Following reports that pet food had been recalled due to melamine contamination, the latest report has consumers panicking as they try to determine which ones are safe for their family. Considering that a large amount of products now come from China and have been patronized due to their low price, alarms have now been raised with news circulating that melamine has also tainted milk formula from China which has made thousands of children ill.

Food experts believe that it may have been part of China’s food chain for a long time now. To date, 53,000 infants have gotten sick after drinking formula milk deliberately contaminated with melamine. Four babies have died, 13,000 have been hospitalized, and 104 are currently in a critical condition with kidney stones caused by the adulterant.

Apparently, baby formula milk requires high protein content and producers are able to cheat on this regulation by mixing it with melamine powder. However, the list of contaminated food is not limited to just baby formula. Even meat products can be contaminated if the food fed to these animals were likewise tainted with melamine. It can also be absorbed by plants if the pesticide used contains cyromazine, a derivative of melamine, which is commonly used in China as a pesticide.

Though effects are not verified yet, experts say that melamine cause kidney stones and other kidney problems. It is still uncertain what the long term effects are. While kidney stones can be removed easily, melamine may cause other damage when it crystallizes and blocks the small tubes in the kidney that filter blood.

Following are the products that are suspected for possible melamine contamination:

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