MELAMINE CONTAMINATED FOOD PRODUCTS (09): WORLDWIDE EX CHINA
************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
In this update:
[1] Melamine in Chinese soybeans fed to organic French poultry
[2] US: revised melamine tolerable daily intake
*****
[1] Melamine in Chinese soybeans fed to organic French poultry
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008
Source: AFP [machine-trans., abridged, edited]
Chinese soybeans contaminated with melamine withdrawn from the French market
Christophe Courousse, communications director of
the cooperative Terrena in Ancenis
(Loire-Atlantique), told AFP on Friday: “One of
the 3 imported batches, of 293 tonnes, had a
rate of melamine of 116 mg/kg while the standard
[permitted maximum level?] is of 2.5 mg. All food
products made from these materials have been
removed from the market in early November”.
Soybean meal had been delivered, before the
chemical analysis, mainly to 127 organic farmers
in Pays de Loire through the Bio animal nutrition
(BNA), a subsidiary of Terrena a Mervent
(Vendee), which specializes in the manufacture of
organic food.
“The analysis of pork and laying hens show that
there is no danger to public health. Unlike
dioxin, melamine does not accumulate in the body.
There is no transmission in the food chain “,
AFP was told by Fréderic Andre of the Veterinary
Services Directorate in Vendee.
Soya cake with melamine has been used to
manufacture feed for farmers in 11 departments:
Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne,
Deux-Sevres, Vendee, Calvados, Eure,
Ille-et-Vilaine, Indre -et-Loire, Sarthe and Orne.
The company BNA announced its intention to sue
for fraud, adding melamine to “artificially
inflate the protein levels and increase the
selling price of the product”, said Courousse.
“The organic sector needs 18 000 tons of soybeans
while France produces only 4000 tonnes,” says
Courousse. Imports from China were due to poor
harvest in Brazil, the traditional supplier.
Controls on stored stocks have been carried out
following a warning from the European Union in
late October, recommending vigilance on imports
from China.
Meanwhile, the Ecocert agency, in charge of the
organic certification of imported soybeans, said
that the Chinese exporter had committed a “fraud”
which its control procedures was unable to
detect. [ECOCERT is an organic certification
organization, founded in France in 1991. It is
based in Europe but conducts inspections in over
80 countries, making it one of the largest
organic certification organizations in the world;
see
http://www.ecocert.fr/Contact.html
- Mod.
AS].
“Our certification covers a production method”,
AFP was told Jerome Viel, head of certification
at Ecocert. The body, which has an office in
Beijing, controls “practices” and checks the
“traceability”, but can not “guarantee” against
“frauds” such as the ones [suspected to have
been] committed by the Chinese exporter, he said.
There are many ECOCERT controls on the products
themselves, but they “address mainly pesticides,”
he explained.
Since that case, “we decided to increase the
Ecocert surveillance upon imports of organic soya
cake, whatever their origin,” he said.
According to Terrena, the Chinese supplier in
question is Hongliang, based in Dalian (Northern
China). Its export authorization in France has
been suspended by the Ministry of Agriculture,
said Ecocert.
For their part, European manufacturers of natural
soybean products have to specify in a statement
that the products, intended for human consumption
such as soy milk, soy desserts, Soy steaks etc.,
placed on the market, are not involved in the
melamine contamination problem.
—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail rapporteur Susan Baekeland
******
[2] US: revised melamine tolerable daily intake
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2008
Source: AP via Yahoo News [edited]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081129/ap_on_he_me/infant_formula
FDA sets melamine standard for baby formula
Food and Drug Administration officials on Friday
[28 Nov 2008] set a threshold of 1 part per
million [=1.0 mg per kg] of melamine in formula,
provided a related chemical isn’t present. They
insisted the formulas are safe. [An FDA interim
safety/risk assessment on melamine and structural
analogues, published last month, established for
melamine a tolerable daily intake TDI of 0.63 mg
per kg of body weight per day. - Mod. AS].
snipped.................
The agency still will not set a safety level for
melamine if cyanuric acid is also present, he
said.
Both the new safety level and the amount of the
chemical found in U.S.-made infant formula are
far below the amounts of melamine added to infant
formula in China that have been blamed for
killing at least three babies and making
thousands ill.
“The levels were so low ... that they do not
cause a health risk to infants,” Sundlof said.
“Parents using infant formula should continue
using U.S.-manufactured infant formula. Switching
away from one of these infant formulas to
alternate diets or homemade formulas could result
in infants not receiving the complete nutrition
required for proper growth and development.”
Reacting to news of the contaminated formulas,
members of Congress, a national consumer group
and the Illinois attorney general have demanded a
national recall, something the FDA said made no
sense because it had no evidence suggesting that
the formula would be dangerous for babies at the
levels of contamination found.
After saying it made an error in its data, the
FDA on Wednesday [26 Nov 2008] produced these
results: Nestle’s Good Start Supreme Infant
Formula with Iron had 2 positive tests for
melamine on one sample; Mead Johnson’s Infant
Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron had 3
positive tests on one sample for cyanuric acid.
Separately, a 3rd major formula maker, Abbott
Laboratories, told the AP that in-house tests had
detected trace levels of melamine in its infant
formula.
Those three formula makers manufacture more than
90 percent of all infant formula produced in the
United States.
snipped............
The agency said it is continuing research on
animals to see the effects of ingesting both
melamine and cyanuric acid.
[Byline: JOAN LOWY and JUSTIN PRITCHARD]
—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall
[An emergency expert meeting on toxicological
aspects of melamine and cyanuric acid is to be
held 1-4 Dec 2008. The meeting is being convened
by the WHO in collaboration with FAO. The Chinese
authorities have been requested by the WHO to
provide information for the meeting. For
background, see
http://www.who.int/foodsafety/fs_management/melamine_expertcall.pdf
Mod.AS]
[see also:
Melamine - USA (02): traces in infant formula 20081127.3738
Melamine contaminated food products (08): worldwide ex China 20081120.3658
Melamine - USA: alert 20081116.3619
Melamine contamination, animal feed (04): China 20081114.3598
Melamine contaminated food products (07): worldwide ex China 20081114.3587
Melamine contaminated food products (06): worldwide ex China 20081105.3480
Melamine contamination, animal feed (03): China 20081031.3433
Melamine contaminated food products (05): worldwide ex China 20081030.3425
Melamine contaminated food products (04): Worldwide ex China 20081027.3391
Melamine contamination, animal feed (02): China 20081020.3326
Melamine contaminated food products (03): Worldwide ex China 20081020.3324
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 (04): WHO, international recall 20080919.2951
Infant kidney stones - China (03): melamine 20080917.2915
Infant kidney stones - China (02): Gansu, milk, melamine 20080912.2856
2007
China is cutting its own throat by doing this. Unscrupulous factory managers/owners put melamine into their product hoping evade detection, and inspectors look the other way through incompetence or malfeasance. The communist culture of perpetual altruism becomes a chaotic struggle for a tiny share of a shrinking set of resources.