RIYADH: The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) has announced that “Maeil Mam'ma” milk is free from poisonous melamine. The SFDA said it had conducted laboratory tests on samples of Maeil Mam'ma from production lines. In a statement, Dr. Ibrahim Bin Saeed Al-Mehazea, Deputy Executive for Executive Affairs at the SFDA, said the authority conducted the necessary analysis on different packages of the product at the authority's quality control laboratory. All the results showed that the samples were identical to the set specifications and standards No. 3043/ 2010 regarding the maximum limits of melamine allowed in food and fodder. Earlier, the General Directorate of Health in Makkah received directives from the emirate to probe a complaint lodged by a citizen claiming the milk contains melamine exceeding national and international limits. The directorate carried out a series of tests at the Toxicology and Chemistry Center for Forensic Medicine in the region and found that the melamine in the milk was within limits permitted by Saudi and international specifications. The authority also took random samples from the milk sold in pharmacies and subjected them to thorough laboratory analysis. All the results showed that the products meet local and international standards. Maeil is a Republic of Korea-based company. Melamine is described by the United States' Food and Drug Administration as “harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Chronic exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage and an eye, skin and respiratory irritant”. It can also cause kidneys to “malfunction”.
