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FDA: Tiny bit of melamine OK in most food
WASHINGTON (AP) — Eating a tiny bit of a melamine, the chemical
responsible for a global food safety scare, is not harmful — except
when it's in baby formula, U.S. food safety officials said Friday.
Melamine-tainted
formula has sickened more than 54,000 children in China and is being
blamed for the deaths of at least four tots. The chemical has also
turned up in products sold across Asia, ranging from candies, to
chocolates, to coffee drinks, that used dairy ingredients from China.
Authorities in California and Connecticut have found melamine in White
Rabbit candies imported from China.
But infant formula made in the U.S. is safe, because manufacturers do not use any ingredients from China.
The
Food and Drug Administration said Friday its safety experts have
concluded that eating a very tiny amount of melamine — 2.5 parts per
million — would not raise health concerns, even if a person ate food
that was tainted with the chemical every day.
Separately, a New
Jersey company announced a recall of Chinese-made yogurt drinks Friday
after FDA testing found melamine. The Blue Cat Flavor Drink, also
called Lanmao, is sold nationwide in Asian groceries, said a spokesman
for the company, Tristar Food Wholesale of Jersey City.
More U.S.
recalls involving melamine can be expected as product testing
continues, particularly in Asian groceries around the country, FDA
officials said.
FDA officials stressed that the melamine safety
assessment the agency issued Friday does not mean U.S. authorities will
condone foods deliberately spiked with the chemical. The 2.5
parts-per-million standard is meant to address situations in which the
chemical accidentally comes into contact with food, such as in cases
where it is used for industrial purposes in a factory that makes food
products.
And infant formula sold to U.S. consumers must be completely free of melamine, officials emphasized.
"There is too much uncertainty to set a level in infant formula and rule out any public health concern," the FDA said.
In
China, unscrupulous suppliers appear to have been adding melamine to
make watered-down milk seem protein-rich in quality-control tests.
That's because melamine is high in nitrogen, as is protein.
Melamine
first came to the attention of U.S. consumers last year, when it
touched off a massive pet food recall. Chinese suppliers of bulk pet
food ingredients were found to have been adding the chemical to
artificially boost the protein readings of their products. Thousands of
pets here were sickened, and hundreds are believed to have died.
Melamine
is harmful to the kidneys. It can cause kidney stones as the body tries
to eliminate it, and in extreme cases, life-threatening kidney failure.
"If
products are adulterated because they contain melamine, (authorities)
will take appropriate actions to prevent the products from entering
commerce," the FDA said in a statement.
Friday's recall of Blue
Cat yogurt drinks covers as many as 166,000 bottles, a little more than
3 ounces each, the company said. The drinks come in several fruit
flavors, including strawberry, orange, pineapple and peach. Consumers
who have bought the drinks should discard them. No illnesses have been
reported.
