Re: China: Melamine tainted milk, current situation
there is not "safe level " of melamine.
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,74839
MELAMINE CONTAMINATED FOOD PRODUCTS (08): WORLDWIDE ex CHINA
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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: Mon 17 Nov 2008
Source: The Guardian (Nigeria) [edited]
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http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/focus_record/article01//indexn3_html?pdate=171108&ptitle=Coping%20with%20another%20toxic%20milk%20scare&cpdate=191108>
Nigeria: coping with another toxic milk scare
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The recent discovery of abnormal quantities of the toxic chemical
melamine in 6 different brands of ice cream and bulk milk powders
marketed in Lagos and Ogun States has raised fresh concerns over the
safety of dairy products and their link with increasing kidney
failures across the country. The discovery has left many critics
wondering whether the toxic chemical has been in the system long
before now and is responsible for the increasing cases of kidney failure.
Bulk milk powder, usually imported from China, is used in making
almost all confectioneries including bread, meat pie, cake, candy,
chocolate, ice cream, yoghurt, and biscuit, to mention but a few.
In recent times, melamine, a plastic-making industrial compound that
was added to milk powder to cheat quality tests, has been found in
cartons of milk and some dairy exports from China. It has also been
shown that the chemical sometimes accidentally leaches into the food
supply in low levels, from things like plastic dinnerware. It can
also seep in from some pesticides and fertilisers.
At least 4 Chinese children have died and over 500 000 others
hospitalized after consuming dairy products tainted with melamine.
However, no case has been confirmed in Nigeria.
Medical experts said extremely high levels of melamine, as found in
the Chinese ice creams, milk powders, and baby formulae, can cause
kidney stones, and in extreme cases can bring on life-threatening
kidney failure. They, however, said although melamine may already be
in the global food chain, humans are unlikely to get sick due to low
levels of the chemical. [There are too many variables in human health
for this to be a safe sentence. It does not account for
immunocompromised patients, the elderly, the very young, the cancer
patients, or those with other illnesses that may be complicating
factors. - Mod.TG]
More worrisome is the fact that some of the over 500 000 children,
who have fallen ill in China after being fed with milk formula
contaminated with melamine, have developed 'crystals' in their
kidneys.
Medical experts said in addition to causing kidney stones,
melamine could potentially trigger far more serious complications by
crystallising and then blocking tiny tubes in the kidneys. They say
crystals may be even more troublesome than stones. They can
potentially impair kidney function especially when large numbers of
them suddenly form at the same time, blocking tubules in the kidneys.
But while scientists say it is not dangerous to ingest small amounts,
they cannot be definitive because there have been no tests on
melamine effects in humans. Until the contaminated baby formula
became public in September [2008], there was never any reason to think so.
That leaves consumers worldwide, particularly parents, worried about
food products from China, and even those made elsewhere with
ingredients imported from Chinese companies.
Critics fear that the rising cases of kidney failure and the high
under-5 mortality rate in the country may not be unconnected with the
poisonous chemical.
Besides baby milk formula, dairy-based products from yoghurt to
chocolate and eggs have been contaminated with melamine. An admission
by a Chinese state-run media that the industrial chemical is
regularly added to animal feed in China fuelled fears that the
problem could be more widespread, affecting fish, meat, and who knows
what else.
This latest China food scandal has sparked tests for melamine in a
variety of Chinese-made products from milk and chocolate bars to
yoghurt exported around the world, including products in South Korea,
leading to items being pulled from shop shelves.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control
(NAFDAC) has detected toxic quantities of melamine in ice creams and
milk powder imported from China by Londa Foods International Limited.
NAFDAC said the milk powder and ice creams confiscated from the
company, located next to a Texaco petrol station off Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway, Isheri Town, Ogun State, contains 21.1 mg/kg of melamine,
which is far above the acceptable maximum limit of 2.5 mg/kg.
Nigeria adopted the Chinese standards, which say any product
containing melamine above 1 mg/kg is unacceptable. In the United
States, the maximum limit is 2.5 mg/kg. [Fascinating, one of the few
standards where China is stricter than the US. With a standard so
strict, how did so much melamine find its way into infant formulas
and milks to affect so many infants? - Mod.TG]
The Guardian investigations revealed that the ice cream, which is
sold freely in the country, has no NAFDAC number and the pack is
labelled in Chinese. The products are offered in many varieties to
consumers, ranging from ice cream in both bars and bowls.
