FDA melamine alert
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
On Nov. 12, FDA issued an import alert ordering all milk products, milk-derived ingredients and finished food products with milk from China be detained without physical examination due to the possible presence of melamine or melamine analogs. To secure release of shipments, importers must provide results of a third-party lab analysis verifying the absence of melamine and cyanuric acid, or documentation showing the product contains no milk or milk-derived ingredients. FDA also issued an interim safety and risk assessment of melamine in human food, saying in a Nov. 13 Federal Register notice it cannot establish a safe level of melamine and its analogues in infant formula. In foods for older children and adults, levels of melamine and melamine-related compounds below 2.4 ppm do not raise public health concerns, FDA says. The agency adds it does not approve melamine use in direct addition to food or as a fertilizer in the U.S. Comments on the paper, which was drafted after melamine-tainted infant formula caused 13,000 hospitalizations and three deaths. Comments are due Jan. 12 (1"The Tan Sheet" Sept. 15, 2008, In Brief)