Melamine is more than a Chinese problem

November 18, 9:39 AMNutrition ExaminerAnnie Kay

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Nutrition Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Pet food,  infant formula, milk, eggs, what next? AP/Andy Wong

Melamine is popping up everywhere, isn't it? Yesterday James McWilliams' editorial in the NYTimes effectively describes our own US contribution to the horrifying possibility that we are feeding poison into the industrial food complex.

First it was pet food,a year later baby formula in China. Then the baby formula crisis grew beyond China as children died or became critically ill from the contamination.In late September, I posted the AP's timeline on the developing melamine story.

Unfortunately, it's far from over and it's not far away.

I think many of us watched the Chinese baby formula story and felt a little safely isolated from the contamination. Maybe for a minute. What a different a couple months and a global market chain makes. Everyone knew, after the pet food tragedy last year, that when it comes to most things packaged, ingredients really can come from anywhere. And as McWilliams points out, just because it's made in the USA doesn't make it safe.

The best response may be to vote with your feet (and your food dollar). When it comes to your family's food, choose whole organic unpackaged options whenever you can find and afford them. That's shopping from local organic farms and farmers' markets. That's growing and gathering your own if and when it's practical.