NAFDAC's Deputy Director of Enforcement, Pharm. Ololade Alabi said
the contaminated milk powder and ice cream produced by the company
has been seized and the factory sealed up pending further
investigation. "Ultimately all affected raw materials and finished
products will be destroyed and further action will be taken against
the company," she said.
The ice cream products seized include: Londa Big Pudding Ice cream;
Londa Cool Ice Cream; Londa Orange Flavoured yoghurt; Londa Pineapple
Flavoured yoghurt; Londa Happiness Ice cream; and Londa Strawberry
Yoghurt. The contaminated ice creams, according to Alabi, were first
discovered at Osata Supermarket on Opebi Road, Ikeja Lagos, then with
a major distributor at Maryland, Ikeja, and at China Town where they
were supplied for sale. She said the agency has destroyed most of the
finished products.
But the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Dora Nkem Akunyili told The
Guardian in an exclusive interview over the weekend [15-16 Nov 2008]
that there is no cause for alarm. "If there is any cause for people
to be worried, I will not hesitate to give the information because we
have succeeded in gaining the confidence of Nigerians and that is
part of why we are succeeding and cannot afford to toy with it."
She explained: "Though we have discovered melamine in unsatisfactory
level in a product marketed by a Chinese company that was producing
illegally, we cannot really say that we have found it in Nigeria at a
frightening level. I will continue to say that I am very happy that
the major sources of melamine in China exported to many African
countries, but Nigeria was conspicuously out of the list. But that we
eventually found a Chinese company hiding somewhere and producing
milk that is unacceptable, does not mean that Nigeria has a problem
for us to worry about. We have been able to contain it. The milk
products we collected from across the country and tested, we did not
find melamine in any of them."
Akunyili dismissed melamine's link to increasing kidney failures in
the country and said that besides melamine, there are too many things
that cause kidney failure. "Kidney failure can be caused by fake
drugs, some chemicals unaccepted by the body, it can be caused by
bromate in bread, by diethyl glycol in toothpastes. It can be caused
by unwanted food additives. It can also be caused by melamine. It can
also be caused by genuine drugs, depending on the person taking it
because it could be an adverse drug reaction. So there are too many
causes of kidney failure, you cannot pin it just to melamine," she said.
The NAFDAC DG said that melamine contamination of food products and
the effect on human health is still a new thing. "I do not believe
that we have always had melamine in the system. Even in China it is
still a new thing, in America it is still new, that is why people are
still just bringing up standards for melamine. It is new; it is not a
usual thing to find that kind of chemical in foods. So if it existed
long time ago, too many people would have developed kidney problem
and of course died in China before this episode. But it has not
happened in the past so it is a new phenomenon and that is why the
world is waking up to adopt a regulation like China that anything
more than 1 mg/kg, in America anything more than 2.5 mg/kg melamine,
is unacceptable. We in Nigeria are adopting the Chinese standard,
which is 0.1 mg/kg, anything above that is unacceptable. So we do not
have any crisis situation."
The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children Fund
(UNICEF) have issued a joint statement expressing concern about the crisis.
"Whilst any attempt to deceive the public in the area of food
production and marketing is unacceptable, deliberate contamination of
foods intended for consumption by vulnerable infants and young
children is particularly deplorable," the statement said.
"We also expect that following the investigation and in the context
of the Chinese government's increasing attention to food safety,
better regulation of foods for infants and young children will be
enforced," the UN statement said.
WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are urging
affected countries to ensure safe feeding of millions of infants
following the ongoing melamine-contaminated milk crisis in China. The
2 agencies also called on countries to be alert to the possible
spread of melamine-contaminated dairy products.
Before now, most of the products tested by NAFDAC have been found to
be satisfactory. The agency had last month [October 2008] discovered
melamine but in safe levels in some Chinese milk powder used in the
country in making milk products.
The Guardian learnt that NAFDAC discovered melamine in toxic
quantities after ordering for a re-test of some the dairy products
manufactured by the Chinese firm. However, it was learnt that the
breakthrough was made possible after NAFDAC ordered for and got
delivery of state-of-the art test kits, Rapid Test Kit, for melamine
early last month [October 2008].
Alabi said that the Managing Director of the company, Mr Mo Yirui
claimed through an interpreter that the raw materials were procured
by his late predecessor, Mr Liu. She said that efforts are still
being made by the agency to track the actual source of the milk
powder in China.
How were Londa Foods dealings discovered? "We got a complaint from a
consumer. Not that the consumer was ill, but just out of curiosity
found that the ice cream is not registered and reported to us. We
decided to visit the factory and when we got there we saw the people
and invited them. Samples were collected and tested, and we found
melamine in unsatisfactory levels," Alabi said.
