Heating Food That Contains Melamine

Since the introduction of plastic melamine dishware products, people were told not to heat them in a microwave or put them in a dishwasher because melamine, when heated, breaks down and leaches into the food we eat on that dishware.

What about when the food itself has melamine in it? If melamine is in eggs, milk powder, vegetable protein, gluten, etc., what happens to the food, the properties of the food, when we heat it? And what happens to us when that heated melamine is ingested? If there is melamine in food, and you heat your food, and your food is eaten off of unsafe melamine...well, you get the idea.

Eggs are the focus of the latest melamine-in-food incident. We do heat eggs. At high temperatures. We also heat foods containing dairy ingredients, wheat and vegetable proteins. Are we exponentially raising the dangers and risks to our health by ingesting these heated food products that contain melamine? I think this would be an excellent reason why NO melamine in ANY level is acceptable in whole or processed food.

China is Third Biggest Supplier to U.S.

David Lazarus of the L.A. Times echoing the sentiment that the FDA is probably too lax in their enforcement, oversight and testing of food products that could possibly contain melamine in the U.S.  

FDA Goes To China (and beyond)

The FDA plans to set up offices in Beijing and other cities in China, as well as in other countries, to be able to more closely monitor food and raw ingredients prepared for export. 

FDA Issues Recalls

This morning the FDA issued recalls of two imported milk products. 

None of the press releases from the FDA since September are about the Lotte Koala cookies. I don't understand why since they tested positive for such high levels of melamine in many countries. Hasn't the FDA done their own testing on this product?

Blogging About Melamine

Being sort of new to this whole blog thing and feeling like I can't get my thoughts to the keyboard fast enough, I'm going to send you over here for a few thoughtful comments. 

Results From Hong Kong Tests for Melamine

Today the Center for Food Safety in Hong Kong released the list of food products they tested for melamine, and the results. This link will take you to the portal where you can then select by month and by type of product. They're all interesting; the "Other Food Products" section reveals that products such as Skippy Peanut Butter, Miracle Whip, Dove Chocolates and other well known products were tested. I'm assuming because they contain ingredients (in this case milk ingredients) from China regardless of where they were manufactured. Why else would they be on the list?

Anyone can pick up the phone (or make contact in some way) and call the 800 number on the back of the box of a food item and ask them if any of their ingredients come from China. Most companies will say "Uh ok. Let me read you the prepared statement." It usually includes something like, "...we receive some ingredients from overseas suppliers when necessary to meet our demand." "From China?" "I can't tell you who our suppliers are or specifically where they are located." "Gee thanks." 

So looking at the list of items that were tested in Hong Kong is sort of like the big reveal. Skippy, Kraft, Cadbury, Campbell Soup and a few other well known companies that sell or manufacture food in the U.S. While they are not very forthcoming with their information about the origin of their raw ingredients, I'll venture a guess that some of it comes from overseas, including China.

But recently I contacted the Associated Press with a question I had about Kraft food products. I've been curious about the report I heard about Oreo wafers having been found to have melamine in them as a result of testing done in Indonesia and wondered where does Kraft get all their "milk protein concentrate" from? Even there are no "milk ingredients" in Oreos as Kraft claims, what about the "whey protein concentrate" in their products? And hey, there is "milk protein concentrate" in their Macaroni & Cheese. I also thought where are all these multinational companies getting these ingredients from for their cheesey popcorn, cereal, soup mixes and so on. But back to Kraft. I asked AP the following, in a forum they call "Ask the AP" and received the following answer:

Q: Since Oreos made in China have been found to be tainted with melamine, should we be worried that another popular Kraft product "macaroni & cheese" might also be contaminated? I know melamine has been found in milk products, and I noticed that Kraft "mac & cheese" contains "milk protein concentrate." Is the company, or the FDA, testing it for melamine?
A: Kraft says U.S. consumers don't have to worry about any of its products,
from Oreo cookies to mac & cheese, because the company does not use any dairy ingredients from China in products sold here.
Kraft is also defending Oreos, saying it doesn't use Chinese dairy
ingredients in any Oreo products. The company questions the Indonesian
government's report that Oreo wafer sticks were tainted with melamine. Testing by other Asian governments found no contamination, Kraft said.
The U.S. produces enough milk to meet domestic demand, and no Chinese companies are approved to ship milk, milk powder or similar ingredients here.
FDA officials don't believe China's latest food safety scandal will have widespread impact for American consumers, and instead are focusing on imported products sold at Asian groceries.
The government has also stepped up testing at ports of entry as a precaution.
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
AP FDA/Health Writer
Washington

Thank you Mr. Alonso-Zaldivar for researching my inquiry. I did not know that about U.S. milk production nor did I know no Chinese companies are approved to ship milk, etc., here. I wonder if that is a recent rule or if it has been in place for a long time. 

I am still curious however as to why the list from Hong Kong places Oreo wafers and other Oreo cookies in the list of "SATISFACTORY results of testing melamine". Why doesn't the Satisfactory section say "no melamine found"? 2.5 ppm or less, I guess.  Just sayin'... Is it all that "naturally occurring" melamine...?

My question to the AP did not specifically ask about the vegetable proteins, I know. And I'd love at some point to get the answer on that one, (although I think I already know the answer) and to find out specifically if Kraft IS testing their myriad of products with imported ingredients.

And don't get me started on food labels. Product of USA. Made in USA. Huh?

Food Labels, Warning Labels

Now that there has been a level of melamine in food determined to be acceptable and therefore levels that are unacceptable, I wonder if food labels will start listing melamine as an ingredient. Or a caution label: "This product contains up to 2.5 parts per million of melamine". Or "This product may contain unknown levels of melamine". 

Or maybe we can have a version of a Prop 65 warning on food packaging. It is interesting to note that according to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Proposition 65 requires the Governor to publish, at least annually, a list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.

Melamine is not on that list. I wonder if it will ever get on that list.

You can contact your legislative representatives and communicate with them about all of this. Some congressional representatives are already trying to do something about the questionable FDA guidelines.

Melamine Blog advocates for the testing of whole and processed food quality from all sources and origins, publicized results and thorough food labeling including origin labeling. The public needs more info about melamine and how to avoid eating it. 

Get thee to this link

You really have to read From China, With Love: Melamine. While there is no doubt, to me, that we should have a closer eye on China as a food source, if not ban products outright, I am also concerned about melamine added to food from all other sources and origins, including the U.S. Not to mention that the U.S. imports food from other countries, not just China, and those countries might import ingredients from China.