NEJM: Melamine and the Global Implications of Food Contamination

by Julie R. Ingelfinger, M.D
Full perspective: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/26/2745#T1
[snips]
The compound is a component in many plastics, adhesives, glues, laminated products such as plywood, cement, cleansers, fire-retardant paint, and more. But melamine does not always remain where it is placed. For example, melamine in plasticware may be leached from the product by acid and thus can migrate into food, though — at least as measured — not in amounts considered toxic. Fortunately, melamine-containing plasticware becomes discolored or fractures, so it is used less often than it once was.

A greater concern is that melamine is frequently added to crop fertilizer, from which it is absorbed into the soil and then, most likely, into crops themselves, though any uptake has been largely unmeasured. Thus, there is melamine in many products throughout the world, and we do not know what problems it may cause in the future.

A further problem is that melamine food contamination is more pervasive than was originally thought. Since melamine is in animal feed in China, it has now been detected in eggs; it has also been found in wheat gluten and other foods. After the discovery of the melamine contamination of pet food, a detection method involving liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry became widely available and reliably identifies both cyanuric acid and melamine. A number of suspect foods from China tested by the FDA were found to contain melamine (see table), and more are being reported around the world each week. Furthermore, the FDA has found trace levels of melamine in several U.S. infant formulas and, as of the end of November, states that 1 part per million is permitted.
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And now, it's suspected to be in our seafood products imported from China. Unfortunately, the FDA does not require seafood to be screened for melamine.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-melamine24-2008dec24,0,5133588.story?track=rss

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