Illegal milk plagues China
Tamar Campbell
Issue date: 10/13/08 Section: Pulse
Twenty-one companies had been implicated with what the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling "one of the largest food safety events it has had to deal with in recent years." High levels of the chemical compound melamine was found in Chinese infant formula, powdered milk and certain dairy products.
Melamine is rich in nitrogen; however, its legal uses are in the production of plastics and adhesives - not dairy products. The melamine was likely added to allow illegally watered down milk to pass government protein content tests. Because melamine has a high protein count, it can cause the protein test results to appear higher than their true value.
Neither the World Health Organization Codex Alimentarius nor individual national authorities sanction the use of melamine in milk products and for good reason: melamine can form crystals that cause kidney stones. In addition, these small crystals can also block the tubules (small tubes) in the kidney, which can stop the production of urine, leading to kidney failure and death.
Officials from The Chinese State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the amount of the melamine found in the contaminated milk would not cause problems in adults who drank less than two liters a day. However, to date almost nearly 53,000 people become ill from drinking contaminated milk powder; 12,800 have been hospitalized; and four infants have died.
In China, parents with screaming infants waited in obscenely long lines for a doctor's examination. Shelves have been stripped bare from contaminated products, consumers are searching for cheap and healthy means of feeding their infants, and there has been a large request for wet nurses.
However, China's milk scandal spreads farther out than the mainland. Cadbury chocolates exported to Australia and Hong Kong show high levels of melamine. Vietnam discovered 18 products contaminated and have recalled hundreds of products. Various products in Peru and the Phillipines have been confiscated by authorities due to traces of melamine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement on Sept. 12 assuring consumers that Chinese milk is not used in making formula.
Melamine is rich in nitrogen; however, its legal uses are in the production of plastics and adhesives - not dairy products. The melamine was likely added to allow illegally watered down milk to pass government protein content tests. Because melamine has a high protein count, it can cause the protein test results to appear higher than their true value.
Neither the World Health Organization Codex Alimentarius nor individual national authorities sanction the use of melamine in milk products and for good reason: melamine can form crystals that cause kidney stones. In addition, these small crystals can also block the tubules (small tubes) in the kidney, which can stop the production of urine, leading to kidney failure and death.
Officials from The Chinese State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the amount of the melamine found in the contaminated milk would not cause problems in adults who drank less than two liters a day. However, to date almost nearly 53,000 people become ill from drinking contaminated milk powder; 12,800 have been hospitalized; and four infants have died.
In China, parents with screaming infants waited in obscenely long lines for a doctor's examination. Shelves have been stripped bare from contaminated products, consumers are searching for cheap and healthy means of feeding their infants, and there has been a large request for wet nurses.
However, China's milk scandal spreads farther out than the mainland. Cadbury chocolates exported to Australia and Hong Kong show high levels of melamine. Vietnam discovered 18 products contaminated and have recalled hundreds of products. Various products in Peru and the Phillipines have been confiscated by authorities due to traces of melamine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement on Sept. 12 assuring consumers that Chinese milk is not used in making formula.
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