Would melamine find its way to US milk?

With three four Chinese infants dead, more than 6,000 children with kidney failure, and China’s major dairy producers testing positive for contamination of their milk products, the obvious question is –

would melamine find its way into US dairy and milk formula supplies?

Melamine is a chemical, a “trimer of cyanamide”, that is used to make plastics and fertilizers. Because of its high nitrogen content, melamine has been illegally used to increase protein content in otherwise water-down versions of liquid milk and infant milk formulas by the Chinese companies in question. Melamine is dangerous; it can cause kidney stones as larger has 1 cm in diameter in many babies. Four infants have already died from drinking tainted milk.

Singapore has suspended the sale and import of all Chinese milk products because several samples tested positive for melamine. Malaysia followed soon after. Hong Kong  began its recall of tainted yogurt ice bars. IS THE UNITED STATES SAFE?

Short answer is, “yes for now.” The Food and Drug Administration agents did  not find tainted baby formula in all the specialty stores visited, (mostly Asian stores). However, the FDA also warns the public not to buy Chinese-made infant formula over the internet. No Chinese company has permission to export infant formula into the US, but the Feds remains vigilant over other milk products and derivatives exported into the US from China, including whole milk powder, whey powder, milk concentrate, lactose, casein protein, and other milk derivatives.

image: sxc