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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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[The melamine adulteration of milk products produced in China continues to result in the identification of additional food items that have higher than accepted levels of melamine in them. The below is an update on such additional findings. The newswire in part [4] is interesting in it’s discussion of possible additional contaminants that may be mixed with the melamine used in the adulteration process that may have further potentiated the impact this had on infants and children exposed to it. – Mod.MPP]
In this update:
[1] USA – recall milk drinks
[2] Thailand – biscuits
[3] USA – products identified
[4] Melamine scrap
[5] South Korea – chocolate bars
[6] Hungary ex Thailand – coffee powder
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[1] USA – recall milk drinks
Date: Fri 10 Oct 2008
Source: US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [edited]
<http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/huaxia10_08.html>
Recall — firm press release
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FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company.
HUA XIA Food Trade USA, Inc. Recalls YILI Brand Sour Milk Drink and YILI Brand Pure Milk Drink, Because of Possible Health Risk Contact:HUA XIA Food Trade USA, Inc.(917) 216-0575
HUA XIA Food Trade USA, Inc. of Flushing, NY, is recalling YILI Brand Sour Milk Drink packaged in 250 ml flexible paperboard boxes (all codes and all lots are affected) and YILI Brand Pure Milk Drink packaged in 250 ml flexible paperboard boxes (all codes and all lots are affected) because it may be contaminated with melamine.
Consumers who have the product, which is being recalled, should stop using it immediately. If consumers have questions about possible health risks, they should contact their doctor.
YILI Brand Sour Milk Drink and YILI Brand Pure Milk Drink were distributed to New York City through Asian retail grocery stores.Products:
1. YILI Brand Sour Milk Drink is packaged in 250 ml flexible
paperboard boxes with blue, red, and green Chinese writing. There is a picture of an Asian man in a green shirt and white tie clapping his hands on the face of the box. All codes and all lots are affected.
2. YILI Brand Pure Milk Drink packaged in 250 ml flexible paperboard boxes with black, red, and white writing, the writing on the package is in both English and Chinese. There is a picture of 2 cows playing basketball on the face of the box. All codes and all lots are affected.
No illnesses have been reported to date.
The recall was initiated after FDA testing discovered that the product was found to contain melamine.
Consumers who have purchased YILI Brand Sour Milk or YILI Brand Pure Milk Drink are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact the company at (917) 216-0575, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 5:00, Eastern Standard Time.
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Brent Barrett
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[2] Thailand – biscuits
Date: Tue 14 Oct 2008
Source: Reuters Foundation AlertNet [edited]
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BKK100746.htm>
The Thai restaurant and bakery S&P said on Tuesday [14 Oct 2008] it was withdrawing a line of milk cookies sold in Thailand after reports that Swiss officials had found traces of melamine in the biscuits.
“I have pulled our milk cookies from sale and will submit them for inspection,” Vitoon Sila-on, vice-president for business development at S&P Syndicate (SNP.BK), told TPBS TV.
Thai newspapers reported that Swiss authorities had pulled the S&P milk cookies, as well as other products from China and Sri Lanka,after tests showed they were tainted by melamine.
Products made with tainted Chinese milk have been pulled off shelves worldwide in a widening health scandal after the industrial chemical melamine was found in milk and milk formula.
Vitoon said S&P only used milk powder imported from Australia and condensed milk from a Thai milk producer to make its cookies. He said the company did not export milk cookies to Switzerland.
Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was testing samples of the milk cookies and expected results in 24 hours.
“Our initial finding shows that S&P has exported 3 kinds of cookies – — butter cookies, almond cookies, and chocolate chip cookies — only to Germany,” the FDA said in a statement.
The FDA said it has collected 519 samples of products sold in Thailand that contain milk, including cookies, and found no melamine in those products.
[Byline: reporting by Viparat Jantraprap; editing by Darren Schuettler]
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall
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[3] USA – products identified
Date: Tue 7 Oct 2008
Source: Consumer Reports.org [edited]
<http://blogs.consumerreports.org/health/2008/10/melamine-milk.html>
No doubt you’ve heard about the contaminated milk that’s sickened more than 50 000 children in China, hospitalized 13 000, and caused fatal kidney damage in at least 3. Some 60 countries have now banned or recalled certain Chinese dairy products, including baby formulas and chocolates, because of contamination with melamine. That chemical can produce crystals that block tiny tubes in the kidneys, interfering with the production of urine and damaging the organ. Melamine is the same chemical that contaminated pet food last year [2007] and killed many cats and dogs. As we warned then, the appearance of a problem in pet food could signal a looming problem
for our food supply too. (Marion Nestle, PhD, a New York University food expert who has an informative blog that’s covered melamine, recently wrote a book called “The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine” about just that.)
