Now, China is requesting information about the U.S.-made baby formulas that contain melamine:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/29/content_10428449.htm

"The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine took the move after the U.S.-based news agency Associated Press (AP) broke on Wednesday that traces of melamine had been detected in samples of top-selling U.S. infant formula, Abbott Laboratories, Nestle and Mead Johnson, which are on shelves in China as well.

    A large number of parents in China are feeding their babies with infant formula branded by the three firms. More mothers have turned to foreign brands, including these three, as they lost trust in domestic firms, which are blamed for killing at least three babies and poisoning 50,000 others across the country. "
................................

Forgot to add...  When will testing move to include all of the other suspect food categories such as macaroni & cheese, milk & cheese based pasta sauces, bakery items, cream soups, cream-based sauces, ice cream, yogurt, candies, coffee creamer, energy bars, chocolates, anything with a cheesy flavor -- you know... all the products the dozens of other countries banned, recalled, or tested weeks ago!  The U.S. is still on square one examining baby formula.   

This %#&@ is in our entire food chain.  Sundlof should be tossed out of the FDA on his ear and stripped of his salary and bonuses.  If Sundlof or his family were forced to blindly eat melamine-contaminated foods daily, maybe he'd move his butt faster!

I'm sick of this worse-than-third-world-country inspection of foods.  I'm writing my letters AND calling.  This @&$% has to stop!

3cat, I hope you can find an alternative to the dietary formula for your grandson.  Thoughts are with you...

straybaby would that mean the containers that the infant formula is in is made from (plastic) melamine? Wonder which part of the container is the plastic in - the lid, the liner of the cans or containers the powdered formula is in that is mixed? Why is the plastic not food grade safe then? Are other food items not in the baby formula line also made with melamine now instead of other materials that would pose any type of danger to anyone eating food from these containers?

this probably needs its own thread but,,,   I found out about this at PC

http://www.flex-news-food.com/pages/20732/Baby/Chemical/Food-Safety/Milk/Nestle/South-Africa/nestle-says-contaminated-animal-feed-responsible-melamine-baby-milk.html

Nestle Says Contaminated Animal Feed Responsible for Melamine in Baby Milk
Source: FLEXNEWS
28/11/2008     

28 Nov, 2008 - Nestle has said that contaminated animal feed was responsible for levels of melamine discovered in two brands of its formula milk in South Africa – giving credence to the possibility that the industrial chemical may be able to cross from the feed to the food chain.
The statement by Nestle, the world’s largest food and nutrition company, runs against the belief held by many experts and food safety bodies that melamine ingested by animals does not pass into the food chain, as reported exclusively by Feedinfo News Service. It challenges the perception that the industrial chemical is either excreted by the animal or is diluted to such an extent that any remaining traces are practically undetectable in human food.

The announcement by Nestle South Africa comes after a batch of the company’s Nido Growing up Milk for one-year-olds and a consignment of Lactogen Starter Infant Formula with iron were recalled by the KwaZulu-Natal health department earlier this week.

A Nestle statement said: “Testing led to the discovery of melamine in a number of samples  of cattle feed which is predominantly used in winter, which explains the presence of melamine traces in these batches. Consequently, Nestlé has also taken steps to ensure that the cattle feed used by its South African milk producers is melamine free.”

KwaZulu-Natal Health department spokesman Leon Mbangwa said the batches, which were manufactured in June and July 2008, contained melamine levels of 1.6mg/kg in the Lactogen product, while the Nido sample contained 3mg/kg. 

"This is more than the internationally accepted level of 1mg/kg for foodstuffs intended for infants and young children, such as infant formula, applied by the department of health as a cut-off level,” said Mr Mbangwa.

He added that information from Nestle indicated that the product was made in South Africa and contained only locally produced ingredients such as fresh milk.

"The manufacturer has determined that the source of the contamination derived from animal feed used by some of its suppliers of fresh milk,” he said.

A statement from Nestle said that all its product both in South Africa and world-wide were safe and that “no Nestlé product is made from milk adulterated with melamine”.

