The Melamine Incident: Implications for International Food and Feed Safety

Abstract

BackgroundA major food safety incident in China was made public in September 2008. Kidney and urinary tract effects, including kidney stones, affected about 300,000 Chinese infants and young children, with six reported deaths. Melamine had been deliberately added at milk-collecting stations to diluted raw milk ostensibly to boost its protein content. Subsequently, melamine has been detected in many milk and milk-containing products, as well as other food and feed products, which were also exported to many countries worldwide.ObjectivesThe melamine event represents one of the largest deliberate food contamination incidents. We provide a description and analysis of this event to determine the global implications on food and feed safety.DiscussionsA series of factors, including the intentional character of the milk contamination, the young age of the population affected, the large number of potentially contaminated products, the global distribution of these products, and the delay in reporting led this event to take on unexpected proportions. This incident illustrated the complexity of international trade of food products and food ingredients that required immediate actions at international level.ConclusionManaging food-safety events should be done internationally and early on as soon as multinational consequences are expected. Collaboration between food-safety authorities worldwide is needed to efficiently exchange information and to enable tracking and recalling of affected products to ensure food safety and to protect public health.

Computational design of molecularly imprinted polymer for direct detection of melamine in milk

“…Contamination of infant formula and pet food with melamine has caused a global scandal following the deaths of a number of babies and the hospitalisation of several thousand more (11). n 2004 the World Health Organisation (WHO) established a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of melamine of 0.2 mg/kg of body mass, a reduction from the previous level of 0.63 mg/kg set by the American food and drug administration (FDA) based on data collected in 1983 (4).…”

Investigation of Melamine Presence in Canned Tuna Fish by Capillary Zone Electrophoresis Method

“…Because melamine is cheap and easily accessible, there is an economic stimulus for its illegal addition (Gossner et al 2009). Melamine has been found in snack foods, dairy products, eggs, confectionary products, fish and some processed foodstuffs (Andersen et al 2008;Ingelfinger 2008;Gossner et al 2009). Melamine is rapidly absorbed from gastrointestinal tract and rapidly excreted in the urine and not metabolized (Lucas 2009).…”

Membrane Sampling with Microdialysis Coupled to HPLC/UV for On-line Simultaneous Determination of Melamine and Cyanuric Acid in Non-dairy Coffee Creamer

“…Although MM is of low acute toxicity, with LD50 exceeding 3000 mg/kg body weight in mice and rats, 1 it can lead to crystal formation and subsequent lethal nephrotoxicity in animals when combined with cyanuric acid (1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triol, CA), a bacteria-mediated metabolite and hydrolysis product of MM. 2,3 Therefore, the direct addition of MM to food is not approved in most countries, including the US and those in Europe.…”

“…6 Deliberate contamination of MM in different food categories during the incident resulted from four major sources: 1) raw milk that was then used in the production of powdered and liquid milk products and processed milk-containing foods; 2) animal feed, resulting in the contamination of milk and eggs; 3) ammonium bicarbonate (AB) that was used as a leavening agent to make several types of fritters, biscuits, and cookies; and 4) non-dairy coffee creamer (NCC) and protein powder, leading to the contamination of instant beverage and soup products. 1 NCC is the most commonly used milk or cream substitute for flavoring coffee, one of the most popular beverages throughout the world. Given that authorities in several Southeast Asian countries, including South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan, all found high levels of MM (1.5 -20700 mg/kg) in NCC that originated from China, 1,4,7 monitoring and controlling the level of MM in NCC is currently of great importance for food safety.…”

“…1 NCC is the most commonly used milk or cream substitute for flavoring coffee, one of the most popular beverages throughout the world. Given that authorities in several Southeast Asian countries, including South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan, all found high levels of MM (1.5 -20700 mg/kg) in NCC that originated from China, 1,4,7 monitoring and controlling the level of MM in NCC is currently of great importance for food safety. Although several methods have recently been reported for analyzing MM and CA in foodstuffs (for a review, see Ref.…”