Melamine now hits fish feed [Hong Kong]

The Standard
November 12, 2008

The melamine scare has spread from baby formula to animal feed after a sample of feed used at a fish farm on Lantau Island was found to contain traces of the chemical.

It is the first time melamine has been found in animal feed, according to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.

Hong Kong has informed the mainland because the product was from Zhuhai.

Fish feed from three other farms - in Taiwan, France and Japan - were also tested and passed by the Centre for Food Safety.

The center also tested eight live marine fish samples collected from the four farms. All the samples were satisfactory.

"The results tally with an earlier study conducted by the United States Food and Drug Administration that animal feed tainted with melamine has limited effect on edible meat tissue," a center spokesman said.

The department has also asked the mainland authorities to follow up the latest discovery. "We are advising local fish and livestock farmers ask their feed suppliers to ascertain the products they supply do not contain melamine when sourcing animal feed," the spokesman added.


We must remain vigilant.

Regards,
Chris

Thanks for the information.

Now this is scary stuff!!! Which of the imported foods can you trust now? Especially in SA where there is no control placed on fish foods. - They did not mention which fish food contained melamine?

Hi Wayne,

What I am trying to do is very simple.

I am trying to establish IF there is a connection between koi food (fish feed) and dropsy like symptoms. The possible connection was brought to my attention by a person who has a large clientele up here in Gauteng (around 800 koi keepers on his books whom he services / supports / supplies food and medications). Over the last few years he has noticed that in many cases where dropsy was evident poor quality food was used by the koi keeper.

Dropsy is a bacterial infection but whilst chatting to this guy I became interested in this coincidence. So the next time this occurs i.e. we can find a pond where there is dropsy like symptoms AND el cheapo foods we intend to have the food this koi keeper is using analysed for melamine.

The food that is suspected does come from the east and is freely available in pet shops. And could be made in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia etc

Just of interest pet foods and koi foods use ingredients from all over the world. Not every country has all the raw materials available to produce its pet foods and more specifically koi foods. Also when there is a shortage of a raw ingredient in one country it is sourced from another country. So ingredients are often sourced locally or from another country. This is a fact of life.

America did not escape the melamine scare when cat and dog foods produced in the USA were tainted with melamine. I cannot recall exactly but millions upon millions of American produced pet foods were recalled. The same here in South Africa but on a much smaller scale. Also Europe got a smack as well simply because they ALL used ingredients from China at some time or the other.

A year or two ago there were two different problems in South Africa – one the melamine and the second anti-freeze in one of the ingredients – the reputable pet food manufacturers have always had strict quailty controls in place and they have tightened up their quality control unbelievably in the last year or two. So we cannot make the statement that there is no control. There are some very strict controls in place. And yes there are some pet food manufacturers who do not have good quality controls in place.

The factory that makes Shogun for me has samples from each batch of raw materials sent to a lab in Stellenbosch for analysis before use. Unfortunately this adds to the cost. I also know for a fact that the factories that suffered from the anti freeze and the Melamine problem (two different factories) are doing exactly the same.

The results of melamine in fish food: is that whilst the melamine makes the protein levels look higher it does not add anything at all from a nutritional point of view. And at higher levels the melamine damages the kidneys. Melamine was added to milk in China and poisoned 55,000 babies. By adding melamine the supplier can dilute the milk with 30% water and still get a good protein reading in lab tests.

I have also come across some references that state that melamine was first used in fish feeds before it was used in animal and now human feeds. Another reference from over a year ago here in South Africa was a scientific study that suspected that melamine in trout feed was the cause of mass mortalities in trout fry on a particular farm. I use the word suspected. Testing has since improved dramatically with new knowledge that has been shared around the world.

I also came across references that they have used melamine in fish meal as well not only corn gluten. Now it would have to be a really bad quality fish meal to have to enhance the results. Corn, wheat and rice gluten are a cheap protein sources from carbohydrates. They lack some amino acids and the profile is not correct for koi. But they are used because it keeps the price down and still gets a good protein reading in lab tests.

Let’s try to find out scientifically first if there is a link between the two. This could put our fears to bed – one way or the other. It may just be a suspicion that will lead no where.

South Africa does have three places that do melamine tests. Now that the problem is out in the open testing can be done. The test ranges from R750 per sample to R3000 per sample.

Again it’s only a suspicion and much more investigating and testing needs to be done.

Regards,
Chris

Hi Chris

Thanks for the information. Last year i was at two of my clients "Award ceremonies" where a Prof from UCT spoke. All my clients are direct selling or network marketing companies. Dr Aubrey Parsons has several degrees and are world renown in his field. He also sits on several research boards of different countries. He is mainly an expert on dermetology but discussed foods aswell.

His exact words where that "South Africa has become the dumping yard for cheap and dangerous chemicals from china". He said that there are very little control over what quality of chemical or ingredients may be brought into SA. According to the SA customs "hair softner" is "hair softner" and "X active ingredient" is just "X active ingredient" but only when you look at it under a microscope do you realise what crap is being imported into this country and how dangerous these items can be.

He is part of a "Task force" that was created last year to do random tests on ingredients to determin whether the imported items are safe. He showed us photos from the results where these "cheap" ingredients are placed in products and used by the public. All i can say is its horrible.

He blamed the larger retail stores for this as he said that they are contuely cutting the suppliers \ manufacturer's profit by enforcing selling prices onto the supplier and thereby forcing the manufacturers to produce items of lesser quality.

Are we now starting to see this in our pet food aswell?

I do not think that the local manufacturers will deliberatly mix substandard ingredients into the product but it must be possible that they are buying a cheaper ingredients from somewhere that was tainted by the supplier to give the illusion that his product is of the same quality as the other more expensive ingredient.

Wayne