Traces of the industrial chemical melamine have been detected in samples of top-selling U.S. infant formula, but federal regulators insist the products are safe, according to previously undisclosed tests obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Food and Drug Administration said last month that it was unable to identify any melamine exposure level as safe for infants, but a top official said it would be a “dangerous overreaction” for parents to stop feeding infant formula to babies who depend on it.
“The levels that we are detecting are extremely low,” said Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “They should not be changing the diet.”
Melamine is the chemical found in Chinese infant formula — in far larger concentrations — that has been blamed for killing at least three babies and making at least 50,000 others ill.
According to FDA data for tests of 77 infant formula samples, a trace concentration of melamine was detected in two tests of one product — Mead Johnson’s infant formula powder Enfamil LIPIL with Iron.
Three tests of Nestle’s Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron detected cyanuric acid, a melamine byproduct.
And while the FDA said tests of 18 samples of formula made by Abbott Laboratories, including Similac, did not detect melamine, spokesman Colin McBean said some company tests did find the chemical.
The FDA and other experts said the melamine contamination in U.S. formula had occurred during the manufacturing process, not deliberately.
