Be sure you read what our own FDA says about the addition of Melamine a
KNOWN TOXIN (much like flouride!) is 'safe' to use in milk products!
Incidently it makes me suspiciouse of our own milk and dairy supplies
in part because as recently as this year this SAME chemical melamine
has been found in cat and dog foods both manufactured HERE and over
seas and its KILLING PETS!
BEIJING (AP) — China has adopted its first rules governing
allowable levels of an industrial chemical at the center of the tainted
milk scandal, as it tries to assuage a growing number of countries that
are banning its imports.
The government has been struggling to deal with festering health
and public relations issues since the crisis erupted last month.
China's food exports have increasingly suffered, with more nations
issuing import bans.
The melamine contamination has been blamed in the deaths of four babies and for sickening more than 54,000 children.
Dairy suppliers have been accused of adding melamine to
watered-down milk to make the product appear rich in protein and fool
quality control tests. There had been no previous standards.
Under guidelines adopted Wednesday, melamine limits considered safe
are set at one part per million for infant formula and 2.5 parts per
million for liquid milk, milk powder and food products that contain
more than 15 percent milk.
Melamine, used in products including plastics, paint and adhesives,
can lead to kidney stones and possibly life-threatening kidney failure.
Wang Xuening, a Health Ministry official, said any items containing higher levels will be "prohibited from sale."
Wang acknowledged that small amounts of melamine can leech from the
environment and packaging into milk and other foods, but said that
deliberate tainting is explicitly forbidden.
"Melamine cannot be used as an ingredient or additive in food
products," Wang said. "For those who add melamine into food products,
their legal responsibility will be investigated."
Chen Junshi, a researcher for China's Center for Disease Control
and Prevention, said the new guidelines will help officials assess
whether melamine had been intentionally added or existed in the
environment.
"If the amount exceeds one (part per million), we have reasons to
believe it was intentionally added," Chen said. "If the amount is below
one, it's very likely that it is because it existed in the
environment."
Levels of melamine discovered in batches of milk powder recently registered as much as 6,196 parts per million.
Guidelines in Hong Kong and New Zealand say melamine in food
products is considered safe at 2.5 parts per million or less, though
Hong Kong has lowered the level for children under 3 and pregnant or
lactating women to one part per million.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says its experts have
concluded that eating 2.5 parts per million of melamine — a minuscule
amount — would not raise health risks, even if a person ate food every
day that was laced with it.
Deng Haihua, a representative of the Health Ministry's information
office, said the number of children treated in hospitals since October
has been "greatly reduced" but he said he was not authorized to give
any other updates.
China's Cabinet has acknowledged that the country's dairy industry
was "chaotic" and suffered from a grave lack of oversight. It has
pledged to monitor milk products from dairies to store shelves.
Even before the uproar over contaminated milk, China's
manufacturing industry had been under intense scrutiny after melamine
and other industrial toxins were found last year in exports ranging
from toothpaste to a pet food ingredient.
The current crisis has prompted the government to fire local and
even high-level officials for negligence, while repeating earlier
promises to raise product safety standards.
Meanwhile, the official Xinhua News Agency said police in the
northern Chinese province of Hebei, where the dairy giant Sanlu Group
is based, have arrested 14 more people in the scandal. A total of 27
people have been arrested in Hebei, it said.
Source: Sodahead.com