Friday, October 3, 2008

FDA on Melamine: A Little Dab Won't Do Ya

Just as angst over the presence of melamine in food products is stirring a global stew of controversy (again), today we hear straight from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that trace amounts of the toxic compound are nothing to fret about. That is, unless it is in baby formula, where it can sicken and maybe even kill.

You'll probably recall how in 2007 melamine was blamed for an epidemic of food-related illnesses among American pets, spurring a huge recall of pet food that emptied shelves in supermarkets across the country and inciting a storm of righteous indignation among dog and cat lovers. Investigators sniffed out the problem: Chinese suppliers of bulk pet food ingredients, who had been slipping the compound into formulas to artificially jack up the protein readings on their products. Thousands of pets in the U.S. ended up sick as a result, and an undetermined number, suspected in the hundreds, probably died because of the underhanded practice.
Progressive Grocer reported that pet food sales initially slumped precipitously as over 150 pet food brands were swept from the shelves, including many supermarket private label brands.

Tooth paste and drugs in China also were swept into the vortex. Eventually, heads rolled in China over the debacle, perhaps even literally. Back in the USA, slowly but surely, pet owners again started trusting their supermarkets and pet food brands not to kill their best friends.

So, that should have been the end of the melamine poisoning story, wouldn't you think?

Think again.

Starting around mid-September, reports began to emerge from China that baby formula tainted by melamine was sickening thousands of kids over there. it soon became clear that more than 54,000 children has fallen ill, and at least a handful had died.

Melamine also was detected in products sold across Asia, including candy, coffee drinks, made with dairy ingredients imported from China. In the U.S., officials in California and Connecticut found melamine in White Rabbit candy made in China.

Meanwhile, the FDA was back in D.C., doing its thing--in this case an interim safety and risk assessment of melamine and melamine-related compounds in food, including infant formula.

In a statement out today, FDA says scientists from its Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the Center for Veterinary Medicine, duly reviewed scientific literature on melamine toxicity. Their conclusion: It's okay to eat a little bit of melamine--2.5 parts per million--even if you ingest it day in and day out.

But that does not apply to baby formula. The agency warns that infant formula sold to U.S. consumers must be completely free of melamine.

Says FDA: "There is too much uncertainty to set a level in infant formula and rule out any public health concern. However, it is important to understand that this does not mean that any exposure to any detectable level of melamine and melamine–related compounds in formula will result in harm to infants."

Its watchdogs are keeping their eyes peeled for products deliberately adulterated with melamine, which presumably would call for more than 2.5 parts per million to achieve any nefarious effect.

"If products are adulterated because they contain melamine, the agency will take appropriate actions to prevent the products from entering commerce," FDA says.

How reassuring. You can read the entire FDA statement here. For sure, the public ought to be aware of FDA ministrations about China and melamine. But how many of us are put at ease by a statement that in effect urges us not to bother about ingesting a little bit of poison, sy with lunch everyday? With the scandal and despair over the toxin's widespread appearance in dog food here still fresh enough, the retail food industry ought to be pushing for something a bt more aggressive on the government's part.