EFSA Reduces Tolerable Intake Level for Melamine

Small amounts of melamine can migrate into foodstuffs from materials such as melaware plastic cups and dishes. However, exposure data analysed by EFSA’s Panel on food contact materials (CEF Panel) indicated that exposure to melamine through foodstuffs is generally below the TDI.

15 Apr 2010 --- The European Food Safety Authority has lowered the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) for melamine, a chemical mainly used in the manufacture of certain plastics, as new analysis indicates that it may cause harmful effects to the kidneys at lower levels of intake than previously thought.

Applying statistical analysis to the toxicological data which is currently available, EFSA’s expert Panel on contaminants in the food chain (CONTAM Panel) set a new TDI of 0.2 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight. This is in line with the TDI set by the World Health Organisation in 2008.

Small amounts of melamine can migrate into foodstuffs from materials such as melaware plastic cups and dishes. However, exposure data analysed by EFSA’s Panel on food contact materials (CEF Panel) indicated that exposure to melamine through foodstuffs is generally below the TDI.

The opinion recommended that EU limits for the migration of melamine into food should be reconsidered, given that food is not the only source of exposure.

EFSA previously provided scientific advice to the European Commission following the fraudulent contamination of pet food and milk products from China with melamine in 2007 and 2008 respectively[2]. In 2009, the European Commission asked EFSA to re-assess the TDI for melamine and to determine likely levels of background exposure to melamine and related substances for both humans and animals.

Meanwhile it has emerged that eggs from chickens that consumed extremely high levels of melamine in their feed still did not contain levels of the potentially toxic contaminant that exceeded U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits. That was the conclusion of the first study to check on the effects of melamine-contaminated feed in laying hens. It appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.

Liying Zhang and colleagues note that melamine, which is used to make certain plastics, triggered a public health controversy in 2008 because certain food manufacturers in China illegally added it to milk powder to distort the protein content. Authorities have since found excessive levels of melamine in eggs from chickens eating feed contaminated with the substance. However, scientists did not know how much melamine might accumulate in eggs from this process, until now.

In an effort to establish a scientific basis for determining the risk, Zhang's group gave melamine-contaminated feed to egg-laying hens and found that increasing amounts of the chemical in feed resulted in increasing amounts in the eggs. However, none of the melamine concentrations in the eggs exceeded the FDA's maximum allowable level — 2.5 parts per million (ppm) in foods. The highest levels of melamine in the feed, about 100 ppm, resulted in egg contamination levels of about 1.45 ppm. The scientists suggest that melamine contamination levels in feed that fall below 100 ppm would not result in potential hazards for food safety.