(Melamine Suspected) Chinese Officials Say Baby Formula Tied to Kidney Stones

[straybaby]

ETA: Oh, and one more major factor. The nitrogen compounds in MARC have no nutritional value and the babies had to be starving/very malnourished and their internal systems going haywire using up fat & muscle, etc. to support their food needs.

This is what I was wondering during the PFR. How does this false protein in feed and food work? The feed animals obviously hit their weight from maximum product production (greed would prevent otherwise), but they can't be getting what they need, right? Or don't they live long enough for it to be an issue? And what is the value of their protein after slaughter?

[Pita_Purr_Parler]

At this point in time with the US governments failure to issue a total ban on melamine in foods - animal feed, pet food, human foods... I'm thinking the "mostly from China" statement  in the Thailand 2007 report , means another country(ies) has industries that do the same..

The FDA & our government is truly making me think the US industries are also partners of this boost for profit scheme.

Since they protect industries and not consumers, the FDA/USDA and their science make the industries here look guilty as sin

Add in the fact that China is following their rulings and consulting them..not the bans of other countries, they're indicting the industries nd governments  in both China and the US.

[kittylyda]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hS2ue9qfIBRTN8nQov-E3boHCxTQD93J82HO0

FDA: Tiny bit of melamine OK in most foods
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tiny traces of melamine, the chemical that has set off a global food safety scare, are not harmful in most foods, except baby formula, government experts said Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday its safety experts have concluded that eating a minuscule amount of melamine — 2.5 parts per million — would not raise health concerns, even if a person ate food every day that was tainted with the chemical.

"It would be like if you had a million grains of sand and they were all white, and you had two or three that were black, that's kind of the magnitude," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's food safety program.

The FDA guideline is meant to help federal and state investigators checking for contaminated foods from China at ports of entry and in Asian community groceries around the country. "We are trying to identify products that have levels we are really concerned about, rather than trying to find the last molecule," said Sundlof.

For example, melamine levels in imported Chinese candies recalled last week in California were as high as 520 parts per million, about 200 times greater than the level set on Friday by the FDA for "tolerable" risk.

In China, melamine-tainted formula has sickened more than 54,000 children, mainly with kidney problems, and is being blamed for the deaths of at least four. The industrial chemical has also turned up in products sold across Asia, ranging from candies, to chocolates, to coffee drinks, all of which used dairy ingredients from China.

In the U.S., White Rabbit candies from China were recalled after authorities in California and Connecticut found melamine. And Friday, a New Jersey company announced it was recalling a yogurt-type drink from China, 'Blue Cat Flavor Drink,' after FDA testing found melamine.

No illnesses have been reported in the U.S., but authorities are checking for any telltale increase in reports of kidney problems.

The FDA says infant formula sold here is safe, because manufacturers do not use any ingredients from China. But officials expect more melamine recalls as they continue to test products in ethnic markets.

FDA officials stressed that the melamine risk assessment issued Friday does not mean U.S. authorities will condone foods deliberately spiked with the chemical.

The 2.5 parts-per-million standard is meant to address situations in which the chemical accidentally comes into contact with food. For example, plastic food processing equipment may have been made using melamine, and some of the chemical might find its way into food.

Infant formula sold to U.S. consumers must be completely free of melamine. "There is too much uncertainty to set a level in infant formula and rule out any public health concern," the FDA said.

In China, unscrupulous suppliers appear to have been adding melamine to make watered-down milk seem protein-rich in quality-control tests. That's because melamine is high in nitrogen, as is protein.

Melamine first came to the attention of U.S. consumers last year, when it touched off a massive pet food recall. Chinese suppliers of bulk pet food ingredients were found to have been adding the chemical to artificially boost the protein readings of their products. Thousands of pets here were sickened, and hundreds are believed to have died.

Melamine is harmful to the kidneys. It can cause kidney stones as the body tries to eliminate it, and in extreme cases, life-threatening kidney failure.

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I don't even know where to begin with this press release!  They speak of the 2.5 parts-per-million standard being meant to address situations where melamine accidently came into contact with food?  How often does that happen?  Isn't it more likely that this 2.5 parts-per-million "standard" was meant to address situations where livestock or fish consumed melamine tainted feed that humans end up ingesting when those meats/fish end up on dinner tables?  I don't understand why the FDA does not seem as concerned as the food saftey agencies from other countries.  Shouldn't we be turning this stuff away at the borders?

