With the deaths of 4 infants and 55,000+ more ill, countries all over the world are now stepping up tests to certify their imported milk product safety. The source of the milk poisoning stems from the melanine added to infant milk products by chinese manufacturers to mask the actual protein content of their milk products.

Melamine Defined by Wikipedia

Melamine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses. Melamine combines with cyanuric acid to form melamine cyanurate, which has been implicated in the Chinese protein export contaminations.

Melamine’s Toxicity

Melamine by itself is not toxic in small doses. But when mixed with cyanurate acid it can cause fatal kidney stones due to the formation of an insoluble melamine cyanurate.

A repeat of the 2007 Chinese Animal Feed Recall

Just last year a similar scandal erupted also in China resulting in the deaths of pets who ingested the pet food also contaminated with melamine. The pets suffered from kidney and acute renal failure due to the crystallized melamine found in their urine.

Action from local Health Officials

Local health officials everywhere are quickly analyzing the isolated milk products imported from China. To alleviate customer worries several associations like the Philippine Baking Industry Group assured it’s customers that it does not import it’s milk products from China.