The protein content of food has recently been thrust into the media spotlight by a spate of pet food contaminations and deaths. The culprit it seems was finally determined to be melamine, or as they call it in China, “melamine scrap” added to animal feed. Why then we have to be asking, would anyone add melamine scrap to animal feed or grain? To understand the ruse we need to travel to the heavily contaminated region of Northeast China, where the practice is common.
The first order of business is defining melamine and in particular, “melamine scrap.” Retrogressing from there, and more fundamental, why add it to foods? Melamine is a nitrogen containing compound (shown above) with a chemical structure similar to urea, the nitrogen waste vehicle of mammals. Melamine can be produced in industrial style processes using urea and very high pressure. Melamine is used in those same industrial processes to produce a number of plastics and a variety of fire retardant clothing. In yet other large industrial processes in China, producing fertilizers and again plastics, a residue left over in chunks falling to the bottoms of vats is called “melamine scrap” which instead of being discarded, is sold to local agricultural middlemen. The white chunks of melamine are crumbled and broken up into a protein containing food, like a single grain product or flour, or a combination of milled grains. By adding the chemical the middleman in the process artifically boosts the protein content, without having to buy expensive protein powder. In reality to all comes down to testing. The process of testing the food or flour, as I'll outline, is fooled by the presence of melamine and the protein content using current testing methods shows an elevated level of protein in the product.
Boosting the "apparent" protein content of grains
Melamine is a nitrogen containing molecule with amine group side chains. That’s not amino acid side chains, but rather amine side chains. Thus in the two methods used to test a bulk lot of feed or grain for protein, both the Kjeldahl Method and the Dumas Method assay for nitrogen. From there, the relationship between the nitrogen content of the sample and the protein content is extrapolated. However, if there is a nitrogen containing molecule in the feed or grain, like “Melamine Scrap” the nitrogen content is artificially boosted and the extrapolation to protein content is also incorrectly boosted. Since the food purchasers are primarily interested in the protien content, and the middle man can boost "apparent" protein content with melamine scrap, crude measures of nitrogen content allow for both to claim their product is protein rich. Thus the cheap "melamine scrap" from industrial processes is worth it’s weight in gold to a Chinese middleman peddling bulk grains or feeds.
Toxicity to Humans
In a nutshell: no one knows. However, having stated that, the FDA out of an “abundance of caution” declared 6,000 hogs to be contaminated due to consuming melamine tainted chow. The porkers were excluded from the human food chain. The Pesticide Action Network (PAN) of North America lists melamine but regards it as a virtual unknown. The WHO and EPA both essentially have no information on it, or in the case of the EPA, limited information. The FDA and USDA are currently investigating the pet food scare and establishing methods of screening for melamine in foods. Many of the animals apprear to have simply died of ammonia exposure from the metabolism of melamine. The final tally is melamine one, understanding of human toxicity from chronic exposure to melamine, zero.
Trust
Now we get into the issue of trust. Having learned about this very sinister way the analysis of a food for protein content can be manipulated with melamine, a tasteless, odorless nitrogenous compound, the question remains, should the marketplace respond in kind? As consumers of grain and protein containing foods, how would you view a product containing protein if it were produced in China? And how many Western food producers purchase protein products or grain products from China and add them to commonly consumed foods?
In short, I trust the food supply a little less and will scrutinize packed products a little closer now that I’ve learned how commonplace it is in Northeast China to spike foods with melamine. In the end, the words of William Shakespeare say it all: “Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.”
The first order of business is defining melamine and in particular, “melamine scrap.” Retrogressing from there, and more fundamental, why add it to foods? Melamine is a nitrogen containing compound (shown above) with a chemical structure similar to urea, the nitrogen waste vehicle of mammals. Melamine can be produced in industrial style processes using urea and very high pressure. Melamine is used in those same industrial processes to produce a number of plastics and a variety of fire retardant clothing. In yet other large industrial processes in China, producing fertilizers and again plastics, a residue left over in chunks falling to the bottoms of vats is called “melamine scrap” which instead of being discarded, is sold to local agricultural middlemen. The white chunks of melamine are crumbled and broken up into a protein containing food, like a single grain product or flour, or a combination of milled grains. By adding the chemical the middleman in the process artifically boosts the protein content, without having to buy expensive protein powder. In reality to all comes down to testing. The process of testing the food or flour, as I'll outline, is fooled by the presence of melamine and the protein content using current testing methods shows an elevated level of protein in the product.
Boosting the "apparent" protein content of grains
Melamine is a nitrogen containing molecule with amine group side chains. That’s not amino acid side chains, but rather amine side chains. Thus in the two methods used to test a bulk lot of feed or grain for protein, both the Kjeldahl Method and the Dumas Method assay for nitrogen. From there, the relationship between the nitrogen content of the sample and the protein content is extrapolated. However, if there is a nitrogen containing molecule in the feed or grain, like “Melamine Scrap” the nitrogen content is artificially boosted and the extrapolation to protein content is also incorrectly boosted. Since the food purchasers are primarily interested in the protien content, and the middle man can boost "apparent" protein content with melamine scrap, crude measures of nitrogen content allow for both to claim their product is protein rich. Thus the cheap "melamine scrap" from industrial processes is worth it’s weight in gold to a Chinese middleman peddling bulk grains or feeds.
Toxicity to Humans
In a nutshell: no one knows. However, having stated that, the FDA out of an “abundance of caution” declared 6,000 hogs to be contaminated due to consuming melamine tainted chow. The porkers were excluded from the human food chain. The Pesticide Action Network (PAN) of North America lists melamine but regards it as a virtual unknown. The WHO and EPA both essentially have no information on it, or in the case of the EPA, limited information. The FDA and USDA are currently investigating the pet food scare and establishing methods of screening for melamine in foods. Many of the animals apprear to have simply died of ammonia exposure from the metabolism of melamine. The final tally is melamine one, understanding of human toxicity from chronic exposure to melamine, zero.
Trust
Now we get into the issue of trust. Having learned about this very sinister way the analysis of a food for protein content can be manipulated with melamine, a tasteless, odorless nitrogenous compound, the question remains, should the marketplace respond in kind? As consumers of grain and protein containing foods, how would you view a product containing protein if it were produced in China? And how many Western food producers purchase protein products or grain products from China and add them to commonly consumed foods?
In short, I trust the food supply a little less and will scrutinize packed products a little closer now that I’ve learned how commonplace it is in Northeast China to spike foods with melamine. In the end, the words of William Shakespeare say it all: “Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.”
4 comments:
"..will scrutinize packed products a little closer now that I’ve learned how commonplace it is in Northeast China to spike foods with melamine."
WG: As traceability goes, especially as food passes through countries and processing plants, I do not think any amount of scrunity will help us find with certainty whether melamine was fed or not to animals constituting whatever processed meat product we are about to consume.
It should be spelt SCRUTINY of course.. I should use that preview function. 8-)
WG: and closer to home for you, this is apparently happening in the US too:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/04/AR2007050402191.html
Shefaly: True enough, scrutinizing might not be the correct descriptor. Maybe, wary or paranoid is a better term. I was in a store yesterday scrutinizing an "energy" bar which advertised "Micro-protein" as a means of boosting protein power. I was thinking of melamine in this instance and wondering if protein supplements might not be contaminated as well. As it turns out, "micro-protein" wasn't clearly defined (maybe amino acids are micro-protein) and my paranoia is maybe over the top.
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