"So many 'N's in this diagram!" That is right, chemical melamine (also known as tripolycyanamide) has a lot of Nitrogen, actually 66% in its mass. That's why it is widely used in pet food produced in China, which killed quite several US cats and dogs last year. Melamine itself does not supply any nutrition, because it is insoluble and can not be used by animals. However, since food monitoring agencies use the percentage of Nitrogen contained in pet food to measure its nutrition level, Melamine is a popular added-on in the Chinese food industry. The ordeal ended with the execution of China's top food safety official Mr. Zheng Xiaoyu. Use of melamine is subsequently banned in the process of making pet food. Soon, innovative manufactures found new applications, in infant formula milk. With the 66% Nitrogen melamine, the baby milk tastes extremely nutritious. The only problem, though, is that it is insoluble.
It was reported today that unknown, but large number of infants were hospitalized for kidney stones. Because of the food structure of an infant, it's very rare to find kidney stones developed in this stage of life. Upon further study, all infants suffered from the disease had taken formula milk produced by a Hebei company, the Sanlu (Triple Deer) Diary Group in Shijiazhuang. The company recalled 700 tons of powdered milk that contains 5-6% of Melamine. Sanlu is one of the largest diary suppliers in the nation, with annual sells of $18 Billion. Sanlu is also the supplier of the China's ambitious space program.
No comments:
Post a Comment