By Jane Zhang Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Food and Drug Administration said that it found one positive sample of U.S.-made infant formula containing melamine "at very low trace levels."
Stephen Sundloff, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said the agency also found melamine in a few samples of products such as nutritional supplements and medical supplements, all made by the five U.S. manufacturers of infant formula. Sundloff said the melamine detected was at "extremely low levels" and likely was the result of contact with melamine during the processing or from packaging. Melamine was approved to be a "food contact substance" in the late 1960s or early 1970s.
(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)
The melamine found in U.S.-made products "is no cause for concern" from a health standpoint, Sundloff said. The FDA said the low level of melamine was detected with the use of new technology that can detect minute traces of the chemical.
Sundloff said the agency is also conducting animal tests to determine safety levels.
The traces of melamine were found as part of the FDA program of testing for the industrial chemical after melamine in Chinese-made infant formula sickened tens of thousands of Chinese infants and led to the deaths of four. Sundloff said the FDA not only sampled products at ethnic markets but also took samples from the five approved infant-formula manufacturers.
Earlier this month, the FDA announced it was restricting entry of all food products from China containing milk after inspectors found the evidence of melamine contamination. Under the FDA directive, importers must prove their food and drink shipments don't contain melamine before they can be released to U.S. markets.
-By Jane Zhang, The Wall Street Journal; 202-862-6624
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2008 17:18 ET (22:18 GMT)

Publié le 25 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones