Hot Cocoa Recall (Melamine)

[seafan]

Source: WJHG TV News

Three cocoa products packaged for Christmas sale are being recalled because they may contain the industrial chemical melamine.

Wisconsin authorities say the products -- G&J -- are sold nationwide at Shopko and Big Lots stores.

They include G&J Hot Cocoa Stuffer, G&J His and Hers Hot Cocoa Set and G&J Cocoa in French vanilla and double chocolate flavors. No illnesses from consuming the products have been reported so far, but a few samples tested positive for melamine.

Consumers should return the products to the store where they bought them for a refund.

FDA recall notice: http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/dorsey12--08.html


(very short article)

Read more: http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/36628069.html

[JuniperLea]

1. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Not in cocoa~!

Is nothing sacred?

[PSPS]

2. I'll bet nowhere on the package is China revealed as the true country of origin.

[Jamastiene]

31. You are probably right.

It's amazing how much stuff comes from China and other places that do not have the same standards. Hardly any food is truthfully labeled, sadly.

[PearliePoo2]

40. I just now did a search on melamine in food products

Now there is new evidence that farm raised fish from China has melamine in it's FLESH.
The seafood is fed pellets that are laced with melamine to give a false protein reading.
This is bullshit.Melamine is showing up EVERYWHERE.
Don't eat or buy anything from China. Nothing.
They are poisoning the planet in their greed.(dog/cat food, toothpaste, soy sauce, protein drinks, infant formula, cocoa, vitamins, pet chew snacks,...there's more being revealed every day)
Fuck China. bastards....:mad:

[formercia]

35. Counterfeit UPC codes.

My wife purchased some drink mix at a local discount store. The packaging looked suspicious and didn't have any ingredients listed or country of origin printed, so I tried to look up the country of origin using the UPC code and it turned out to be an unlisted number.
I wonder how many more products like that are floating around.

[myrna minx]

3. Thanks for this. My mom often shops at a Big Lots in Wisconsin, so I'm going to give her a call. n/t

[seafan]

4. You're welcome. This recall seems to be nationwide. n/t

[AspenRose]

5. DAMMIT

#%%@!!!%$$#!!!!

:mad: :nuke:

I've HAD IT with this crap!!!

http://wwjbmovie.com/

[LiberalEsto]

6. If Melamine is so bad for us,

why does Target sell all kinds of Melamine dishes and bowls and cups? And a lot of the plates and bowls are designed for kids.

You'd think they were trying to poison us or something.

[lovuian]

7. its one thing to eat on a Plate of Melamine to ingest it is

hard on the kidneys and we will see kidney failure en masse

[Hekate]

8. Melamine dishes have been around forever--my mom had Melmac in the 1950s. Melamine powder, otoh...

... is an industrial waste product that -- when mixed in with things like milk solids -- gives a falsely high reading for protein levels. Chinese food product manufacturers have been doing this because it's cheap.

Now, I don't know that Melmac dishes are a problem, although I wouldn't microwave them. But scientists (and now the rest of us) know for damn sure that melamine in our food chain is a toxic substance. Very toxic.

There are food products and food ingredients that US corporations buy from China by the ton, such as powdered milk solids, and that then get mixed into other things here. Voila: Made in the USA. Baby formula. Protein powder for athletes and dieters. Nutrition bars. High protein, guaranteed.

Hekate

[LiberalEsto]

9. I'm worried that the plates could get scratched

by knives and forks, causing particles to mix with food.

My mom had melamine dishes too. But I believe I read somewhere a while back that you shouldn't feed your pets from plastic plates. And if it's bad for pets, it would likely be bad for little kids.

[Igel]

14. I'd say it's probably not a problem.

The melamine that's being tested for is a fairly simple compound. The melamine that's used to make plastics (with formaldehyde, also a nasty chemical) isn't free--it's undergone a reaction to tie it with formaldehyde in fairly long chains, with some sort of filler (think processed sawdust, for really old dishes and melamine-plastic products).

Look at it this way: If there was a lot of stuff unreacted in the plastic, we should smell formaldehyde from the dishes, but we don't. It's not a hard reaction (I piddled with making polymers at one point, and made some formaldehyde-based plastics along the lines of Melmac just for the heck of it).

