Toxicity and Risks of Melamine in Public Health

Melamine is an organic base and contains 66% nitrogen by mass. Also, melamine is a metabolite of cyromazine, a pesticide, which is converted to melamine in the body of mammals and plants. Melamine is combined with formaldehyde to produce melamine resin, which is a main component of countertops, dry erase boards fabrics, glues, housewares, and flame retardants. Sometimes, melamine is illegally added to food products in order to increase the protein content. Standard tests such as the Kjeldahl and Dumas tests estimate protein levels by measuring the nitrogen content, so they can be misled by adding nitrogen-rich compounds such as melamine. The European Union, Canada, and United States set a standard for tolerable human consumption of melamine at 0.5, 0.35, and 0.63 mg/kg body mass, respectively. WHO's food safety director estimated that the tolerable daily intake(TDI) of melamine was 0.2 mg/kg body mass. In 2007, a pet food contaminated with melamine was recalled in United Sates. In 2008, Chinese several companies were implicated in a scandal involving milk and infant formula contaminated with melamine, leading to 300,000 people illness, 12,800 hospitalizations, and four infant deaths. In 2007, US FDA began using a high performance liquid chromatography test to determine the melamine, ammeline, ammelide, and cyanuric acid contamination in food. In European Union, all composite products containing at least 15% of milk product originated from China, ar systematically tested before import and all such products shown to contain melamine in excess of 2.5 mg/kg are immediately destroyed. In the Korean FDA notification No. 2009-7, melamine should not be detected in infant formula, and in foods except for infant formula, the residue limit is 2.5 mg/kg. In conclusion, alternative method for the Kjeldahl and Dumas tests should be developed and applied to estimate protein level in foods, Also, all milk product and all composite products contained milk product should be carried on with strict standards.