John Yasuda, author of On Feeding the Masses: An Anatomy of Regulatory Failure in China , a book on food safety in China, said the high demand for milk in a more prosperous China contributed in part to the tragedy. Soon after the milk powder scandal, China passed a new law on additives, and beefed up government coordination on food safety, including by restructuring its agency that administers food and drug safety. China also rolled out a series of new rules link in Chinese for infant formula specifically.
The State Council said in that the country would build up a digital tracking system to display information about the entire formula supply chain, a plan that has only been adopted by link in Chinese Guangdong province so far. In January, China began requiring manufacturers to register their formula products, and limiting the number of such products a company can have.
Yet the effect has been limited. Parents continue to stock up on foreign milk products in neighboring Hong Kong, at times causing a shortage of milk powder in the area—forcing the city government to limit the amount of milk powder mainland Chinese can bring back from Hong Kong.
The fear is so deep-rooted that it goes beyond milk powder—food rumors about things such as plastic seaweed and seedless grapes cultivated with birth control medicines frequently send consumers into a tailspin. One is the excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers in the s pdf, p.
The government has only just started to tackle the problem, Huang said in an interview with Quartz. China also has a top-down regulatory method, which makes it hard for the public to engage with the process, particularly given the lack of press freedom, he says. Not that foreign milk is immune from safety issues—earlier this year, a French milk-powder producer recalled 7, tons of infant formula after babies fell ill consuming products from the firm contaminated with salmonella.
For example, low levels of melamine in food could result from carryover from adulterated animal feed. Baseline concentrations of melamine are present in the environment and in the food chain as a result of the widespread use of materials that contain melamine. Melamine concentrations in food and animal feed above baseline levels are considered to be the result of misuse or adulteration.
The high levels of melamine detected in many products related to the incident are a clear indication of adulteration. Data showing the presence of melamine in animal tissue including fish , milk, and eggs demonstrate that carryover from feed to tissues, milk, and eggs does occur.
Figure 2 presents the four major possible paths for deliberate contamination: a liquid milk in the milk-collecting stations that was then used in the production of powdered infant formula, liquid and powdered milk products, and processed milk-containing foods; b animal feed that resulted in contamination of milk, eggs, and potentially meat; c nondairy creamer and protein powder that lead to the contamination of instant nondairy beverage products; and d ammonium bicarbonate that was used to produce several types of processed food.
Flow chart of the melamine-contamination chain from adulteration. Solid lines indicate contaminated products as observed during the incident. Dashed lines indicate possible contamination but not reported during the incident. From the wide-ranging levels of melamine found in the different product categories Table 2 , it cannot be immediately determined which of the positive results are due to baseline contamination and which are due to intentional misuse and adulteration of melamine in food and feed.
It is currently still unclear how products such as ammonium bicarbonate, nondairy creamer, and protein powder have been contaminated with melamine. However, it is assumed that melamine, of high purity grade as white powder, was added directly to such products, as it would serve as an inexpensive substitute for other raw material or boost apparent protein content.
The detection of melamine in products such as dried egg powder and whole eggs indicates carryover of melamine from feed to food products.
In one particular incident in South Africa, it was reported that locally produced powdered-milk products were contaminated with melamine due to the use of old stocks of contaminated feed, from the incident, for dairy cattle Animal Feed Manufacturers Association Further studies on this subject are warranted. It is assumed that more analytical results are available worldwide and that monitoring is ongoing.
It is interesting to note that almost no positive results for melamine in infant formula have been reported by authorities outside of China. This result may be due to rapid actions such as import bans.
However, many countries require premarket approval or notification for infant formula, and many countries may not allow Chinese infant formula in their market. In Canada, one study was performed by authorities to study baseline levels in local infant formula, where melamine was detected in 60 of the 80 local products sampled, at concentrations ranging from 4. It served to identify baseline levels in infant formula.
Because the epidemiologic studies showed that many children with identified calculi where asymptomatic, it is likely that there were many more cases that were not brought to the attention of medical authorities.
Considering the global distribution of affected products, as well as informal distributions, it is also possible that there are unidentified and therefore unreported cases in countries other than China. Also, many children had small calculi or stones that were not detectable with standard methods, further leading to a possible underreporting of affected children. There is a lack of information on the long-term effects of melamine in humans, which makes predicting the subchronic and chronic health problems that might follow from the incident difficult.
