Eating a tiny bit of a melamine, the chemical responsible for a global food safety scare, is not harmful except when it is in baby formula, U.S. food safety officials said Friday.

Melamine-tainted formula has sickened more than 54,000 children in China and is being blamed for the deaths of at least four tots. The chemical has also turned up in products sold across Asia, ranging from candies, to chocolates, to coffee drinks, that used dairy ingredients from China.

Authorities in California and Connecticut have found melamine in White Rabbit candies imported from China.

But infant formula made in the U.S. is safe, because manufacturers do not use any ingredients from China.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday its safety experts have concluded that eating a very tiny amount of melamine — 2.5 parts per million — would not raise health concerns, even if a person ate food that was tainted with the chemical every day.

But officials stressed the scientific assessment does not mean that U.S. authorities will tolerate any melamine that is deliberately added to foods. In China, unscrupulous suppliers appear to have been adding melamine to make watered-down milk seem protein-rich in quality-control tests. That's because melamine is high in nitrogen, as is protein.

"If products are adulterated because they contain melamine, (authorities) will take appropriate actions to prevent the products from entering commerce," the FDA said in a statement. The agency said it was setting the 2.5 parts-per-million standard to address situations in which the chemical accidentally comes into contact with food, such as in cases where it is used for industrial purposes in a factory that makes food products.

Keep chemical out of U.S. formula
Officials also stressed that infant formula sold to U.S. consumers must be completely free of melamine.

"There is too much uncertainty to set a level in infant formula and rule out any public health concern," the FDA said.

Melamine first came to the attention of U.S. consumers last year, when it touched off a massive pet food recall. Chinese suppliers of bulk pet food ingredients were found to have been adding the chemical to artificially boost the protein readings of their products. Thousands of pets here were sickened, and hundreds are believed to have died.

Melamine is harmful to the kidneys. It can cause kidney stones as the body tries to eliminate it, and in extreme cases, life-threatening kidney failure.

美國(guó)食品安全局周五說(shuō)，除非是嬰兒，食用微量的三聚氰銨（現(xiàn)在是全球食品安全機(jī)構(gòu)的大敵）對(duì)身體無(wú)害。

感染三聚氰銨的配方奶粉致使中國(guó)至少54000人生病，并因使至少4名嬰兒死亡而飽受遣責(zé)。這種化學(xué)物質(zhì)也在亞洲以外的市場(chǎng)上出現(xiàn)，包括糖果、巧克力、咖啡飲料均使用了中國(guó)奶制品。加州和康州當(dāng)局均從進(jìn)口中國(guó)的大白兔奶糖中檢出了三聚氰銨。

但美國(guó)生產(chǎn)的嬰兒配方奶粉是安全的，因?yàn)橹圃焐涛词褂眠M(jìn)口自中國(guó)的原料。

食品和藥品局周五說(shuō)安全專家已經(jīng)得出結(jié)論，食用微量的三聚氰銨（每公斤2.5毫克）不會(huì)引起健康問(wèn)題，即使一個(gè)人每天的食物中含有這種劑量的話。

但該官員又強(qiáng)調(diào)說(shuō)科學(xué)評(píng)估并不意味著當(dāng)局榮忍任何三聚氰銨被故意填加到食品中。在中國(guó)，極不道德的供應(yīng)商似乎一直將三聚氰銨填加到含水的牛奶中以使其在質(zhì)量檢測(cè)中蛋白質(zhì)含量達(dá)標(biāo)。這是因?yàn)槿�聚氰銨和蛋白質(zhì)一樣含氮量比較高。

食品和藥品管理局在聲明中說(shuō)：“如果任何產(chǎn)品摻入三聚氰銨，當(dāng)局將采取適當(dāng)措施阻止其進(jìn)入市場(chǎng)。”發(fā)言人說(shuō)正在設(shè)定百萬(wàn)分之2.5的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)通知各單位，因?yàn)檫@種化學(xué)品會(huì)偶然進(jìn)入進(jìn)入供應(yīng)環(huán)節(jié)，例如因工廠的食品裝箱時(shí)滲入。

讓三聚氰銨遠(yuǎn)離美國(guó)配方奶粉官員還強(qiáng)調(diào)說(shuō)美國(guó)市場(chǎng)上的嬰兒配方奶粉必須完全不含任何三聚氰銨。

該官員稱：“設(shè)置嬰兒配方奶粉級(jí)別和消除任何公眾對(duì)健康的關(guān)心有太多的不確定性。”

美國(guó)消費(fèi)者關(guān)注三聚氰銨始于去年，那時(shí)大量寵物食品被召回。中國(guó)供應(yīng)的大多數(shù)寵物食品中檢測(cè)出填加了三聚氰銨，以人為提高產(chǎn)品中的蛋白質(zhì)含量。數(shù)以千計(jì)的寵物生病，據(jù)說(shuō)幾百只死亡。

三聚氰銨對(duì)腎有害。當(dāng)身體可能因?yàn)樵噲D消化它而引發(fā)腎結(jié)石，危險(xiǎn)時(shí)可能危及生命。