Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Melamine Scandal
I guess as someone who follows current affairs very closely, I think I should comment on the recent melamine scandal that has rocked the F&B industry. Singapore authorities have given the assurance that the risk of melamine poisoning to Singaporeans is low. There have been growing concerns after three China-made products in Singapore were found to be laced with the industrial product.Authorities said the tainted products will have to be consumed over a prolonged period of time before one gets really sick. That's because the body can safely take in and purge some amount of melamine.
The Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of melamine as established by the US Food and Drug Administration is 0.63 mg/kg body weight. This means that an adult weighing 60 kg or a child weighing 30 kg can ingest 37.8 mg of melamine and 18.9 mg of melamine respectively, everyday, over a lifetime without any appreciable health risk.
37.8 mg is about the size of a grain of rice. The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) cited an example of drinking about 80ml of liquid everyday for an entire lifetime, before the ill effects of melamine take root.
The Ministry of Health also cited an example of an adult weighing about 60kg who ate 47 pieces of the white rabbit candy everyday over a lifetime and the health risk for this adult will still be very low.
For a child who weighs 30 kg, that's about 400 ml of the Dutch Lady Strawberry Flavoured milk daily over a lifetime. And so there's very little chance that a child will be affected unless his sole source of food is tainted milk. Currently there is no cause of alarm as the amount of melamine found in the products sold in Singapore is too low to cause kidney stones.
Although only three China-made products have been found tainted in Singapore, the AVA said it cannot rule out more of tainted products, as it continues its battery of tests. As to why melamine was not detected earlier, Dr Chua said 300 chemical compounds come into the market every year. So it needs to take a pragmatic approach to its tests. He added that no agency in the world conducts food tests for melamine.
He said: "It is a very abnormal occurrence. It is because someone cheated and intentionally added this into the product to beat the system and nobody could dream of that."
- Source, Channel Newsasia
Well, there you go, to play safe, it's OK if you've already consumed some. Just STOP now. Don’t consume these processed products for the time being.
