Melamine update---U.K.

Melamine update

The Food Standards Agency has today written to all UK ports and local authorities after the European Commission refined the measures it has put in place to test for melamine in food products from China.

Melamine is an industrial chemical that should not be present in food. Milk products containing melamine have been at the centre of a major food incident in China.

The European Commission had originally said that any composite products, like biscuits and cakes, from China containing more that 15% milk products (or where the content could not be established) should be tested for melamine. However, some Member States had been reporting difficulties in establishing the exact milk product content of a number of foods targeted by the original decision.

The new requirements that came into effect today now require the testing of all composite foods from China containing milk products. As before, products found to contain more than 2.5mg/kg melamine have to be withdrawn from the market and destroyed.

UK ports and local authorities are being advised to start implementing this new testing regime.

The revised measures continue the prohibition of imports into the European Community of infant formula from China and other composite products containing milk or milk products intended for infant and young children’s nutrition.

Feed and food business operators also need to provide prior notification, to the relevant port, of consignments from China of products covered by the Commission Decision.