone familiar with melamine would recognize its lethal potential — and that some chose to add it to the milk products anyway. Yikes.
I also read that the levels of melamine found in liquid milk were low. But at least one source reported that some of the levels of melamine found in infant formula were in the parts per thousand range! I can’t fathom values that high. It’s possible that a little bit of melamine was added at each stage of production, resulting in a whopping amount at the end.
I, for one, wish that some of the American producers of infant formula would ship cases of their product to China, just so those poor babies could eat in peace.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:36am
Here’s an update. A bit frightening for Europeans. But, for now, we’re okay in the U.S.:
Melamine health risks for European consumers - The European Food Safety Authority issued a statement saying that if adults in Europe were to consume chocolates and biscuits containing contaminated milk powder, they would not exceed the TDI (Tolerable Daily Intake), but in worst case scenarios with the highest level of contamination, children with high daily consumption of milk toffee, chocolate or biscuits containing high levels of milk powder would exceed the TDI.
Organization: European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Data Collection and Exposure Unit (DATEX) and the Unit on Contaminants (CONTAM)
Summary: From the EFSA press release:
Following recent events in China, the European Commission asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to provide urgent scientific advice on health risks for European consumers related to the possible presence of melamine in composite foods containing milk or milk products originating from China.
EFSAâ??s scientists today issued a statement saying that if adults in Europe were to consume chocolates and biscuits containing contaminated milk powder, they would not exceed the TDI (Tolerable Daily Intake) of 0.5 mg/kg body weight, even in worst case scenarios.
Children with a mean consumption of biscuits, milk toffee and chocolate made with such milk powder would also not exceed the TDI. However, in worst case scenarios with the highest level of contamination, children with high daily consumption of milk toffee, chocolate or biscuits containing high levels of milk powder would exceed the TDI. Children who consume both such biscuits and chocolate could potentially exceed the TDI by up to more than three times.
High levels of melamine can primarily affect the kidneys. EFSA applied the TDI of 0.5 mg/kg body weight for melamine in a specific case of contamination in 2007.
The Commission requested EFSA to focus its assessment on biscuits and chocolate which contain milk powder as such products can be imported from China. EFSA developed theoretical exposure scenarios based on European consumption figures of biscuits and chocolate. In the absence of available data for contaminated milk powder, EFSA also used the highest value of melamine, reported in Chinese infant formula as a basis for worst case scenarios. EFSA stressed that it is not known at the moment whether such theoretical high level exposure scenarios could occur in Europe.
Source: Question number: EFSA-Q-2008-695
Date Released: 2008-09-25
Web site: The EFSA press release is at http://www.efsa.eu.int/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1211902098433.htm
September 25th, 2008 at 3:06pm
Jublke — I agree - it’s unbelievable that someone would intentionally do this. And U.S. infant formula makers could do well AND do good by sending over some formula. Quick PR hit and much needed in China.
September 26th, 2008 at 1:24pm
Another piece of information on this situation:
Melamine levels in food - The New Zealand Food Safety Authority has adopted a threshold of 5 ppm for most foods, however for starter infant formula, this level will be set to the current level of test detection of 1 ppm.
Organization: New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA)
Summary: From the media release:
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) has today been working with other international food safety and health authorities to determine the level of melamine in food that will present negligible risks to public health.
“Since the identification of the problems in China, food safety authorities all around the world have been working to identify public health threshold levels for melamine. We know that the presence of this chemical is part and parcel of our life today, apparently leaching from plastics and contact materials during processing and packaging in trace quantities. We also know that at low levels it causes us no harm. Determining just how high levels have to be before there is a risk is something we are all struggling with,” says Dr Geoff Allen, NZFSA Director (Compliance & Investigation).
“Over the past week, our scientists have been exchanging information with their international colleagues. Last night, the European Food Safety Authority updated its opinion on the estimated tolerable daily intake (TDI) of melamine and left it unchanged at 0.5 mg/kg bodyweight (ie, for every kg a person weighs they can safely consume 0.5 mg every day – for a 20 kg child this is 10 mg; for a 70 kg adult the safe amount is 35 mg).”
Based on this figure, which is very close to but lower than that of the United States, NZFSA has adopted a conservative threshold of 5 ppm for most foods. This means that it has been considered that foods containing up to 5 ppm of melamine do not pose a risk to human health. However for starter infant formula, this level will be set to the current level of test detection of 1 ppm.
If NZFSA detects amounts above these levels, a risk assessment will be undertaken, taking into account how much melamine is in the food and how much is likely to be eaten in a day. If it is likely that anticipated consumption levels of the food will cause people to exceed the 0.5 mg/kg bodyweight tolerable daily intake, or there is a suspicion of adulteration, then the appropriate regulatory action will be taken.
NZFSA also today advised that it had completed its initial investigations and confirmed that the locally produced product that has been found to contain melamine is lactoferrin, a highly processed dairy product that is used as an ingredient in a range of products.
“Melamine can be found in the food cycle in minute traces from a range of sources. Explanations for its presence in this case include leaching from plastic involved in processing or packaging, or other unintended outcome of the manufacturing process. At these low levels, it does not present any health risk for consumers,” said Dr Allen. “Further, because it is much diluted in the final product, it is unlikely it would even be detectable. In fact some of the products that we have already tested and cleared contain lactoferrin.”
Source: NZFSA media release
Date Released: 2008-09-26
Web site: The NZFSA media release is at http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/publications/media-releases/2008/26-sep-melamine-response-update.htm
Contact: Further comment: Geoff Allen, Director (Compliance & Investigation), 029-894 2518
Further information: Gary Bowering, Manager (Communications), 029-894 2532
There is also a link at the bottom of the media release to a web form to send questions or comments.
September 26th, 2008 at 5:04pm
Today, the AP reported that more Chinese-based products have been found to contain traces of melamine: “The list of problematic products grew with the Hong Kong government saying today it found traces of melamine in Heinz DHA+AA vegetable formula baby cereal and in steamed potato wasabi crackers produced by Silang House. Both products were made in mainland China.”
(Reference: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6024432.html)
I hadn’t realized that melamine might show up in products via the manufacturing process. However, the levels detected in the baby formula were high enough to imply that they were probably added intentionally. What if both routes (manufacturing errors and intentional additions) are contributing to the melamine crisis? And what happens to those poor babies that are both drinking tainted formula AND eating tainted baby food?
I agree with you, I think the US-based formula companies are missing a huge PR opportunity here…