09/18/08 09:19 - ID#45719

Melamine, why I don't use it.

Apparently, no one cares about schools in buffalo, lol - e.g. last post.

Anyhow, I was reading google news this morning and I saw that 6000+ chinese babies have become ill aftre consuming formula that has the same toxic compound that killed pets when consuming chinese pet food a while back

Melamine, a white crystalline powder used in making plastics and tanning leather that was found in the infant formula, was at the heart of China's troubles last year, too.

That compound is melamine. Here is the wikipedia article

I really don't understand how it ended up in the infant formula after it was known to kill pets but it did, and now the babies are dying.

The crazier part is I noticed these really pretty hard plastic bowls and kitchen wares are showing up everywhere and are actually just called melamine bowls.

You can get them just about anywhere that has kitchen supplies and goes from fancy

to more common ones at target

So my question is who uses these and why. Clearly over time, either through heat or scrapping, litle peices of melamine end up in your food.

libertad writes at 01:47:52 12/11/08 - Comment #43169: I'm looking for glass storage containers and all I found were these. :::link:::

Everything else has plastic lids. What do you use? I really like those that I found but they are expensive and they don't come in any other sizes for some reason.

tinypliny writes at 07:58:30 09/19/08 - Comment #39044: I hope not. :/

All my kitchenware is either Corelle (Vitrelle - a type of 3-layered glass) or stainless steel and some aluminium.

paul writes at 05:28:41 09/19/08 - Comment #39042: It doesn't break down easily unless you get it hot by putting it in the microwave. Don't tell me people don't forget and do that.

tinypliny writes at 09:07:40 09/18/08 - Comment #39020: To answer your question melamine doesn't break easily and is cheap. That's why people would use it. :(

ajay writes at 02:56:20 09/18/08 - Comment #38997: Melamine tests the same as protein when added to food.
So, when a bulk food supplier claims that his <whatever> contains at least 22% protein, the buyer can test it and verify. If the seller is unscrupulous, he can add melamine to the food and the test results will show a higher concentration of protein. Since melamine is so much cheaper than actual protein itself, it makes financial sense to cheat like this.
It's a different matter, of course, that melamine is DANGEROUS to your health. But anyone interested in making a quick buck at all costs will not let such a silly little thing like that stop him.

BTW: melamine was also at the root of the pet food recall a couple of years ago. It's bad that they added it to pet food; but to baby food? Even hell is too good a place for such assholes.

zobar writes at 10:05:15 09/18/08 - Comment #38989: I like these in particular :::link:::

But they're probably not as toxic as these keen uranium-glazed bowls they made in the '40s:
:::link:::

- Z