I can't rule out that stomach acids could break some of the bonds holding the melamine in a larger chain, but it's unlikely that it would break it down to form the melamine that's dangerous. I'd still use them, if we had any, and we have a 4-year-old kid.

[kestrel91316]

25. Don't. Melamine is toxic in combination with cyanuric acid.

That said, it is an illegal adulterant on its own, used to FAKE protein levels on testing.

[Muttocracy]

15. as the other poster said, one is a small chemical, the other is a polymer

which is a long chain of the smaller chemicals, with other changes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine - the small molecule whose amino groups can cause falsely higher protein test results

vs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine_resin - the hard material

That said, a good rule is no hot foods in plastics or similar materials. I'm in the process of getting rid of plastic dishes and storage containers after seeing some odd changes in the plastic and hearing several lectures from a toxicologist who advised no hot food in plastic.

[Donnachaidh]

17. how does this stuff react in a microwave oven?

That's my question for the night.

[Muttocracy]

18. one of the wiki links said don't microwave melamine

which is consistent with my personal experience that it gets hot - I thought it was just an older dish that had gotten scratched and had water in a crack or something, but I guess the wavelength heats melamine too.

It seems like more and more things are being discovered leaching from plastics during heating, and more is released the more they're scrached and reheated. The toxicologist I heard recommended glass, metal, and old-fashioned ceramics for cooking, said plastic was OK for cold storage, she wasn't sure about freezing.

[Donnachaidh]

39. I threw out all my plastic plates when I heard of the leeching problems

They were easier for me (disabled with hand issues) to use because of the weight difference. But I'd rather suffer some problems with my clunkiness than inadvertently poison my family over time with cheap cheesy plates.

Replace all with stoneware.

[KoKo]

20. If you ground up your plates and ate them it would make a difference.

As it is your melamine plates are stable. :shrug:

[Hanse]

27. It's got to do with concentration.

Melamine plastic wear does leach a small amount of melamine into food. But it's such a small amount, less than 1 ppm, that it's not harmful.

The problem with the chinese products was they were adulterating their products with very high concentrations of melamine. Something like 30% dry weight when it came to a pet food.

[xxqqqzme]

49. I don't think it is past tense.

'...The problem with the chinese products was they were adulterating their products....'. I think they are sharing their toxic waste w/ the world. Less of a problem on the homefront.

[Hanse]

52. Oh, I don't think they're planning on doing it anymore.

The Chinese gubmint is cracking down with the death penalty.

I think any melamine tainted stuff still being found is stuff adulterated with melamine awhile ago and is just making its way out of the works.

[ronnie624]

57. Don't forget about the U.S. corporations that facilitate the sharing

or the U.S. politicians and corporate lobbyists who bribe foreign politicians to block environmental, labor and consumer regulations. The activities of Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff in the Marianas immediately leap to mind.

[Crunchy Frog]

30. Just a wild guess...

but maybe it's because we're not expected to actually eat dishes? :shrug:

[sakabatou]

10. We don't have that brand here

[Azlady]

11. I'm starting to call

any food product that could have milk products from china.... like hot cocoa. I have found one powdered milk company that all is from the USA, still looking, if I have to I will start making my own instant breakfasts, cocoa, etc etc. This is crazy

[NJCher]

12. you'd have to be an idiot to buy these "gift set" cocoas

I was in some store--not a Big Lots or the other because we don't have those here--but I saw some of them and just out of curiosity, looked them over. It's just junk! Cheap mug, some packaged hot chocolate that would sell for $2.39 at the grocery store. They want $9.99 for it. Please.

Who needs a mug? Everybody I know has too many of them.

I wouldn't buy this for anybody!



Cher

[KoKo]

21. Same thing with those gourmet Hot Cocoa gift packs not in mugs sold in fancy stores.

Even if they don't come from China but Europe you don't have any idea where the ingredients in them came from. It's good to pass them up. Buy some organic powdered milk and cocoa processed in a country that has an origin (I use Hershey's but they've now moved to Mexico) but mix them together with some sugar and stick a vanilla bean in the jar and you have your own great Cocoa Mix...

