A Review on Melamine Toxicity in Food Products and its Health Aspects

Hosseini, Mir-Jamal; Maleki, Javad; Mohammadi, Ebrahim

Document Type : Review Paper

Authors

¹ Department of Toxicology/Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran

² Department of Food Health and Safety, Faculty of Health, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran

³ Environmental Health Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran

Abstract

Melamine, an organic compound, derived from cyanamide, is composed of 66% by weight of nitrogen. It is sometimes illegally added to food products, especially milk and its products in order to increase tempting protein content. The standard tests to measure the protein, such as Kjeldahl and Dumas, estimate the amount of food proteins by measuring the amount of nitrogen available. Therefore, by adding nitrogen-rich compounds such as melamine to food, these tests are unable to differentiate non-protein nitrogen sources of the protein one. Hence, an economic incentive is created to add it to food. In March 2007, the United States FDA found traces of melamine in animal feed imported from China (wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate), which caused kidney stones and urinary tract disorders as well as death in large number of household dogs and cats. In addition, in late 2008, about 300,000 Chinese children fell ill due to the consumption of melamine-contaminated milk powder and six of them died. In recent years, examining the toxicity of melamine has been studied in hurting reproductive organs, forming bladder and kidney stone and even bladder cancer. Today, in many countries the maximum concentration limit (MCL) of melamine in baby milk powder, as an only source of food for children, and some other food products has been determined, which are elaborated. In this review article, it is attempted to discuss the uses and properties of melamine and its analogues, the toxicity of melamine and its analogues, sources of contamination of food with melamine and its maximum concentration level, and the methods to identify it.

Keywords

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Environment and Water Engineering

A Review on Melamine Toxicity in Food Products and its Health Aspects

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Volume 1, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
December 2015
Pages 18-34

A Review on Melamine Toxicity in Food Products and its Health Aspects

References

References

Volume 1, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1December 2015Pages 18-34

Volume 1, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
December 2015
Pages 18-34