[DMS]

ETA: Oh, and one more major factor. The nitrogen compounds in MARC have no nutritional value and the babies had to be starving/very malnourished and their internal systems going haywire using up fat & muscle, etc. to support their food needs.

This is what I was wondering during the PFR. How does this false protein in feed and food work? The feed animals obviously hit their weight from maximum product production (greed would prevent otherwise), but they can't be getting what they need, right? Or don't they live long enough for it to be an issue? And what is the value of their protein after slaughter?

Straybaby, it is my understanding that ruminants can use NPN--although I think it is a bad idea from my holistic view.

http://agriculture.kzntl.gov.za/portal/AgricPublications/ProductionGuidelines/DairyinginKwaZuluNatal/RuminantDigestion/tabid/247/Default.aspx

Digestion of protein

Dietary protein, like dietary carbohydrates, is fermented by rumen microbes. The majority of true protein, and non-protein nitrogen (NPN), entering the rumen is broken down to ammonia, which bacteria require for synthesizing their own body protein. Ammonia is most efficiently incorporated into bacterial protein when the diet is rich in soluble carbohydrates, particularly starch. Ammonia, in excess of that used by the micro-organisms, is absorbed through the rumen wall into the blood, carried to the liver, and converted to urea, the greater part is excreted in the urine. Some urea is returned to the rumen via the saliva, and also directly through the rumen wall.

The undegraded true protein fraction, plus the microbial protein, passes from the rumen to the abomasum, where it is digested, and absorbed into the bloodstream through the walls of the small intestine.
----------------------------------------------
This explanation is even better, ADM tells us how and why:

http://www.admani.com/AllianceBeef/TechnicalEdge/Ruminant%20Feed%20Microbes.htm
Protein
Microbial fermentation has a large impact on the protein nutrition of the ruminant. Protein in feedstuffs fed to ruminants is usually described as ruminally degradable (or available) or undegradable (or bypass or escape). The undegradable portion passes through the rumen and into the lower tract "as is" where it is digested and used by the ruminant. The quality of the protein (amino acids profile) is important in these feeds because they directly impact the ruminant. A portion of the protein component (rumen degradable) of feedstuffs is broken down by microbes and incorporated into their own bodies. Microbes break down protein into amino acids, which are then split apart into ammonia and "carbon skeletons." Carbon skeletons are often utilized as energy, while nitrogen from ammonia is used by microbes to form amino acids and proteins for its own growth and reproduction.

Microbes can effectively utilize non-protein nitrogen sources (such as biuret and urea, which are ammonia sources) because they have the enzymes and other metabolic machinery to build amino acids and proteins from ammonia. The process of degrading and rebuilding proteins has positive and negative consequences for the ruminant. On the negative side, not all of the ammonia released from feedstuffs is captured by microbes. Ammonia can escape through the rumen wall into the blood stream, and eventually pass into the urine and voided. The amount of ammonia lost can be minimized by proper ration balancing (i.e. formulating rations based on microbe and ruminant needs, which will minimize the amount of excess ammonia). Another negative aspect is the potential for ammonia poisoning, which can occur when too much ammonia passes from the rumen into the blood stream. The potential for ammonia poisoning can be avoided with proper feed management and diet formulation. On the positive side, protein built by microbes for their own use is relatively high quality and provides solid protein nutrition to the ruminant when microbes pass into the small intestine. The added perk is that this high-quality microbial protein can be built from NPN sources. The ability of ruminants to effectively utilize NPN enables more cost-effective protein supplementation.

[DMS]

"It would be like if you had a million grains of sand and they were all white, and you had two or three that were black, that's kind of the magnitude," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's food safety program.

*************************************************

I think Sundlof has been out in the sun too long!!!   His analogy is alarmingly oversimplified.  And most consumers will not be any the wiser until the truth reaches them--or the kidney stones.  The analogy doesn't take interactions into account or multiple sources.  Or the fact that we are a nation of overeaters... Or how about the amount of food eaten by quickly growing children....or all of the uncertainty glaringly obvious in the FDA's Safety? Assessment and delayed Peer Review. 

