FDA May 25, 2007

The Interim Melamine and Analogues Safety/Risk Assessment from FDA. It is basically a summary of the work that the FDA did after it discovered that pets were dying from eating pet food contaminated with melamine. Pet food was made with wheat and or wheat gluten contaminated with melamine. The scraps of the pet food were sold and added to animal feed for pigs, chickens and fish and sent to the U.S.  U.S livestock including pigs, chickens and fish ate the melamine tainted animal feed and were processed for human consumption. Rather than recall the pork, fish, poultry and eggs that made its way to grocery stores, the FDA decided to withhold only some processing of animals, concluding that some had already entered the channels of trade. The FDA measured the amounts of melamine in the animal tissue - our food, and found melamine to be present in the tissue. Interestingly, they also measured how much melamine is excreted in the urine of pigs who consume melamine tainted animal feed. Some melamine gets excreted in urine soon after it is consumed, but not all. Which leads to the ongoing issue of just how much melamine remains in tissue (or other parts of a living being) after long term consumption. If an animal eats melamine contaminated food and lives for any length of time before it is processed as food, how much melamine do we consume? 

I don't think it unreasonable to ask: Why the heck then is melamine added to animal feed in the first place?? It either has no function (its excreted rapidly) and should not be added to animal feed (or any food product), or it is retained, in any amount, and should not be added to animal feed or any part of the food chain. 

If you want to read all about the melamine levels in the pork, fish, poultry and eggs we eat now as a result of animals eating animal feed with melamine in it, then this document is for you.

I think the FDA should inform the public about which farms use melamine in their animal feed. I'm calling around to several companies and asking them myself. You should too. While you're at it, ask them if they import ANY of their ingredients (raw materials) from China for use in their food product. Ultimately consumers need to know if melamine is added to food whether it is added in China or any where else.