The Food and Drug administration on May 7 issued a public statement on its website saying that scraps of pet food contaminated with melamine and used to make animal feed for swine and poultry do not pose any risk to human health when people eat the meat from the animals.

Melamine that was allegedly used in wheat gluten by Chinese companies to give a higher, yet false yield of protein was found in chicken feed on some farms in the state of Indiana, the FDA reported on April 30.

On April 28, the agency also said that melamine was found in rice protein that was used in the production of pet food and a portion of the pet food was used to produce animal feed.

The FDA reported on April 26 that the rice protein contaminated with melamine may also be used in the feed for swine. But the agency has earlier already declared that no consumers are at the risk of any adverse health consequences by eating the potentially tainted pork or meat.

The tainted feed may have affected as many as 6,000 hogs in eight states, namely California, Kansas, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah, the FDA said today.

But officials notified state authorities, according to the FDA, that swine fed adulterated products will not be approved to enter the food supply chain for human consumption.  The chances are very low that people become ill after eating pork from swine fed the adulterated product.

Melamine is used to produce melamine resin found in end products including countertops, fabrics, glues and flame retardants.  It is also used to make fertilizers and Pigment Yellow 150, a colorant used in inks and plastics.  The chemical is not supposed to show up wheat gluten or rice protein.

Melamine-tainted pet food can cause kidney failure and has already killed probably thousands of dogs and cats and led to many recalls by Menu Foods, Inc., a Canadian firm and other pet food companies since March 16 that may have caused a loss of tens of millions in revenue for the pet food companies, new media reported.

The recalls do not seem to have come to an end.  Just on May 3, SmartPak Canine, a company based out of Plymouth, Massachusetts voluntarily issued a recall on all lots of LiveSmart Adult Lamb and Brown Rice food after the product tested positive for melamine in a test received earlier in the day.

According to the company, no ill effects have been reported so far from consuming the tainted product.  The company assures pet owners that no other brands including LiveSmart Adult Chicken and Brown Rice, LiveSmart Senior Chicken and Brown Rice, and LiveSmart Puppy Chicken and Brown Rice have tested positive for melamine.

Today, the FDA reaffirmed that "There is very low risk to human health from consuming meat from hogs and chicken known to have been fed animal feed supplemented with pet food scraps that were tainted with melamine and melamine related chemicals," citing an assessment by scientists from five federal agencies.

In the worse case scenario, the agency said, the maximum exposure an individual could receive when he consumed in an entire day solid food tainted with melamine at the levels found in animals fed contaminated feed. Such a level of melamine in the person would be about 2500 times lower than the dose considered safe.

According to the FDA, scraps of contaminated pet food used to produce feed for pigs and chickens contained low levels of melamine and they were distributed to farms only in a limited number of states and added to the feed consumed by swine and poultry.

The portion of tainted pet food used in the feed of swine and poultry was smaller. Thus, the ration of the tainted was actually substantially diluted by other rations.  And so far no evidence has shown that the affected animals suffered from kidney damage which would occur when animals ingested high amounts of melamine. 

At high doses of melamine, crystals are formed in kidneys causing damages to the system, which was observed in dogs and cats. Both hogs and chickens fed the contaminated feed appeared to be healthy, the FDA said.

At this time, swine and poultry on affected farms are being held under state quarantine or voluntarily by owners. In cases in which feed samples have tested negative for melamine and related compounds, the USDA concluded that these animals no longer need to be quarantined or withheld from processing.

In other cases in which feed samples have tested positive for melamine and related compounds, or no feed samples have not been tested for whatever reasons, the animals continue to be withheld from processing until it is confirmed that no feed samples contain detectable levels of melamine. The final assessment will be done within one week, according to the FDA.

The FDA and United States Department of Agriculture continue the investigation and they are identifying experts to form a panel to assess the risk of the tainted pet food in animals.

As a measure to prevent the nightmare of the same kind from occurring in the future, the FDA keeps current its import alert for the wheat and corn gluten and rice protein concentrate and isolates from China and other countries and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection continue lab testing of the concerned products as they enter the U. S.

But again, no evidence suggests that products bound for human consumption are contaminated and the FDA suggests that consumers should feel free to continue using pork and poultry.

The FDA provided the following information on the assessment as published May 7, 2007 on its web site:

There is very low risk to humans from eating pork, chicken and eggs from animals fed animal feed supplemented with pet food scraps that contained melamine and related compounds, according to an assessment by federal scientists.

This conclusion was drawn as part of a "Melamine and Analogues Safety-/Risk Assessment" conducted by scientists from five federal agencies. Melamine analogues include cyanuric acid, ammelide and ammeline, which are commonly referred to as melamine compounds.

A safety/risk assessment is a scientific approach to estimating the risk to human health from exposure to specified compounds. It is based on available data and certain scientific assumptions in the absence of data.

These scientists estimated the human exposure to melamine and related compounds from the consumption of contaminated pork, poultry, and eggs as well as from foods containing pork and poultry as ingredients, and compared this exposure to levels calculated to be safe to consume.

Scientists conclude that for individuals who consume large amounts of the specified foods, the level of consumption is 18,000 - 30,000 times lower than the level considered safe. In other words, a person could multiply the level of consumption by thousands and remain well below the level of public health concern.

Scientists also calculated the risk if melamine were present in all the solid food consumed by an individual every day. The amount consumed is still approximately 2,500 times lower than the level considered safe. These individuals are still extremely unlikely to exhibit any adverse health effects.

The assessment notes that melamine is not metabolized, and is rapidly excreted in the urine. Thus, it is not believed to accumulate in the body of animals.

The assessment was conducted by scientists from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).