Pet food, baby formula, milk and milk products, candy, breaded shrimp, vitamins, protein supplement powders, yogurt, chocolates, biscuits, snacks, cookies. Many of these products are made in China and imported to the United States in massive number. And many of them are thought to be contaminated with the industrial chemical, melamine.

In the recent past, thousands of people around the world have become ill with kidney disease after consuming Chinese-made food products tainted with melamine. Hundreds of cats and dogs in the US and elsewhere died from kidney failure after eating melamine-tainted pet foods. Thousands of others were sickened by the toxic food but survived.

In response to the ongoing threat of melamine-tainted food products being imported from China, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an alert order earlier today that puts a halt to all imports from China that are suspected of contamination. Once the China-based exporter or the American importer/recipient provides laboratory-confirmed proof of purity of the product in question, the shipment will be allowed to continue. All shipments not passing the test will be rejected, documented nationwide, and returned to sender. As would be expected, the announcement comes with mixed reactions.

Dr. Steven Solomon says the import halt is the “right thing to do” to protect the health of the public. Solomon, deputy associate commissioner at the FDA, says by placing the burden of proof on the importer, each and every shipment can be tested before entering the US food supply.

The executive director of the consumer advocacy organization, Food & Water Watch, Wenonah Hauter, says the alert is encouraging but isn’t as far reaching as desired and should have come sooner.

Benjamin England, once an FDA attorney, describes the expected effect of the halt as a “massive” logjam spanning the Pacific Ocean and taking months to navigate. Once product samples are delivered to FDA-approved chemical analysis labs, several weeks may elapse before results are returned, wreaking havoc on the global shipping industry in the meantime.

Speaking on behalf of the International Dairy Foods Association, Peggy Armstrong expects the US to experience little, if any, impact from the alert. According to Armstrong, not even 1% of US-imported dairy products come from China. The dairy protein, casein, accounts for a substantial portion ($13 million in 2007) of Chinese-made dairy products imported to the US. In comparison, the US buys $697 million of casein from New Zealand.

Dietary supplements and many food products for pets and their people contain casein as an added form of protein. Adding melamine to a (milk) protein-based product artificially boosts its nitrogen reading on most laboratory tests, making the product appear to be of higher protein content than it actually is.

In addition to delivering phony protein, melamine in the gastrointestinal system digests poorly, blocking the body’s ability to filter toxins. The kidneys are especially vulnerable to failure when melamine is ingested.

Connecticut State Representative Rosa DeLauro (D) blasted the FDA’s sluggish timing in issuing the import alert and says the alert should include eggs and fish. The protein content of many pet foods and animal feeds is boosted with egg and fish protein additives. DeLauro says the Chinese-melamine problem is “significantly deeper” than the FDA is acknowledging.

From the political angle, the FDA expects to celebrate the grand opening next week of its first-ever network of offices in China. FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach and Health and Human Services’ Secretary Michael O. Leavitt are expected to travel to Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing to open offices allowed to open only after many months of delicate diplomatic haggling. An FDA spokesperson says the import alert “shouldn’t affect” next week’s grand opening celebrations.

Source: NYT