With all the interest in the presidential election and the financial crisis, it's easy to overlook the fact that China's unsafe exports continue to spread across the nation. For over a year, certain foods exported from China have contained unsafe amounts of melamine, an industrial additive, but to date the only widespread reaction has been individual project recalls.
Melamine is not a new substance in America's households. Halfway through the twentieth century, a new material known as Melmac became a popular choice for plates and bowls. The easily moldable and virtually unbreakable substance was made from a mixture of melamine and formaldehyde, and its colorful shine lent it an aura of ultramodern fashion. But before too long Melmac dishware fell out of fashion, due to its easily scratchable and stainable surfaces.
Now melamine is entering American homes again, but instead of transporting food it is transported within it. Since melamine and protein both have a high concentration of nitrogen, unscrupulous vendors can sprinkle a powdered form of melamine into food to make it appear higher in protein. Even though melamine isn't toxic, this can still cause problems since melamine interferes with kidney function, sometimes causing kidney stones and even life-threatening renal failure.
In 2007 thousands of pets became mysteriously ill, apparently suffering from kidney problems. When tainted pet food turned out to be the cause, American consumers were understandably upset, but only briefly. After learning which brands should be avoided and being assured food was once again safe for the nation's pets, many promptly forgot about the tainted food scare. The word melamine hardly registered on the general public's consciousness.
Recently, however, melamine has begun attracting notoriety with the revelation that it had been added to Chinese dairy products. According to The New York Times, the Chinese government announced in September that melamine-laced powdered baby formula had sickened over 53,000 infants, sent 13,000 to the hospital and killed four. While the contamination seemed at first to be just one company's doing, subsequent announcements revealed over 21 other Chinese dairy companies also produced tainted products.
Despite the recent Food and Drug Administration announcement that ingesting small amounts of melamine was innocuous for adults, even tiny amounts proved to be harmful when in baby formula. Infant formula made in the U.S. remains safe though, since manufacturers don't use any ingredients from China. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of all melanine-tainted foods.
Reports began surfacing in the beginning of October that foods were contaminated with unsafe levels of the chemical. According to the Times, chocolate from Cadbury's Hong Kong factories contained over 22 times the FDA's legal limit of 2.5 parts per million of melamine. Officials have also detected melamine in yogurt, candy and other foods that use Chinese dairy products.
Yet amid all the tainted food bound for or even reaching America's stores, little outcry has erupted in this country. Though no cases of melamine-related illness have broken out according to the FDA, the level of harm done to China's own children from the chemical underscores the importance of having clean food.
Anyone who imports dairy from China has to be testing,"" Ian Coxhead, University of Wisconsin professor of agricultural and applied economics, said. ""[There will be] a lot more caution now with imports from China.""
Signs of such caution have already appeared, according to the Associated Press. Iran, Senegal and dozens of other countries have banned all dairy imports from China outright because of concerns of melamine contamination. The U.S. has not issued a similar ban, despite calls from consumer groups.
Certainly the hardest hit by this news has been China itself. In addition to bearing the brunt of the physical effects of tainted food, the country's ability to effectively regulate its industries must be called into question as well. In order for trust once again to be placed in the country's monitoring agencies, drastic measures may be necessary.
""It's pretty clear this is a big scandal in China. I wouldn't put it past them to execute someone,"" Coxhead said, referring to China's past draconian punishment for regulatory officials.
Coxhead believes the current scandal is a natural consequence of China's rapid economic expansion. As the market grew, the regulatory agencies just couldn't keep up.
""There were lots of opportunities to exploit that weakness with unscrupulous methods,"" he said. ""This kind of thing was bound to happen.""
No more instances of melamine contamination have been announced since the last round in September. Time will soon tell whether this is because there simply are no more to discover, or if they just haven't been found yet. Allegations that Chinese officials knew of the contamination months ahead of time but kept it hidden seem to make the former option more likely.
Either way, it's important for Americans to keep in mind this latest threat to their food supply, even amid the troubling political and financial news.
""People should be aware this could happen,"" Coxhead said.