But Akunyili is not perturbed. She said: "I would have been rattled
if Nigeria was one of the countries they exported those consignment
of melamine to."
Also, a WHO food safety expert said that some children, who have
fallen ill in China after being fed milk formula that had been
contaminated with melamine, have developed "crystals" in their kidneys.
Food safety experts in the EU, which imports about 21 500 tons of
Chinese confectionary products, said there is only a limited risk in
Europe from the food imports. But the European Commission says it is
acting as a precaution in the face of the growing health scare.
"While breastfeeding is the ideal way of providing infants with the
nutrients they need for healthy growth and development, it is also
critical to ensure that there is an adequate supply of safe powdered
infant formula to meet the needs of infants who are not breastfed,"
said Dr Jurgen Schlundt, Director of the WHO Food Safety Department.
WHO recommends that all infants should be fed exclusively with breast
milk for the 1st 6 months of life. No other liquid or food, not even
water, is needed during this period. Thereafter, infants should
receive adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding
continues up to 2 years of age and beyond.
Peter Dingle, a toxicity expert at Murdoch University in Perth,
Australia, said, however, that aside from the tainted baby formula,
it is unlikely humans will get sick from melamine. The amount of the
chemical in a few servings of bacon, for instance, would simply be
too low, he said. [Although the level is low, what about long term
accumulations? Is there enough research to know for sure? - Mod.TG]
But Dingle and others said China should have cracked down sooner on
feed companies that have boosted their earnings by fortifying their
products with the chemical, which is normally used in the manufacture
of plastic and fertilisers.
Akunyili, on 16 Oct 2008, ordered manufacturing companies in Nigeria
to stop the use of bulk milk raw materials from China until the
Agency certified such raw materials to be free from melamine.
Akunyili, however, assured Nigerians that the agency was fully
prepared to checkmate any attempt by unscrupulous individuals or
groups to import the controversial China killer-milk into the
country. She said the agency received the rapid test kits for the
determination of melamine in powdered milk on Friday 10 Oct 2008 and
immediately started analysis of milk samples collected nationwide immediately.
Akunyili said 79 samples, comprising baby formula, milk powder, and
milk products such as yoghurt, milk drinks, and candies were screened
using the Rapid Test Kit. Melamine, she said, was detected in about
24 per cent of the samples analysed at levels below the presently
permitted maximum level of 1.0 mg/kg in baby formula and 2.5 mg/kg in
other milk products.
According to Akunyili, of the 18 baby formulas screened, 6 samples
were found to contain melamine at levels within acceptable limits.
Sixteen bulk milk powders from China were screened and half of them
had melamine within acceptable limits. She said the agency has also
ordered for the various accessories and reagents required for
qualitative and quantitative analysis.
The NAFDAC boss further explained: "Currently there are no imported
finished milk products from China registered by NAFDAC, but some
local manufacturers of dairy products use bulk milk powder from China
as raw material. Consequently, NAFDAC wrote to all manufacturers that
use Chinese bulk milk powder to stop their use until they are
certified to be melamine free by NAFDAC. We also went to the
individual factories nationwide to put all the milk raw materials on
hold, so as to ensure that the milk powders are not used for
production until certified."
NAFDAC has given reasons why Nigeria is not on the list of the
countries where the deadly Chinese infant formula has been
circulated. Akunyili, told The Guardian: "We are ensuring that infant
formula in Nigeria is of good quality. Before we register, we test,
we make sure they are of the right quality; they are not harmful in
any way. We also screen at the ports of entry. We take samples and
screen. The world knows how strict we are at all ports of entry now
and that is why China did not export that infant formula to Nigeria.
"I have some inner feeling of fulfillment when they read out the
names of countries where the milk was exported to and Nigeria was not
there. Not only do we screen before registration, we go back to the
market to pick the items and re-test. That is how we found out fake
SMA Gold [infant milk formula]. We also encourage the public to give
us tip-offs. We also inspect the plant of the manufacturer."
She, however, explained why the agency couldn't ban the sale of
infant formula in the country, saying: "We are not able to say that
because there are some HIV-positive mothers who prefer to use infant
formula for psychological reasons. Although if you are HIV-positive
and you do exclusive breastfeeding you will not transfer the disease,
some of them psychologically do not want to; so they use infant formula."
[Byline: Chukwuma Muanya]
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Susan Baekeland
Nafiqaved conducted test on 35 samples of the fish, added the deputy.
