Melamine discovered in animal feed, in Vietnam

catbird

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« on: October 31, 2008, 10:28:22 AM »

In fish meal used to make animal feed.

Melamine discovered in animal feed
Thanh Nien Daily (Vietnam) October 31, 2008

Tests on 240 tons of fish meal imported to Vietnam from China has found traces of the toxic industrial chemical melamine but the exporter of the suspect goods is unknown, health authorities said Thursday.

The melamine-tainted fish meal, used to make animal feed, was imported in June and July the Ho Chi Minh City’s Bureau of Quality Management and Fisheries Resources Protection said.
The consignments, licensed by Chinese authorities, contained a melamine concentration of 0.59 percent to 2.24 percent.
Vietnam has no regulations that set a safe level of melamine concentration.

Earlier, the HCMC Department of Science and Technology discovered 80 out of 400 samples of animal feed materials were contaminated with melamine.

More at link. This was sent to me by a friend.

Beware pet foods with fish meal, I guess!


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Carol

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Re: Melamine discovered in animal feed, in Vietnam

« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2008, 11:47:22 AM »

Well....I called Nature's Variety as of course I just transitioned Jack on it as I put Lucy back on it without trouble....asking them about what testing they are doing and where the ingredients are sourced...I will post anything I am told.... Undecided

Fish meal is a core ingredient in the Instinct kibble I use...

eta: I just talked to Jessica at customer service and they are testing their products for melamine and it is not detected....


« Last Edit: October 31, 2008, 12:31:40 PM by Carol »	Logged

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3catkidneyfailure

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Re: Melamine discovered in animal feed, in Vietnam

« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2008, 11:51:25 AM »

http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5926e/x5926e01.htm

This information is from the UK:

Preservation of the raw material
All fisheries experience periods of glut and scarcity, leaving the fish meal factory at times with no raw material to process and at other times with too much. Large amounts of unprocessed material cause storage and odour problems; moreover spoiled material becomes difficult to process and gives a lower yield.

No cheap, completely safe method of preservation has yet been found. Refrigeration is not usually economic, and the known chemical methods of preservation have some disadvantages. Sodium nitrate with formaldehyde is very effective, but unless its addition is very carefully controlled poisonous nitrosamines can be formed when the nitrite reacts with small amounts of trimethylamine in the fish; for this reason nitrite is not used in the UK. Formaldehyde alone is quite effective in keeping the fish firm enough for processing; it is most useful for species like sand eels that rapidly become semiliquid soon after catching. Although the addition of about 0-2 per cent by weight of formaldehyde is often enough to provide the required toughening effect, the preservative effect is small at this dilution, and more formaldehyde may make the fish too tough to process. ...

Fish oil present in the stored meal can react with oxygen in the atmosphere; the heat generated may damage the meal nutritionally and, on occasion, cause the meal to catch fire. Fortunately this is now a rather rare occurrence, due to the widespread use of antioxidants. Not all fish oils are equally reactive; some oily meals seem to require antioxidant treatment; whilst others do not. The most commonly used antioxidant is ethoxyquin; the amount used varies but is normally in the range 200-1000 mg/kg. Sacks of newly made oily meal are frequently stored in ventilated stacks, particularly in hot climates. White fish meal, with a low oil content, does not require antioxidant treatment.

How is fish meal used?
Fish meal in the UK was used mainly as a fertilizer until about 1910, but since then its high nutritional value has been far better utilized in animal feeding. The demand in the UK for fish as fish meal is far greater than the demand for fish for direct human consumption; therefore imports of fish meal to the UK are high. The pig and poultry industries producing large amounts of bacon and eggs, pork and chicken, at relatively low prices could not survive without large scale use of high protein animal foods like fish meal. Usually about 10 per cent of the diet of pigs and poultry consists of fish meal; 10 per cent is the upper limit for meal containing 10 per cent fat, because more than about 1 per cent of fish oil in the diet of the animal may taint the taste of its flesh. Much of the UK production is of white fish meal with a fat content low enough to eliminate any risk of taint. Fish meals with an extremely low fat content are sometimes made for certain specialized purposes.

Other uses of fish meal include the feeding of mink, farmed fish, dogs, cats and cattle. Very small amounts of specially processed meals have been used in prepared foods for humans, and fish meal is also used in the preparation of certain antibiotics for the pharmaceutical industry.

From largest producer of fish meal in the US:

http://www.ingredients101.com/fishmeal.htm
Fish meal used for animal feed should be stabilized with an antioxidant such as ethoxquin to prevent the fish oil from becoming rancid.


« Last Edit: October 31, 2008, 12:15:35 PM by 3catkidneyfailure »	Logged

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Re: Melamine discovered in animal feed, in Vietnam

« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2008, 12:12:46 PM »

And another fine thing is added to the food that animals eat - formaldehyde. And that fish meal ends up in foods for pets, cattle and farmed fish. Also some specialized processed food for humans too. Processed so is melamine then added to the processed food to finish it off as added protein boosting benefit?


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Sandi K

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Re: Melamine discovered in animal feed, in Vietnam

« Reply #4 on: October 31, 2008, 06:17:51 PM »

Quote from: Carol on October 31, 2008, 11:47:22 AM

Fish meal is a core ingredient in the Instinct kibble I use...

eta: I just talked to Jessica at customer service and they are testing their products for melamine and it is not detected....

So they wont tell you where its sourced from Carol?


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