Food safety for powder milk from China

My Food Technology subject assignment..


The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a food safety incident in the People’s Republic of China, involving infant milk powder adulterated with melamine. Melamine is a small organic molecule with a high nitrogen content that can easily fool the quality control equipment into thinking that nitrogen is present at normal levels and so the milk is passed as good. Melamine is used to manufacture melamine-formaldehyde resin, a type of plastic known for its flame retardant properties. This plastic is often used in kitchen utensils and plates, often called melamine wares.

When products contained melamine is consumed, the melamine remains inside the kidney. It forms into stones blocking the tubes. It can lead to the loss of kidney function and will require kidney dialysis or lead to death because of uremia. The effect is more serious in infant because of their kidney size and amount of milk consumed. Nearly 13,000 infants hospitalized during the incident period. The symptoms and sign of melamine poisoning are irritation, blood in urine, high blood pressure and signs of kidney infection.

The existing methods for melamine determination using a triple quadrupole liquid chromatography mass spectrometry after solid phase extraction are often complex and time consuming. However, electrospray ionization coupled with mass spectrometry allows a rapid and direct analysis of samples with complex matrices. The native liquid samples are directly ionized under ambient conditions in their original solution. Ultrasound-assisted extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (EESI-MS) has been developed for a rapid detection of melamine in untreated food samples.

If one suspects anything, they may do a urine test. The urine test is a good screening for injury to the kidneys. Furthermore, Ministry of Health Malaysia is advising those who consume milk-derived ingredients from China during the incident to perform urine test.  They also advising consumers to avoid products reported contaminated, banned dairy products from China until further report. Retail stores selling food items imported from China that could contain significant amount of milk or milk proteins is recalled. 

Ministry of Health Malaysia in close cooperation with Royal Malaysian Customs Department, Department of Agriculture Malaysia, other federal agencies and NGO advising consumers not to purchase infant milk powder manufactured in China from internet sites or other sources. They also sampling and testing milk and milk-derived ingredients and finished food products that could contain melamine. A list of safe to be consumed milk products also been produced as references for consumers. Imported goods and food products from China is quarantine and checked for any trace of melamine.

Prevention is better than cure! Parents should be alert of the ingredients added in their infant’s milk. They should be aware of the recent issues related to infants dietary. The increasing demands for powder milk have caused incidents like this to occur. Milk powder producing companies added melamine to be competitive in market and endanger the health of infants. Lastly, it’s better for parents to change from powder milk to mother’s milk. Mother’s milk without doubt is the best food for infants since it provides all the nutrients needed. Whatever Nature has given is always good!