More info on Trichloromelamine from the EPA:
Summary of Use:
Food:
Trichloromelamine is used as an indirect food-contact sanitizer and disinfectant in or on: mess gear (used at oversees military bases); food processing plants; eating establishments (on equipment, utensils, dishware, glasses, surfaces, tabletops, countertops, floors, walls, sinks, and splashbacks); industrial and institutional food service areas (premises and equipment); food marketing, storage, and distribution equipment and utensils; food dispensing equipment; soft custard equipment; and household/domestic dwellings (food-contact surfaces). Trichloromelamine is also used as a direct food-contact sanitizer in one product as a fresh fruit and vegetable wash.
Non-Food:
Trichloromelamine is used as a sanitizer on non-food contact premises and equipment in hospitals and nursing homes (non-critical areas) and institutional, commercial, and industrial settings.
Target Pests:
Slime-Forming Bacteria, Animal Pathogenic Bacteria (g- and g+
vegetative), Bacteria (causing rot or decay), Algae Formulation Types: All end-use products are powders and are soluble concentrates.
Could this have been added to grain and/or meat ingredients to "fix" the poor quality and diseased ingredients?Melamine Toxicity
Trichloromelamine is expected to rapidly break down into hypochlorous acid and melamine (EPA, 1994). A number of toxicity studies have been performed to characterize the hazard of melamine. The Agency has concluded that it is unlikely that melamine is a carcinogenic hazard to humans from the pesticidal usage of a pesticide product (EPA, 1988).
They noted that “humans are not likely to be exposed to the high doses of melamine that produce the urinary tract toxicity that precedes and seems to lead to the carcinogenic response in rats” (EPA, 1993). This conclusion is based on the review of a number of studies, including a mouse carcinogenicity study in which no evidence of tumors were found due to exposure to melamine at the highest dose tested. In addition, the weight-of-evidence is not sufficient to reasonably anticipate that melamine will cause serious or irreversible chronic health effects (EPA, 1983).
Of course the EPA did not expect companies to be adding melamine in their feed products and ingredients when they initially did this study. Therefore the study informtation is no longer accurate.a. Toxicity (Hazard) Assessment
Information regarding the potential ecotoxicity of trichloromelamine is shown in Table 8. In addition, although the information currently available regarding melamine, a degradate of trichloromelamine, toxicity is insufficient for a hazard assessment,
the Agency believes that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that melamine may be chronically toxic to fish and invertebrates, causing adverse effects on reproduction and embryonic development. It was noted that melamine may be more toxic, chronically, than the data reviewed indicate (EPA, 1983). Based on the structure-activity-relationship (SAR) of melamine to meta-phenylenediamine, the 96-hour EC50 for melamine for green algae is expected to be 2.4 mg/L. The LC50 for daphnids is expected to be 5.9 mg/L, and the MATC is expected to range between 0.05 and 0.09 mg/L.
There are 64 pages in the report. I could not go through it all at this time. But the glaring inadequacies are there..not enough data on chemical breakdown and possible interactions with other substances.
http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/trichloromelamine_red.pdf
