Melamine

[waterbear]

I didn't think anyone made melamine dishes in the last 50 years. My mom had them--with 3 sons in the 50's and 60's they were the only durable unbreakables out there--but were they UGLY!

My in-laws have them too. Same generation, similar reasons (kids).

I have not seen them anywhere but garage sales since.

Then again, I haven't been looking!

A quick search on Google will show you that melamine dishes are alive and well. In fact, Target has 3 pages of them on their website!

[chem geek]

Take a look at this link where it is now believed that BOTH melamine and cyanuric acid were present in the rice protein and wheat gluten imported from China. Yikes! We know what happens when you combine those two -- you precipitate melamine cyanurate (that's what the CYA pool test is all about) and apparently that's what happened in those unfortunate pets who ate contaminated food.

In this thread I wrote about how I asked Taylor how the CYA test could measure 20 ppm CYA since that is the solubility of melamine cyanurate in water. They wrote back that the CYA pool test is buffered at low pH which apparently precipitates this substance since the 20 ppm solubility is only at a pH of 7. So the melamine and cyanuric acid may have been separate in the food, but when these hit the acidic stomach they likely precipitated (after some time -- remember the 30 seconds of mixing in the CYA test) and then blocked the kidneys.

What a horrible, horrible thing. What were these people in China thinking?

Richard

[NWMNMom]

Wow, good to know info! Thanks guys.

I can tell you what they were thinking. Having farmed small grains in the past, I know that higher protein is the make or break of small grains. The chemical apparently "tricks" the test on the sampled product into seeing higher protein than is present. Its also a way to get around minimum requirements. Its a scam, and a deadly one at that. Shame on them.

[haze_1956]

Saw the Melamine/CYA link, pet food issue on the Early Show this morning. Two days after Chem Geek posts here.

Interesting what TV news shows consider important information.

However, if Brittany Spears had been found eating that brand of Dog food, it would have been a lead story !!

[waterbear]

S

However, if Brittany Spears had been found eating that brand of Dog food, it would have been a lead story !!

I think she only eats "Gravy Train"