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Assessment on dietary melamine exposure from tainted infant formula
Xu-Dong Jia1, Ning Li, Zhu-Tian Wang
1Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100050, China.
Insights
Infant formula contaminated with melamine led to high dietary exposure in Chinese infants and young children, significantly exceeding safe levels. Younger infants showed the highest melamine intake from tainted Sanlu formula.
Area of Science:
- Food safety
- Toxicology
- Pediatric nutrition
Background:
- Melamine adulteration in infant formula poses a significant public health risk.
- Previous studies have highlighted the dangers of melamine contamination in food products.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify dietary melamine exposure in Chinese infants and young children.
- To assess exposure from consumption of melamine-adulterated Sanlu infant formula.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of melamine in 111 Sanlu infant formula samples using LC-MS-MS.
- Estimation of melamine intake across four age groups (3, 6, 12, 24 months) based on consumption levels and detected melamine concentrations (mean, median, 90th percentile, maximum).
Main Results:
- Melamine intake was highest in 3-month-old infants and decreased with age.
- Using a median melamine concentration of 1,000 mg/kg, intakes were 23.4 mg/kg bw/d (3 months) down to 8.6 mg/kg bw/d (24 months).
- These estimated intakes substantially exceeded the World Health Organization's Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of 0.2 mg/kg bw/d.
Conclusions:
- Dietary melamine exposure from tainted Sanlu infant formula significantly surpassed the WHO TDI.
- Limitations include sample representativeness and variability in melamine concentrations.
- Further research is needed to fully understand the scope of exposure and potential health impacts.
Objective:
To estimate the dietary melamine exposure in Chinese infants and young children from the consumption of melamine adulterated Sanlu infant formula.
Methods:
Four age groups of infants and young children (3, 6, 12, and 24 months) were chosen as the assessed subjects and the maximum amount of infant formula consumption was estimated based on the recommended usage level in the package insert of Sanlu infant formula and other brands. Melamine was analyzed in 111 Sanlu infant formula samples collected from the markets in Beijing and Gansu province using the LC-MS-MS with a limit of quantification of 0.05 mg/kg. Four levels of melamine concentration were chosen to estimate the dietary intakes, including the mean, median, 90th percentile, and maximum.
Results:
The infants of 3 months had the highest intake of melamine, and with the increase of the age (month), the intake decreased. Based on the median melamine concentration (1,000 mg/kg) as an example, the melamine intakes for the infants of 3, 6, 12, and 24 months were 23.4, 21.4, 15.0, and 8.6 mg/kg bw/d, respectively.
Conclusion:
Dietary melamine intakes from tainted Sanlu infant formula significantly exceeded the TDI level (0.2 mg/kg bw/d) recommended by the WHO Expert Meeting in 2008. However, the present assessment has some limitations including the poor representative samples, the varied melamine concentrations in the adulterated Sanlu infant formula, and other brand infant formula possibly consumed by these infants.