The company said that following the melamine crisis in China in mid September, it had taken  total control over its milk supply chain in South Africa. Systematic melamine testing for all raw milk purchased in South Africa was immediately introduced and every batch of dairy products is now tested for melamine prior to release from the factory, the food and nutrition giant confirmed.

Instead Nestle stated it believes the contamination of its powdered milk was caused by feed given to cattle that produced the milk used as a raw material in the manufacture of the baby formula.

 
 
 
 
 
 


 

FDA defends U.S. infant formula; sets safe level

Fri Nov 28, 2008 7:16pm EST   

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defended the safety of infant formula sold in the United States on Friday despite tests that found the chemical melamine in one brand and a related compound in another.

The amounts found are far less than levels found in infant formula in China earlier this year and "do not raise public health concerns," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "The domestic supply of infant formula is safe."

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4AR6IH20081129


5CatMom
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I'm sorry if this has already been posted.

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators set a safety threshold Friday for the industrial chemical melamine that is greater than the amount of contamination found so far in U.S.-made infant formula.

Food and Drug Administration officials set a threshold of 1 part per million of melamine in formula, provided a related chemical isn't present. They insisted the formulas are safe.

The setting of the standard comes days after The Associated Press reported that FDA tests had found traces of melamine in the infant formula of one major U.S. manufacturer and cyanuric acid, a chemical relative, in the formula of a second major maker. The contaminated samples, which both measured at levels below the new standard, had been analyzed several weeks ago.

The FDA had stated in early October that it was unable to set a safety contamination level for melamine in infant formula.

Though Dr. Stephen Sundlof, FDA's director of food safety, said Friday that there had been no new scientific studies since October that would give regulators more safety data, he said the agency was confident in setting the 1 part per million level for either of the chemicals alone. He emphasized that neither of the two tainted samples had both contaminants.

He had no ready explanation for why the level wasn't set earlier.

Sundlof said the lack of dual contamination was key because studies so far show dangerous health effects only when both chemicals are present.

The agency still will not set a safety level for melamine if cyanuric acid is also present, he said.

Both the new safety level and the amount of the chemical found in U.S.-made infant formula are far below the amounts of melamine added to infant formula in China that have been blamed for killing at least three babies and making thousands ill.

"The levels were so low ... that they do not cause a health risk to infants," Sundlof said. "Parents using infant formula should continue using U.S.-manufactured infant formula. Switching away from one of these infant formulas to alternate diets or homemade formulas could result in infants not receiving the complete nutrition required for proper growth and development."

Reacting to news of the contaminated formulas, members of Congress, a national consumer group and the Illinois attorney general have demanded a national recall, something the FDA said made no sense because it had no evidence suggesting that the formula would be dangerous for babies at the levels of contamination found.

After saying it made an error in its data, the FDA on Wednesday produced these results: Nestle's Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron had two positive tests for melamine on one sample; Mead Johnson's Infant Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron had three positive tests on one sample for cyanuric acid.

Separately, a third major formula maker, Abbott Laboratories, told the AP that in-house tests had detected trace levels of melamine in its infant formula.

Those three formula makers manufacture more than 90 percent of all infant formula produced in the United States.

The FDA said it had analyzed 74 samples and was continuing to examine 13 more.

The agency had left the impression of a zero tolerance on Oct. 3 when it stated: "FDA is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns."

The FDA and other experts said the melamine contamination in U.S.-made formula had occurred during the manufacturing process, rather than intentionally. The U.S. government quietly began testing domestically produced infant formula in September, soon after problems with melamine-spiked formula surfaced in China.

Melamine can legally be used in some food packaging, and can rub off into food from there. It's also part of a cleaning solution used on some food processing equipment.

There is a gap between the concentration that the FDA detected in formula and the agency's estimate of how much melamine could contaminate food from the manufacturing process. The expected contamination from processing — 15 parts per billion — is about one-tenth the amount that the agency has detected in infant formula. FDA officials have not responded to questions from the AP this week about how that gap might be explained.

The agency said it is continuing research on animals to see the effects of ingesting both melamine and cyanuric acid.

Straybaby,

Yes, they have the script down pat. 

5CatMom
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Methinks we need to recall more than infant formula.

Just sayin'