The Food and Drug Administration and other organizations are now trying to determine how widespread and severe the problem really is. In the meantime, here are answers to 3 common questions about melamine.
1. What foods available in this country might be contaminated?
a. Infant formulas sold in Asian markets. The FDA says investigators have visited more than 1400 retail markets without finding any Chinese formulas on the shelves, but advises that you avoid any formula with a label that says it was manufactured in China, and to not buy formula online.
b. Mr Brown instant coffee and tea products. The Taiwanese manufacturer of these products has recalled them from the US market because of melamine contamination, though some may still be on shelves.
c. White Rabbit Creamy Candy. The New York Times reported on Wednesday [1 Oct 2008] that this popular and widely exported Chinese chocolate has been found in several locations throughout the country, most recently in Connecticut. The paper reported that tests conducted on those samples have detected melamine.
d. Blue Cat Flavor Drinks. The distributor of the product, Tristar Food Wholesale Co. Inc., initiated a recall of several flavors of Blue Cat Flavor Drink, based on recent FDA tests. The drink, also called Lanmao, comes in 4 flavors — strawberry, sweet orange,
pineapple, and peach. It’s sold mainly in Asian markets.
e. High-protein powders. These often contain concentrated amounts of dairy byproducts-notably casein, whey, and milk protein concentrates (MPCs) — but the source of those ingredients is often unclear, making it possible they come from milk that originated in China.
Regulations that require many foods to identify their country of origin don’t extend to all ingredients. (For other exemptions, see our recent report on so-called COOL food labels.)
Casein, whey, and MPCs are also often added to many other packaged and processed foods, including processed cheese, though probably in much smaller amounts. The FDA’s preliminary safety assessment suggests that those levels — except for infants — pose little threat to health. But it’s unclear what effect long-term exposure to small amounts of the chemical might have on the kidney. And, as the blog Diabetes Update indicates, some people worry that may pose special risks to people with existing kidney disease due to diabetes.
Our safety blog keeps an up-to-date list <http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/latest-recalls.html>) of all recalled products. Or check <http://www.recalls.gov/>.
2. What are the warning signs of melamine poisoning?
The resulting kidney damage is most likely to cause:
a. Blood in the urine
b. Reduced urine output
c. High blood pressure
For more, see our table on the signs and symptoms of kidney disease
(<http://www.consumerreports.org/health/healthy-living/health-safety/kidney-disease-silent-killer-on-the-rise-3-08/how-to-read-your-urine/how-to-read-your-urine.htm>).
3. What should you do if you suspect melamine poisoning or kidney problems?
Call your doctor. As we reported in April 2008, doctors can now use an improved blood test to get accurate and fast results. Early diagnosis combined with prompt treatment provides the best chance of preventing the damage from becoming chronic.
[Byline: Joel Keehn]
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Susan Baekeland
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[4] Melamine scrap
Date: Wed 8 Oct 2008
Source: The Epoch Times [edited]
<http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/china/melamine-china-milk-powder-5370.html>
Milk poison could come from melamine scrap
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Melamine is a basic organic chemical intermediate, with chemical formula C3H6N6. It is commonly produced from urea, and contains 66 percent nitrogen by mass.
Nitrogen is a very important building stone of all living beings. The element is an essential ingredient of proteins, which make up most of the human body that isn’t bone or water. As such, making nitrogen measurement is a common practice for protein content estimation. The Kjeldahl and Dumas testing methods are the standard tests used in the food industry for measuring total nitrogen in crude protein content while they can be misguided by adding nitrogen-rich compounds such as melamine. Melamine use as non-protein nitrogen (NPN) to feed cattle was issued in a U.S. patent in 1958. The patent lasted 20 years and was later banned due to inefficiency as a NPN source for ruminant.
In China’s melamine-tainted milk scandal, melamine as a nitrogen-rich substance is illegally added to baby formula in order to increase the apparent protein content and pass the quality tests, though thechemical has no nutritional value.
….melamine is only slightly soluble in water, it, when is being illegally added into milk products, will be dissolved in formaldehyde (carcinogen) or other organic solvents before mixing into the milk. Experts doubt that dairy farmers, who were blamed for the tainted milk scandal, would know such complicate chemical compound technique.
