Melamine Controversy in Chinese Foods

The China milk scandal that happened recently stirred a global controversy causing consumers to panic regarding food safety. This phenomenon spread through out the world that all nations moved forward to recall and ban all dairy products (including foods which have milk as one of the ingredients) coming from China. The controversial melamine chemical reportedly has been found in 22 Chinese dairy companies in the series of test conducted after Chinese officials received the devastating news about the said contaminations. Among the varieties reported with contaminations are infant formula, ice cream, tea drinks, milk powder, fresh milk, biscuits, cookies, candies, chocolates, pet food products and yogurts.

But what is Melamine and how this chemical substance causes troubles to food? Melamine is a white crystalline organic base containing 66% of nitrogen by mass. Basically, Melamine is non-toxic; in fact it has many uses in the industry.  It is usually combine with formaldehyde to form a Melamine resin, a very durable thermosetting plastic product like kitchen utensils and melamine foam, a cleansing product. Melamine resin can be found anywhere in the house like plates, spoon, ladle, floor tiles, laminated components, roof tiles, fabrics, glues, color in inks. It is also widely used as a fertilizer for crops because of its high nitrogen content. It is a fire retardant, therefore when a plastic made from melamine resin exposed to enough heat, melamine will melt, that’s why plastic made from melamine is strongly discouraged to be put in a microwave, oven and heater.

It was reported that the melamine-tainted milk products in China is mixed with cyanuric acid, a chemical that protects chlorine from being destroyed by the sun, (swimming pools, normally have cyanuric acid). FDA (federal drug administration) permits low amount of cyanuric acid to non-protein foods, but clinical studies show that cyanuric acid when mixed with melamine forms poorly insoluble crystals which cause renal or kidney failure because of the inability of kidney to hold too much protein. Deadly kidney stones occur because of the formation of melamine cyanurate, commonly used as a fire retardant and described as very harmful when swallowed and it may cause cancer, kidney complications, reproductive damage and other chronic diseases. This is the latest scare that rocked the world when it was reported that Chinese dairy products are tainted with exceeding amount of melamine. The Chinese food products which have been found with melamine contaminants already claimed 4 infants with more than 53,000 have been hospitalized.