WINDHOEK - THE World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have urged countries to ensure the safe feeding of infants following the ongoing melamine-contaminated milk crisis in China.

The two UN agencies issued a joint media release on Friday, calling on countries of the world to be alert and vigilant to the possible spread of melamine-contaminated dairy products, the Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) reported.

WHO said it recommends that all infants should be fed exclusively with breast milk for the first six months of life.

Quoting Dr Jorgen Schlundt, Director of the WHO Food Safety Department, NAMPA reported that it is also equally critical to ensure that there is an adequate supply of safe powdered infant formula to meet the needs of infants who are not breastfed.

He warned that replacing powdered infant formula with other products such as condensed milk, honey mixed with milk, or fresh milk, is inappropriate as such products would put at risk the safety and nutritional status of this vulnerable population group.

Meanwhile Dr Ezzeddine Boutrif, Director of the FAO Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, said it is critical to restore consumer confidence following reports of findings of imported melamine-contaminated products in several countries over the last two weeks.

'Melamine-contaminated products should be removed from the food chain in order to prevent further exposure. The safe supply of dairy products needs to be restored immediately,' said Dr Boutrif.

WHO and the FAO also urged countries to closely monitor their markets because melamine-contaminated products could reach countries through both formal and informal trade.

It has been suggested that countries should consider getting information about the origin of the product, up-to-date recall information or in some cases testing for melamine contamination.

If found contaminated, appropriate actions such as product recall and safe disposal should be taken, based on an assessment of the risk to human health.

'It is critical that the industry strongly invests in food safety and adopts a food safety culture, covering the food chain from raw materials through to the final product,' said Dr Boutrif.

He said incidents such as melamine contamination in China not only impact food safety and human health, but also put the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of dairy farmers at risk.

'There is a need for countries to do major investment in strengthening their food control and food-borne disease surveillance systems as it could minimise the potential occurrence of food safety incidents like this one", said Dr Schlundt.

The melamine-contaminated dairy products' event first came to the attention of the international organisations on September 11.

Both the WHO and FAO said they have used the International Food Safety Authorities' Network (INFOSAN) to inform and update national food safety authorities on this crisis, one of the largest in recent years.

Over 54,000 children are said to have sought medical treatment in China after drinking melamine-contaminated infant formula. Almost 12,900 are currently hospitalised.

Melamine is commonly used in food contact materials such as containers and labels, and can also be used in agricultural products such as fertilisers.

Melamine on its own is of low toxicity, but animal studies have suggested that kidney problems occur when melamine is present in combination with cyanuric acid, a potential impurity of melamine.

The level of melamine found in the contaminated infant formula has been as high as 2,560 milligrams per kilogram of food, while the level of cyanuric acid is unknown. -- BERNAMA