[sarcasmo]

13. Melamine is in how much of our food?

[leeroysphitz]

16. All of it? n/t

[KoKo]

22. We don't know because our FDA under Bush declared "minimal amounts" safe.

In BushWorld...minimal could mean whatever his buddies run by the Global Interests says it is. :-(

[Lorien]

24. A little in this, a little in that...

and before you know it-kidney failure! Brought to you by unfettered greed.

And don't bother getting treated for it. We all saw "Sicko" and we know how that goes!

[DollyM]

19. Here's a thought . . .

why doesn't our government just flat out ban anything coming in from China! I am sick of this too! They obviously don't care if they poisen our animals or children. They have taken most of our factory jobs and because they now have a higher standard of living due to our jobs going there, they now consume more energy, thus higher gas prices. Seems we need to step back and really look at how this all fits together and where it began. It is time America starts taking care of itself and it's own people.
P.S. It is easy to make your own hot cocoa mix and tastes much better too! Just google in the topic and you will lots of recipes that show how to make your own. I make up a big batch and package it in smaller batches and give it for Christmas gifts in addition to making my own flavored coffee creamers. Oh, also have several recipes for making my own dog biscuits which dogs just love!

[KoKo]

23. The whole point of the "Globilization Philosophy" was World Parity...

We would bring democracy and freedom to China allowing it to become less of a threat to it's neighboring countries and open up a NEW WORLD OF FREE TRADE.

To do that we have to cut salaries around the world to allow China, Russia, Korea and the rest of the "emerging countries" to be part of the new Global Economy. There are actually Think Tanks and Professors in major Universities who have been working on this for years. They are very altruistic about this. Thinking it's a good thing to eliminate poverty by reducing all of us to just above poverty standards. They felt the "trade off" was worth it. :shrug:

[madeline_con]

28. There is such inequality worldwide that we would have to lower

our standard of living to allow everyone else in the world to have enough to live a halfway decent life. At least, that's what I read somewhere.

Apparently, the reality of the richer super power exploiting most of the world to meet their high standard of living is catching up with us. It's not very pleasant for the spoiled, and not safe either. :(

[Azlady]

26. DollyM - make sure the powdered milk

you are using is milk from USA only - much of the powdered milk can be from China - I use Organic valley, it is so dang expensive but at least I know melamine is not in the powder NOR was it in the feed of the animals. Per organic valley, their ranchers are not allowed to use feed from out of the USA. I'm still working on mainstream powdered milk, will post what I find out.

[PearliePoo2]

41. thanks for the work and research.

:thumbsup:

[Azlady]

48. No Problem, I love to research :-)

I called Carnation this morning, they state that ALL of the Carnation evaporated milk/powdered milk products come strictly from the USA, not from China. Now, that is just their straight milk products. I asked about the feed the cattle eat, where it comes from and I will not get that answer until after New Years. (China will add Melamine to feed to increase protein levels) and some is shipped here to the USA. But at least their milk is from USA cows.

[tomreedtoon]

29. Why do people buy "gift packs" of unknown products?

This is such a basic flaw with things bought as Christmas gifts that it's not surprising Chinese poison would wind up in such packs.

Every year my business gets "gift baskets" of unknown products. Mostly they're "gourmet foods" none of us ever heard of, things like "wheat crackers topped with coarse ground pepper" or "jalapeno flavored sugar cookies" or other weird stuff like that. It's all got some company name on it, and none of it could be found in a responsible store. You used to find these things in "mall gourmet cheese shops" with products of equally suspicious origins. These shops disappeared after Christmas, undoubtedly before the FDA could find them.

Why would you buy a gift for someone that you wouldn't use yourself? Would you buy a brand of heroin for your son or daughter if you hadn't shot up with it yourself to see if it was any good? Well, if not, why buy mysterioso foods?

[rucognizant]

32. So................

Nabisco & Keebler are safe?

[tomreedtoon]

53. At the very least you know who to sue.

Who do you sue for "Canadian/American Quality Brands Roasted Beaver Lips in Aspic?"