In addition, melamine by itself is non-toxic in low doses. However, when melamine combines with cyanuric acid in water or diet to form melamine cyanurate, it will lead to fatal kidney stones or renal problems. According to David Bradley’s article posted on Sciencebase.com on 17 Sep 2008], melamine is described as being “Harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Chronic exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage. Eye, skin and respiratory irritant.” However, the toxic dose is on a par with common table salt with an LD50 of more than 3 grams per kilogram of bodyweight, he added. He says, “But, if melamine has low toxicity then what is it that has poisoned thousands of babies in China and why has this scandal occurred? Well, LD50, the toxic dose issue, tells us something about acute exposure not the apparent six-month’s worth of accumulated exposure these babies have suffered. Chronic exposure to melamine can lead to bladder or kidney stones and even bladder cancer and as we have learned, acute kidney failure.”
In the end, he points out the fact [that the] melamine added to the milk may not be pure.
Melamine Scrap
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Melamine scrap, small acorn-sized chunks of white rock, is a by-product from processing of coal into melamine. It has been reported by [the] New York Times on [30 Apr 2007], following China’s melamine-tainted pet food scandal last year, that melamine scrap is widely incorporated into livestock and fish feed in parts of China.
According to the report, nitrogen-rich melamine scrap is routinely ground into powder and mixed into low-grade wheat, corn, soybean or other proteins to inflate the protein analysis of animal feed. Such melamine powder has been called “fake protein” and is used to deceive animal farmers into thinking they are buying feed that provides
higher nutrition value.
The practice is widespread in China. For years many animal feed sellers have been able to cheat buyers by blending a powdered form of the scrap into feed with little regulatory supervision, according to interviews with melamine scrap traders and agricultural workers here, described in the report.
The resulting melamine-tainted feed would be weak in protein but, by using melamine additive, the feed seller makes a huge profit because melamine scrap is much cheaper than soy, wheat or corn protein. “It is possible that melamine is added into soybean meal, a cheap source of protein products, or other milk additives before dairy
producers buy, or it is adulterated by the milk powder manufacturers themselves,” said [an] insider.
If the melamine contained in the milk powder or liquid milk comes from adding melamine scrap, there will be more ingredients to be worried about. A reporter in Caijing learned that as an impure form of the chemical, such leftover melamine scrap often contains urea, ammonia, silica, potassium nitrate, sodium nitrite, acetic acid, and activated carbon. Sodium nitrite is also internationally recognized as a carcinogen.
According to China’s State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (SAQSIQ), the content of melamine in Sanlu baby milk powder products is as high as 2563 milligrams per kilogram. Some industry insiders said that the high concentration of melamine in some brands of milk powder could be linked to hidden operating rules for milk powder manufacturers.
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall
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[5] South Korea – chocolate bars
Date: Sat 4 Oct 2008
Source: Vzglyad.ru [in Russian, trans. Corr.ATS, edited]
<http://www.vz.ru/news/2008/10/4/215373.html>
Melamine found in chocolate bars in South Korea
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Chocolate products from the Nestle and Mars companies are being removed urgently from retail stores in South Korea. RIA “Novosti” reports that melamine has been found in “Snickers” chocolate bars and “M&M’s” candies manufactured by the Mars Company in China. Melamine has been found also in Kit-Kat chocolate products, which are
manufactured by Nestle, according to an announcement of the South Korean food quality control service. The agency reports that they are urgently recalling melamine-containing products.
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Communicated by:
ProMED-RUS
<promed@promedmail.org>
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[6] Hungary ex Thailand – coffee powder
Date: Sun 5 Oct 2008
Source: Newsru.ua [in Russian, trans. Corr.ATS, edited]
<http://rus.newsru.ua/world/05oct2008/melamin.html>
Melamine in coffee: Hungary ex Thailand
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ITAR-TASS reports detection of high melanin content in food product in Hungary. This dangerous chemical has been found in a lot of Nestle coffee powder in a Dyal city warehouse in the central region of Pesht. The coffee came from Bangkok. 2.7 mg of melamine was found in each 1 kg of product, which is above the permitted amount of 2.5 mg. This product hasn’t been sent for retail sale. According to previously issued instructions, this lot will be destroyed.
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Communicated by:
ProMED-RUS
<promed@promedmail.org>
[see also:
Melamine contaminated food products (02): Worldwide ex China 20081004.3129
Melamine contaminated food products – Worldwide ex China 20081002.3107
Melamine contamination, animal feed: RFI 20081001.3097
Infant kidney stones – China (03): melamine 20080917.2915
Infant kidney stones – China (02): Gansu, milk, melamine
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