Melamine contamination in U.S. infant formula

From a press release posted today on Consumers Union's Web site, consumersunion.org:

Consumers Union is deeply concerned about news reports that FDA has found traces of melamine and cyanuric acid in U.S. infant formula. Melamine is a chemical that has a number of industrial uses and is a common ingredient in some plastic products, but is not approved as an ingredient in human food in the U.S.

It is not clear, absent a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press, whether the FDA would have released this information to the public. “Consumers Union calls on the FDA to immediately make public all of the results of its tests for melamine contamination in food, even if the only contamination detected was below the agency’s action level of 2.5 parts per million,” said Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives for Consumers Union. “We understand that the FDA has tested hundreds of samples for melamine. This information should be made available to consumers, who are no doubt concerned for themselves and their families,” added Halloran.

The FDA has in the past routinely published results of tests for the presence of mercury in fish, regardless of whether the test results were above or below the agency’s action level. Given the serious health consequences of melamine contamination in children, the agency should not withhold this test data.

Read the rest of this press release.

Comments

[BC]

I am glad the Consumers Union is putting pressure on the FDA, who do not seem to be doing an adequate job. Not only should there be routine testing of food products, especially baby formula and plants, all information should be made public. This is not a private issue. People have a right to know what they are ingesting, and by not disclosing any known information and hiding information is the same as lying. Companies should disclose whenever they use foreign ingredients (not just when it is above a certain level) because consumers have a right to know. Implying that all ingredients are domestic but using foreign ingredients IS lying, and this should be illegal with grave penalities.