Friday, October 17, 2008

COOKIE MONSTER?
Popular Creme-filled Cookies Recalled Due to Melamine

As one mom blogger said: Lead is so 2007. It's all bout melamine-tainted product recalls nowadays.

In late September, it was the White Rabbit candy; now it's Koala's March creme-filled cookies.

The cookies are being recalled from U.S. store shelves because "they were made in China and may be contaminated with melamine," a newspaper report say.

Michigan-based Lotte USA Inc. said to the New York Times that it initiated the recall on Sept. 29.

It recalled king-size chocolate, white chocolate and strawberry flavors, family pack-size chocolate, white chocolate, strawberry, chestnut, Hawaii chocolate and Hawaii pineapple flavors.

Melamine is the industrial chemical blamed for killing four infants and sickening thousands of children in China. It's used to make plastics and fertilizers. Melamine is an organic compound that is often combined with formaldehyde to produce melamine resin, a synthetic polymer which is fire resistant and heat tolerant. Melamine resin is a very versatile material with a highly stable structure. Uses for melamine include whiteboards, floor tiles, kitchenware, fire retardant fabrics, and commercial filters.

In the Philippines and in many other countries, it is also widely used in plates and other household items. I even remember the blue set I bought from SM more than two decades ago. Oh, those were the days when we were blissfully unaware that the products we use everyday can actually harm us.

So to be safe, here are some tips from SafeMama:

- Don’t microwave, boil or otherwise heat melamine dishware or utensils, ever.
- Hand wash all melamine in warm water with mild soap.
- Use safer materials like bamboo, stainless steel, or BPA-free plastic (same heat rules apply here though, no microwave, hand wash).
[photo from Wikipedia]

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