Abstract
Contamination of pet foods and infant formula with high levels of melamine has resulted in a number of cases of illness and deaths among pets and children; however, the long-term effects of low dose exposures is poorly understood. Exposure to melamine from the consumption of foods using melamine-based tableware has been identified as a potential source of concern due to the role that melamine may play in human kidney disease, especially among children. In this study, the migration of melamine into solutions of varying pH was characterized in order to better understand the migration risk associated with foods of different chemical characteristics. Two brands of bowls marketed toward children’s use were tested in pH 3.0, 5.0, 7.0, 9.0, and 11.0 solutions at 95 °C over a series of ten 30 min exposures runs. Melamine migration was significantly greater in the pH 3.0 solution than others and migration was significantly different between the two brands. Migration dropped substantially after the initial run and reached consistent values by the fifth run. Despite the potential for long term melamine exposure to contribute to human disease, melamine based products are widely available. Exposures to foods cooked in bowls of this type would be less than Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) levels; however, gaps in the understanding of chronic exposure to melamine may warrant caution among consumers, especially parents of young children. Currently, labeling requirements are inadequate to inform consumers of the potential for exposure to melamine.
Highlights
Contamination of pet foods and infant formula with high levels of melamine has resulted in a number of cases of illness and deaths among pets and children; the long-term effects of low dose exposures is poorly understood
We report the effects of pH and temperature on the migration of melamine from two brands of melamine bowls marketed towards children’s use
Mass per volume measurements are useful for comparison to the EU Specific Migration Limit (SML) and for calculating exposure scenarios to compare to Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) values while mass per area values are more useful for comparing the bowl brands in this study, as well as other studies, since migration is a surface phenomenon
Summary
Contamination of pet foods and infant formula with high levels of melamine has resulted in a number of cases of illness and deaths among pets and children; the long-term effects of low dose exposures is poorly understood. In 2007, pet food manufactured in China and distributed in North America was found to be contaminated with melamine resulting in the recall of over 60 million products from almost 150 brands (Bridges 2007; U.S FDA 2009a). This incident led to the deaths of more than 1000 household pets (WHO 2009a). More than 294,000 infants and children were affected and infant formula tainted with melamine was identified as the cause (EFSA 2010a) This incident prompted a global recall of the formula as well as other products that contained the tainted milk powder (WHO 2009b)
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