FDA/USDA joint news release: Scientists conclude very low risk to humans from food containing melamine

There is very low risk to human health from consuming meat from hogs and chickens known to have been fed animal feed supplemented with pet food scraps that contained melamine and melamine-related compounds, according to an assessment conducted by scientists from five federal agencies.

In the most extreme risk assessment scenario, when scientists assumed that all the solid food a person consumes in an entire day was contaminated with melamine at the levels observed in animals fed contaminated feed, the potential exposure was about 2,500 times lower than the dose considered safe. In other words, it was well below any level of public health concern.

For more information, see the FDA press release at http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01629.html or the USDA press release at http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2007/05/0128.xml.

See also: Melamine and analogues safety/risk assessment fact sheet (USDA Web site)