Oh, and one more thing, it also fails to take into account that the FDA is not testing all of the imports or testing the "food" for sale in our grocery stores.  Who, besides the Divine,  can number the grains of sand without actually taking a sample and counting?

[straybaby]

Thanks DMS! I forgot they had different guts than us! I tend to go on info overload and forget what I learned in the past {sigh}

[Arlo]

Quote from Offy

Do you think that in the case of the babies in China, the nitrogen levels, amino acid levels had to be producing more uric acid? Cos other foods wouldn't have been at issue. They've not mentioned cyanuric acid.

I've been reading that increased consumption of fructose increases production of uric acid, and can cause kidney stones. http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/results.php?storyarticle=5586.

[3catkidneyfailure]

Mail campaign:

The Honorable Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.
Commissioner
United States Food and Drug Administration
Parklawn Building/Mail Code: HF-1
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20856

Send Dr. von Eschenbach Halloween candy, packets of Pizza Hut cheese, non-dairy coffee creamer
with the words
"Trick or Chinese Treat" on the envelope

You know, kind of like the poop bags sent during the pet food recall of 2007 - I'm just about fed up enough.

[DMS]

Thanks DMS! I forgot they had different guts than us! I tend to go on info overload and forget what I learned in the past {sigh}

I do, too.  It would be nice if the FDA would do their own job and provide the people and animals with healthy, wholesome, uncontaminated food!  And medicines that don't make us sicker or die.

[straybaby]

"It would be like if you had a million grains of sand and they were all white, and you had two or three that were black, that's kind of the magnitude," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's food safety program.

*************************************************

I think Sundlof has been out in the sun too long!!!   His analogy is too overly simplistic.  And most consumers will not be any the wiser until the truth reaches them--or the kidney stones. 

It would be nice if he would continue on and say that all the black ones grow and reproduce in crystal form. Soon you have pebbles in your sand . . . .  Also, at 10 fold, that's 25 grains of sand. In up to 50% of your daily intake. How's the math workin' for ya now? Oh, wait, that's assuming you haven't consumed any product that didn't get inspected in that whooping 1% and you didn't get 500+ pieces of sand, which turns into crystals which turns into pebbles.

Ya know, I getting pretty freaking angry right now. I know what a hundred stones looks like. The Dal I rescued had a bladder full. They gave me one tube and the other was sent out for testing . . . think peppercorns and a bit larger folks. And we all know kidney stones can get much larger. Is there a growth maximum on melamine stones?!

[3catkidneyfailure]

Just found this personal post from RP, which I conclude is the Republic of the Phillippines from the BFAD entry. This is an
Oct. 3 post from a mother there complete with pictures of her children. Nissin is a Japanese food manufacturer. Cause is
not clear here, but if it is tainted milk ingredients, I am now fed up:

http://gloriaresign.wordpress.com:80/2008/10/03/close-call/

[straybaby]

I think Nissin has already been mentioned in this. I know some waffers and Oreos have. If she gets the tests back, I hope she posts the toxins/levels. Sounds like a pretty violent reaction.

[3catkidneyfailure]

Nissin manufactures Top Ramen, among other things.
Sounds very much like acute pet reactions to me, too.

[straybaby]

They have a recall in Canada and pulled product in Hong Kong and then I came across this . .

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/news/20080922p2a00m0na008000c.html

Japanese company rushes to recall pastries supplied by firm linked to China milk scare

A food catering company in Tokyo has announced that it supplied more than 300,000 pastries to over 3,000 facilities across the nation containing milk produced by a Chinese manufacturer whose products were contaminated with melamine.

Nissin Healthcare Food Service Co., Ltd. said on Sunday that it had supplied 3,054 facilities including hospitals and welfare institutions across the nation with 301,540 pastries called "Cream Panda," which the company bought from Marudai Food Co.

[DMS]

This is really maddening!  I can hardly stand the frustration I feel and the freaking disbelief at what is allowed to go on!   I really believe the only positive effect we can have on our end of the world here is to independently test the food at our grocers.  Otherwise, we will never know the truth.  And write those letters and make those phonecalls.  But more than anything else, I want proof!  I don't believe any of the so-called regulatory authorities and definitely do not trust industry to regulate itself.  Those two are the greatest obfuscators (or substitute your own noun there) of our time--maybe of all time!