UN s food standard body, Codex Alimentarius Commission has brought forth new rule that curb rampant use of melamine in powdered infant and pet foods.
According to Codex Alimentarius Commission, the maximum amount allowed in powdered infant formula is 1 mg/kg and the amount of the chemical allowed in other foods and animal feed is 2.5 mg/kg.
Melamine is a chemical used in a variety of industrial processes - including the manufacture of plastics used for dishware and kitchenware, and can coatings - and traces of it unavoidably get into food by contact without causing health problems.
However, the substance is toxic at high levels. Such levels of melamine were found recently in infant formula, milk powder and pet food due to its deliberate and illegal addition to increase the apparent protein content of these products.
Babies and children died as a result and hundreds of thousands became seriously ill.
Establishment of maximum levels will help governments differentiate between low levels of unavoidable melamine occurrence that do not cause health problems, and deliberate adulteration - thereby protecting public health without unnecessary impediments to international trade said Martijn Weijtens, Chair of the Codex Committee on contaminants in foods.
According to Codex Alimentarius Commission, the maximum amount allowed in powdered infant formula is 1 mg/kg and the amount of the chemical allowed in other foods and animal feed is 2.5 mg/kg.
Melamine is a chemical used in a variety of industrial processes - including the manufacture of plastics used for dishware and kitchenware, and can coatings - and traces of it unavoidably get into food by contact without causing health problems.
However, the substance is toxic at high levels. Such levels of melamine were found recently in infant formula, milk powder and pet food due to its deliberate and illegal addition to increase the apparent protein content of these products.
Babies and children died as a result and hundreds of thousands became seriously ill.
Establishment of maximum levels will help governments differentiate between low levels of unavoidable melamine occurrence that do not cause health problems, and deliberate adulteration - thereby protecting public health without unnecessary impediments to international trade said Martijn Weijtens, Chair of the Codex Committee on contaminants in foods.