The carcinogenic effects reported in animal studies subsequent to irritation caused by stones formed after high exposure International Agency for Research on Cancer do raise health concerns. Thus, it is essential that treatment to eliminate calculi and stones be continued and that long-term studies into the human health effects of melamine be carried out. Information obtained from the current incident is critical to identify the long-term effects of high levels of melamine consumption in humans including conducting large-scale epidemiologic investigations such as longitudinal cohort studies, long-term follow-up of affected cohorts, and more extensive case findings to establish the total population affected.
The TDI is derived from short-term toxicology studies in animals. These studies were not designed to investigate bladder or kidney crystal and calculi formation. However, they form a strong basis for risk assessment, particularly considering that the effects seen in humans are similar to the effects seen in animals. Nevertheless, uncertainty remains, particularly in light of the new findings that melamine crystals dissolve rapidly in formalin, which is routinely used for tissue fixation.
This may have led to an underestimation of the formation of bladder crystals, the critical effect used as a basis for derivation of the TDI. It is important to note that the adverse effects seen in experimental animals, and probably in humans as well, are due to a local physical effect rather than a systemic effect. Melamine and its analogs are rapidly excreted, and crystal formation occurs only at high doses when a critical concentration is reached in the excretory organ.
It appears that only when this threshold is exceeded do adverse effects occur. However, available data do not allow identification of this threshold concentration, for melamine alone or in combination with its analogs, and further investigations are needed. According to information provided to INFOSAN by Chinese authorities on 29 September , parents of the infants who consumed Sanlu formula filed complaints to the company as early as December , and the company had detected melamine in its products in June The company only reported its findings to the local government in August , followed by a further delay until 9 September when the incident was reported to the provincial government.
A timely response is important to assure appropriate actions to limit the spreading of contaminated product and to ensure that all contaminated product—domestic and exported—can be taken off the market.
There is a clear responsibility for all parties involved in the food-production chain producers and authorities , to release immediately any information related to any contamination with a possible human health impact. Withholding such information will negatively affect health outcome and the credibility of all involved. The managing of outbreaks depends strongly on a well-structured food-safety system; communication and access to information are key components that will determine a positive reaction to an incident.
This incident, and the rapid spread of the affected products worldwide, has evidenced the need for a mechanism for coordination and information exchange linking food-safety authorities and promoting the rapid exchange of information. In any important food-safety event, there is an urgent need to provide the best available scientific knowledge in the area. Such knowledge can save lives and help to control an outbreak. Sharing information across borders is essential to obtain the best advice possible and to avoid confusion when tackling international events.
This information should include international agreement about testing and reporting methodology; without these, coherent international analysis and action are not possible. In general, there is a need to achieve international scientific agreement relative to the risk of melamine in food and feed.
A WHO expert meeting WHO provided the first international forum for exchange and joint analysis of data in this area. The Chinese authorities should be commended for the pertinent data provided at this meeting. During the incident, significant confusion existed regarding which level of melamine in food presents a human health risk. It is important for authorities to present clear, understandable reasoning for any action or nonaction taken.
There is a need for a common understanding of the underlying science that ideally leads to one harmonized international set of limits in food and feed, typically achieved through the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
Some 68 countries have taken different restrictive trade measures against a range of food products originating from China. These were introduced at the onset of the event in September Several months later, questions still remain as to when and how to consider this incident under control. Spiking milk is not new there, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Farmers in one Chinese province, according to the story, "say 'protein powder' of often-uncertain origin has been employed for years as a cheap way to help the milk of undernourished cows fool dairy companies' quality checks.
When the big companies caught on, some additive makers switched to toxic melamine. Past columns are available at www. Sorry, Fixit cannot supply individual replies. Home All Sections. Log In Welcome, User. Coronavirus Minneapolis St. Paul Duluth St. Study: Mpls. Paul minimum wage increases led to loss of restaurant jobs. Protest outside Prior Lake High attracts hundreds outraged by racist video. Around 38 tonnes of the raw material were bought from Hebei province, the source of the scandal, police said.
This means traders may have bought tainted milk that should have been destroyed in with the intention of processing it and reselling it, Wang Zhongxi, deputy chief of Gansu's quality control bureau, was quoted as saying. Melamine is used to make plastics, fertilisers and concrete. When added to food products it indicates a higher apparent protein content but can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.
In , melamine was found in the products of 22 Chinese dairy companies - one out of every five suppliers in China. The scandal caused outrage among consumers and fraught parents and led to an international outcry about the standards of food safety in China.
More than 20 people were convicted for their roles in the scandal, and two people were executed.
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