Melamine, Oh My!

Twenty-seven people have now been arrested in China in connection with the melamine contamination scandal in infant formula and other milk products. Melamine, a nitrogen-rich chemical used in plastics, glues, and fertilizers, was responsible for causing at least four infant deaths and over 50,000 infant illnesses.

It turns out that addition of melamine to milk increases the illusion of higher protein levels. Manufacturers of milk-containing products can then dilute the milk and sell more of their products without being detected.

Sadly, the melamine scandal is not the first incidence of melamine-tainted foods from China. In early 2007, more than a hundred pet deaths were attributed to melamine-laced pet foods, resulting in a recall of more than 5000 pet foods. You would think that they would have gotten their act together before feeding their babies with the same poison.

When it comes to food-borne diseases, most people think of foods contaminated with microbes, although chemical-tainted foods also fall into that category. Melamine is not an infectious microbe, but a number of microbes found in milk have toxins that have similar effects of causing kidney failure. Fortunately, unlike with melamine-tainted milk, many milk-borne infections can be prevented by drinking only pasteurized milk and using safe food preparation and dining practices.