[superconnected]

33. I drink cocoa whenever I'm frazled to calm me. Nooooot cocoa.

[michreject]

34. When are we gonna stop getting this shit from China?

:mad:

[Divine Discontent]

36. no no no melamine probs - remember the nearly insulting posts from dozens of others on here last mo?

I do.


This shit has got to end - maybe Congress will actually do something since this broke at Christmas and they'll be home and hearing it from their constituents... I'm almost OK with blocking all food from China (or ingredients) for 60 days to let them secure their safety!

[soothsayer]

37. I'm about to make kielbasa (Polish sausage) and my casings are from China (seriously)

I'm thinking there's so little to them, they can't be tainted with anything. Am I kidding myself? They're packed in salt, and you do soak 'em for a long time before you use them. Think it will be ok, or dangerous?

[PearliePoo2]

38. I believe the casings will be ok...

I just finished reading an article that says cattle and pigs can process the melamine and excrete it with their urine. It does not get stored in tissue.
However....now there is evidence that fish do store melamine in their flesh. :mad:

[soothsayer]

42. Thanks, PearliePoo2! Bad news on the fish/melamine thing. Jeez, what messed up world.

Oddly, the only articles I found on dangerous sausage casings and China had to do with Canada trying to explain to China that the Canadian casings were in no danger of spreading listeria (after a listeria outbreak in the Canadian plant). Who woulda' thunk it?

[PearliePoo2]

43. Yeah......that's a good one...

Canada has to ensure their products are safe to the Chinese!
Are you researching another source for casings?
I'm impressed! Homemade kielbasa, with lightly steamed cabbage quarters, onion, diced sweet turnips in a little chicken broth. One of my favorites...yum.

[Azlady]

55. Hey PearliePoo2

You know, I am curious about that article you read. Can you provide the link by chance if on line? It seems that there was an issue a few months about the melamine in cattle/chicken feed... causing some issue??? Does anyone remember that? Either sick animals or found in food products from feed???

[KansDem]

44. I don't understand. Is this stuff just naturally in these foods and need to be removed but isn't?

Or is there some melamine squad that just puts this stuff into products for some reason and doesn't care about the consequences?

I mean, how many melamine scares have we had? Certainly enough for someone, somewhere to say, "Hey, we ought not put this crap in the food we eat!"

Am I missing something here?

[PearliePoo2]

45. Love the shoe video!

Yes, you are missing a good bit.
Companies in China are adding an inedible plastic-related product called MELAMINE to feed products.
Example: pet food, fish feed pellets, cattle feed, pig feed, etc.
When the feed products are tested to reveal their protein properties, the test results show a high (thereby more valuable/desirable) protein content.
This is a FALSE reading that the poison melamine gives off. The added melamine tricks the consumer into thinking the bags of feed pellets are high quality when they are not. They are poison.
Bottom line is the melamine is CHEAP, CHEAP CHEAP, whereas corn, grain and other sources of protein are not.
GREED...GREED...GREED

[KansDem]

46. Thanks! Now my next question...

Can't a law be enacted that would put a stop to this? I mean, shouldn't there be a group of legislators that might think something like: "Hey, you know? We shouldn't permit poisonous food to be imported into this country! What do you say we pass a law that would protect American consumers? Huh?"

I don't know, it just sounds like the right thing to do.

Does that sound too naive?

[PearliePoo2]

47. It's estimated that only 1% of imports get inspected.

The FDA funding has been gutted by the CriminalInChief's administration. They can't be that effective or vigilant because they don't have the needed personnel or money to do their job.
I'm hoping the new Obama team will take a critical look at our nation's food supply.
I'm going to call my senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and voice my concerns.
It might be a good idea to contact the Obama team and urge them to give the FDA a
radical "makeover" also.

[izquierdista]

54. Laws are one thing, testing is another

You can pass all the laws you want, but if there is a bobble-headed doll instead of a chemically knowledgeable food inspector at the port of entry, laws don't do any good. I hope the new administration is going to throw all the well connected Republican bobble-headed dolls out back in the dumpster.

[Veruca Salt]

50. The FDA recall link doesn't work

http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/dorsey12_08.html

Needs a single underscore for the date. And thanks for posting!

[Acadia Blue]

51. Its not on the FDA site.

[Mari333]

56. tip of the iceberg nt