Assessment on dietary melamine exposure from tainted infant formula.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the dietary melamine exposure in Chinese infants and young children from the consumption of melamine adulterated Sanlu infant formula.


METHODS
Four age groups of infants and young children (3, 6, 12, and 24 months) were chosen as the assessed subjects and the maximum amount of infant formula consumption was estimated based on the recommended usage level in the package insert of Sanlu infant formula and other brands. Melamine was analyzed in 111 Sanlu infant formula samples collected from the markets in Beijing and Gansu province using the LC-MS-MS with a limit of quantification of 0.05 mg/kg. Four levels of melamine concentration were chosen to estimate the dietary intakes, including the mean, median, 90th percentile, and maximum.


RESULTS
The infants of 3 months had the highest intake of melamine, and with the increase of the age (month), the intake decreased. Based on the median melamine concentration (1,000 mg/kg) as an example, the melamine intakes for the infants of 3, 6, 12, and 24 months were 23.4, 21.4, 15.0, and 8.6 mg/kg bw/d, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Dietary melamine intakes from tainted Sanlu infant formula significantly exceeded the TDI level (0.2 mg/kg bw/d) recommended by the WHO Expert Meeting in 2008. However, the present assessment has some limitations including the poor representative samples, the varied melamine concentrations in the adulterated Sanlu infant formula, and other brand infant formula possibly consumed by these infants.
Jia
Xu-Dong
XD
Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100050, China.
Li
Ning
N
Wang
Zhu-Tian
ZT
Zhao
Yun-Feng
YF
Wu
Yong-Ning
YN
Yan
Wei-Xing
WX
D002681:China; D004032:Diet; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D005506:Food Contamination; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D041943:Infant Formula / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D014227:Triazines / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
D005411:Flame Retardants; D014227:Triazines; C011907:melamine