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FDA Blocks Chinese Products Over Melamine Fears

Agency issues import alert warning of possible contamination

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

November 14, 2008

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will now detain scores of products-- imported from China--because of melamine contamination.

Pet food is included in the import alert issued this week by the FDA.

Under this action, dozens of Chinese-imported items that contain milk products will be held at the border--and not allowed to enter the U.S.--until the importers can prove the items are not tainted with melamine or are not made with milk or milk-derived ingredients.

Melamine is a chemical used to make plastic and fertilizers. It is not allowed in human or pet food.

The products listed in this import alert--a precautionary measure designed to keep food tainted with melamine from entering the country--include candy, cereals, snack foods, cheese, ice cream, soft drinks and baby food products.

"We've continued to get information from others in the international community, and reports from China, about (melamine contamination) moving into different commodities," Steve Solomon, a senior FDA enforcement official, told The Associated Press. "Most of the products we are talking about are finished products like cookies, cakes and candies. The impact will be for various ethnic communities looking for specific products."

This federal action comes on the heels of reports that four infants in China recently died--and more than 53,000 other in that country became sick--after drinking melamine-tainted infant formula.

"The illnesses involved the formation of kidney stones and crystals and related complications," the FDA wrote in the import alert. It added that some 13,000 infants were hospitalized after drinking the tainted formula.

"The milk used in the infant formula has been implicated as the source of the melamine contamination."

The FDA learned that melamine was added to the infant formula to increase the nitrogen content – and falsely inflate the protein content.

The melamine contamination, however, isn't limited to infant formula.

"FDA analyses have detected melamine and cyanuric acid in a number of products that contain milk or milk-derived ingredients, including candy and beverages," the agency wrote.

And those products were shipped to consumers around the world.

More than 13 countries--including Asia, Europe and Australia--have discovered melamine in a variety of products made with the tainted milk ingredients from China, the FDA said.

Those products include candy, yogurt, frozen desserts, biscuits, instant coffee, milk tea products, and other beverages.

"Additional products from various manufacturers continue to be found to be contaminated with melamine," the FDA wrote.

Before the FDA will release any products included in this latest import alert, importers must provide:

• The results of a third-party laboratory analysis that verifies the products do not contain melamine or cyanuric acid;

• Documentation supplied in English that shows there are no milk or milk-derived ingredients in the product

Recurring problem

This isn't the first time officials have found melamine in food products imported from China.

FDA officials described this melamine contamination problem as a "recurring one."

In 2007, the FDA discovered melamine in the wheat gluten imported from China and used to make dog and cat food.

The contamination triggered the largest pet food recall in U.S. history.

Thousands of dogs and cats in North America suffered kidney disease after eating the tainted food. Many pets died.

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