News - Hot Topics
Melamine: A Food Safety Issue, Again
USDA OKs Omega 3 labeling on Meat & Poultry Products
Coconut and Sheanut now listed as a "Tree Nut" in Updated Allergen Labeling Guidance
Melamine: A Food Safety Issue, Again
One would think that after the problems with Melamine in pet food and animal feed killing some and sickening many dogs, that the Chinese companies trying to increase the perception of high protein in food products would have learned their lesson. Apparently not.
In recent days there have been reports of several Chinese babies dying from kidney failure and 54,000 more infants have been sickened from milk to which Melamine was added. Several people have also been sicken by food products that contain milk so now the hunt is on for Chinese produced products containing milk, that might have been contaminated.
On November 13, 2008, FDA issues an Import Alert (#99-30) for “Detention Without Physical Examination of All Milk Products, Milk Derived Ingredients and Finished Products Containing Milk from China Due to the Presence of Melamine and/or Melamine Analogs”. For more information about the Melamine concerns in the USA, see the FDA’s Melamine web page.
The discovery of excessive levels of melamine in Chinese eggs has prompted the Hong Kong authorities to expand health tests to include meat products imported from China, a senior official said October 27th. The move follows the announcement late on Saturday that Hong Kong testers had found 4.7 parts per million (ppm) of melamine in imported eggs produced by a division of China’s Dalian Hanwei Enterprise Group. The legal limit for melamine in foodstuffs in Hong Kong is 2.5ppm. It is surmised that the melamine may have come from feed given to the chickens that laid the eggs.
South Korea and Taiwan are now reporting having found Melamine contaminated Fish Feed, 94% of which, 583 tons, has been sold. Melamine in animal feeds may affect the animals, but is very unlikely to affect the meat from the animal.
Melamine is a nitrogen based compound used safely in some applications, like countertops and glues, but is banned in the USA as a fertilizer because it affects the kidneys and bladder. Toxicology studies have indicated that human adults would need to consume fairly high concentrations of melamine to see any health effects.
S&S Labs does Melamine analysis by GC/MS (Gas Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry). The Cyanuric acid, a chemical related to melamine, has also been detected in rice protein. Cyanuric acid can be detected using the GC/MS method. Please contact us for more information about melamine testing and pricing.
USDA OKs Omega 3 labeling on Meat & Poultry Products
In July of this year, the United States Department of Agriculture published an interim policy statement allowing the factual statement of the amount of Omega 3 Fatty Acids and Omega 6 Fatty Acids in meat products be placed on the label. This may be expresses as the number of milligrams or grams of Omega 3's or Omega 6's per serving. No claims of relative amount, such as "Contains...", "Good Source of..." or of functionality, stated or implied, will be permitted. For more detailed information, Click here to see the FSIS Statement of Interim Labeling Guidance.
Coconut and Sheanut now listed as a "Tree Nut" in Updated Allergen Labeling Guidance
FDA has recently published an updated version of “Questions and Answers Regarding Food Allergens, including the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (Edition 4)”. The additions to this document now specify the specific nuts that are considered “Tree Nuts”, the grains that are considered “Wheat” and clarifies what is meant by “species” of seafood. For those who still have questions about how and what to label, this may be of some assistance. See http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/alrguid4.html.
New Initiative to Reduce Salmonella in Meat & Poultry
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety & Inspection Branch (FSIS) announced on February 23, 2006, a new initiative to reduce the presence of Salmonella in raw meat and poultry products.
This initiative is patterned after the very successful initiative to reduce the presence of E. Coli 0157:H7 in ground beef, which lead to a 40% reduction in human illnesses caused by the pathogen.
Since 2002, FSIS has seen an increase in Salmonella positive samples of broilers. This disturbing trend is one of the reasons for this initiative at this time.
Strasburger & Siegel is prepared to assist companies with Salmonella testing. Volume discounts are available.
Interested in other News & Views?
Archives to our News & Views Section
