Protein adulteration in China
The Chinese government was slow to respond, denying that vegetable protein was exported from China and refusing to allow foreign food safety investigators to enter the country.
[3][4] Ultimately, the Chinese government acknowledged that contamination had occurred and arrested the managers of two protein manufacturers identified so far and took other measures to improve food safety and product quality.
The Chinese government responded on 4 April by categorically denying any connection to the North American food poisonings refusing to allow inspection of facilities suspected of producing contaminated products.
[39] The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides a test method for analyzing cyromazine and melamine in animal tissues in its Chemistry Laboratory Guidebook which "contains test methods used by FSIS Laboratories to support the Agency's inspection program, ensuring that meat, poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome and accurately labeled.
[49] According to Senator Richard J. Durbin, one theory that investigators are exploring is whether melamine was added to fraudulently increase the measured protein content, which determines the value of the product.
"[54] Officials in the USDA and FDA believe that Xuzhou Anying labeled its wheat gluten as "nonfood" and exported through a third party, Suzhou Textiles Silk Light & Industrial Products.
The New York Times has reported that as recently as 29 March 2007, representatives of Xuzhou Anying wrote, "Our company buys large quantities of melamine scrap" on a message board for the trading of industrial materials.
[3] The second Chinese supplier involved in shipping melamine-contaminated food ingredients, Binzhou Futian Biology Technology, has been working with importer Wilbur-Ellis since July 2006.
[43] On 8 May 2007, The International Herald Tribune reported that three Chinese chemical makers have said that animal feed producers often purchase, or seek to purchase, the chemical, cyanuric acid, from their factories to blend into animal feed to give the false appearance of a higher level of protein, suggesting another potentially dangerous way that melamine and cyanuric acid might combine in protein products.
By the end of September 2008, the Chinese government said that 22 dairy companies, including Sanlu and export brands like Mengniu and Yili, had produced powdered baby formula that contained traces of melamine.
Researchers established that workers at Sanlu and at a number of milk-collection depots were diluting milk with water; they added melamine to dupe a test for determining crude protein content.
Investigators have concluded that as-yet-unidentified individuals cooked up a protocol for a premix, a solution normally designed to fortify foods with vitamins or other nutrients but, in this case, it was poisonous.
[73] There is at least one report of inexpensively priced rice protein concentrate (feed grade) containing non-protein nitrogen being marketed for use in non-ruminants dating back to 2005.
In a news item on its website, Jiangyin Hetai Industrial Co., Ltd. warned its customers of low-priced "PSEUDO rice protein" for sale in the market by another unnamed supplier, noting that the contaminant could be detected by analyzing the isoelectric point.
"[86][87] Measuring peptide bonds in grains has also been put into practice in several countries including Canada, the UK, Australia, Russia and Argentina where near-infrared reflectance (NIR) technology, a type of infrared spectroscopy is used.
[88] The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recommends that only amino acid analysis be used to determine protein in, inter alia, foods used as the sole source of nourishment, such as infant formula, but also provides: "When data on amino acids analyses are not available, determination of protein based on total N content by Kjeldahl (AOAC, 2000) or similar method … is considered acceptable.
[31] On 31 May 2007, the International Herald Tribune reported that melamine has also been purposely added as a binder to fish and livestock feed manufactured in the United States and traced to suppliers in Ohio and Colorado.
"[102] In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report on a December 2008 expert meeting held in conjunction with the FAO concluding, inter alia, that "a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 0.2 mg/kg body weight for melamine was established.
[17][98] Throughout April and May, the USDA investigated the potential human health risks of consuming the meat of animals that had eaten contaminated feed, and continued to hold press conferences discussing their latest findings.
They consistently found that consuming pork and poultry from such sources did not pose a significant health risk,[21] even after factoring in potential interactions between melamine and cyanuric acid.
[111][112] On 7 June 2007, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued a provisional statement, noting that they were investigation potential synergistic effects between melamine and cyanuric acid.
[113] However, by 21 June, the Health & Consumer Protection Directorate-General of the European Commission found that there was "no need to take restrictive measures" on livestock who had eaten contaminated feed, nor on food products derived from such animals.
A new guidance lists 27 components the agency considers to be at risk of melamine contamination based on its search of U.S. Pharmacopeia/National Formulary monographs and its Inactive Ingredient Database.
Although the government refused to give details on the investigation, the Xinhua News Agency stated that "sampling and examination" of wheat gluten was under way across China, centering on the presence of melamine.
Officials with the Office of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said that they will stay in touch with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and that "further measures would be taken based on developments in the United States".
[121] On 3 May 2007, Chinese authorities detained Mao Lijun, general manager of the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development, one of the companies accused of exporting contaminated protein, on unspecified charges.
[102] On 29 May 2007, in actions not linked directly to the protein export scandal, Zheng Xiaoyu (郑筱萸), the former head of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), had been convicted of personally approving unproven and unsafe medicines after taking bribes from eight pharmaceutical companies totaling more than 6.49 million RMB (approximately 850,000 US dollars).
The FDA has dedicated each of its 20 district offices and three field laboratories to the investigation and more than "400 employees are involved in sample pet food collection, monitoring of recall effectiveness, and preparing consumer complaint reports."
Earlier in the week, Representative Rosa DeLauro (D – Connecticut) asked for an analysis of the FDA's oversight of pet food manufacturing facilities and a report of actions taken since the recall.
[131][132] On 18 April 2007, Senator Durbin and Representative DeLauro met with US FDA Commissioner von Eschenbach to discuss the additional rice protein recalls and learned that the Chinese government was blocking outside attempts to investigate the contamination.
