Industrial Plastic Powder Binder In US Infant Formula - Is Anyone Else Angry?

The FDA is "allowing" trace amounts of melamine in US infant formula.

Why should you care? What is melamine?

Melamine is an organic compound the is often combined with formaldehyde to produce melamine resin. Melamine resin is used in making whiteboards, floor tiles, kitchenware, fire retardant fabrics and more. Melamine can be made into foam products such as Magic Erasers and melamine dishware.

Now the FDA is approving melamine in infant formula. Apparently infants are not as important as cats/dogs (food for these animals last year was recalled).

Earlier this year, the FDA recalled nondairy coffee creamer from Taiwan when traces of melamine was found in King Car Food Industial Co. products. Less than a month after that recall, the FDA again went on record and issued a Health Information Advisory to proactively reassure the American public that there is no known threat of contamination in infant formula manufactured by companies that have met the requirements to sell such products in the United States. That advisory also warned members of Asian communities in the United States that infant formula manufactured in China, possibly available for purchase at Asian markets, could pose a risk to infants.

Now, two months later, the FDA is saying that trace amounts of melamine are ok to have in infant formula and give to our babies.

On November 28, the FDA made this statement in a media brief: "Melamine is not naturally occurring and is not approved to be directly added to food in the United States. However, melamine is approved for use as part of certain food contact substances. Low levels of melamine are present in the environment and trace amounts may occur in certain food commodities as a result of approved uses. Parents using infant formula should continue using U.S. manufactured infant formula. Switching away from using one of these infant formulas to alternate diets or home-made formulas could result in infants not receiving the complete nutrition required for proper growth and development."

This is truly interesting if you follow the chronological order of contradictory statements made by the FDA.

Several thousand babies in China became ill, having suffered acute kidney failure, with several fatalities, having been fed formula milk contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. The toll is far higher than was previously admitted by the Chinese authorities, according to the BBC.

For a list of other foods where melamine has been found, click here.

If you are outraged by this contradictory group of statements by the US FDA, let me know! Refer everyone to this informational blog entry!