AGL 40.99 Decreased By ▼ -0.51 (-1.23%)
AIRLINK 130.60 Increased By ▲ 2.60 (2.03%)
BOP 6.58 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (5.11%)
CNERGY 4.06 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.69%)
DCL 8.50 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.71%)
DFML 41.50 Increased By ▲ 0.81 (1.99%)
DGKC 86.66 Decreased By ▼ -1.24 (-1.41%)
FCCL 33.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.70 (-2.05%)
FFBL 65.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.38 (-0.57%)
FFL 10.42 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.33%)
HUBC 110.10 Increased By ▲ 1.40 (1.29%)
HUMNL 15.27 Increased By ▲ 0.81 (5.6%)
KEL 4.86 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (4.52%)
KOSM 7.88 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (7.5%)
MLCF 42.02 Decreased By ▼ -0.70 (-1.64%)
NBP 61.00 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.26%)
OGDC 183.02 Increased By ▲ 4.05 (2.26%)
PAEL 25.28 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-1.63%)
PIBTL 6.21 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (2.48%)
PPL 147.40 Increased By ▲ 1.25 (0.86%)
PRL 24.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-1.45%)
PTC 16.13 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.06%)
SEARL 70.51 Increased By ▲ 0.31 (0.44%)
TELE 7.31 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (1.25%)
TOMCL 36.35 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.41%)
TPLP 7.90 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.77%)
TREET 15.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-1.22%)
TRG 51.87 Increased By ▲ 1.51 (3%)
UNITY 27.00 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.37%)
WTL 1.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.81%)
BR100 9,838 Increased By 43.3 (0.44%)
BR30 29,994 Increased By 347.1 (1.17%)
KSE100 92,574 Increased By 552.8 (0.6%)
KSE30 28,782 Increased By 117.6 (0.41%)

Many countries have only recently fixed limits for industrial chemical melamine in food products, a World Health Organisation expert said. This is because the chemical was not considered a substance found in food before a scandal broke out in China where milk products were tainted with the substance, Peter Ben Embarek, WHO food safety expert told AFP.
"To my knowledge, the EU, Hong Kong and New Zealand have only in recent weeks fixed a transitory limit of 2.5 milligrams per kilogramme for food products, with the limit lowered to 1 milligram per kg for food consumed by children," Embarek said.
He added that "melamine has nothing to do with the food chain and therefore no standard had been fixed on a global level. "There are billions of chemical products that normally should not be found in food - it is therefore impossible to fix a limit for all the chemicals. That's the case of melamine," he said.
Standards are only fixed for chemicals or elements that are known to be present in food products as they were used during the production process, such as pesticides, explained Embarek.
Melamine, besides internal contamination, could also be found in traces due to accidental contamination through product packaging or through contact with certain surfaces during the manufacturing process. Some fertilisers, which are rarely used, also contain melamine which could then be the source of traces found in food products, he added.
However, at low levels, the substance posed no health threat. "Melamine has a rather low toxicity - in traces or in low doses, it is eliminated by the organism without harm," he said.
But with at least four children killed and 53,000 sickened in China by milk products tainted with melamine, governments around the world have moved to test food products containing milk from China. Authorities, including those in Hong Kong and Taiwan, have banned products that were found to contain melamine.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008

Comments

Comments are closed.