National Family FArm Coalition: Dairy Issues > Milk Protein Concentrateshttp://www.nffc.net/issues/dairy/dairy_2.htmlA wide spread of the MPC product entering the U.S. is simply a blend assembled for the purpose of legally circumventing U.S. tariffs. MPC is shipped to the U.S. as a chemical or pharmaceutical product, circumventing dairy tariff and quota rate schedules, allowing corporations to skirt the limits imposed by current World Trade Organization (WTO) trade agreements.
THE PROBLEM:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) never tested Milk Protein Concentrate (MPC) as a food ingredient for human consumption, therefore it does not meet "Generally Regarded as Safe" (GRAS) standards. In other words, the public has no idea whether it contains waste products that constitute a health hazard.
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The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) is petitioning the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change the definition of cheese and ice cream to include MPCs as a legal ingredient. The National Yogurt Association is also petitioning FDA to change the definition of yogurt to also include MPCs.
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The US imports virtually all MPC from countries around the world. Australia and New Zealand supply the most, but other countries contribute as well, including India, China, Argentina, Poland, Mexico and the Ukraine to name a few. There is a small amount of MPC manufactured in the US at a processing plant in Portales, New Mexico. This plant is a joint venture between Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd and Dairy Farmers of America.
Milk Protein Concentrate (MPC)— Consumers Must Be Warnedhttp://www.familyfarmdefenders.org/pmwiki.php/MilkProteinConcentrate/MilkProteinConcentrateMPC-ConsumersMustBeWarnedMilk Protein Concentrate (MPC) sounds OK, but how would it look if we saw the word “glue” on our food and beverage labels? MPC is legal for glue and for industrial uses, but it has never been approved for human consumption. Why then does the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permit MPC use in any food or beverage without first having this unapproved ingredient tested for safety and nutrition as required by law under federal “Generally Regarded As Safe”(GRAS) status?
The FDA has failed to uphold its own standards that are supposed to protect the public’s food supply by allowing this illegal “manufactured” powder to be used in baby formulas, sports drinks, nutritional supplements, diet products, snacks, candies, desserts, yogurt, cheese products, pizza, ice cream, and countless other food items. Ignoring the strong objections raised by both dairy farmers and consumer food activists, FDA has allowed MPC use to continue with about 200 “patents” now in use or pending.
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The fact that MPC is a powder that comes from diverse foreign countries makes it impossible to verify its source since it might be mixed together to obtain certain levels of protein, and no one using it wants to certify its origin or its safety or nutritional analysis. Some of the countries sending MPC to the U.S. for use in our food supply include India, Russia, and China, all nations where questionable health issues in the past have included radiation contamination, chemical pollution, and disease factors. India, one of the major exporters of MPC, has free-ranging, garbage-eating water buffalo as a chief source of its milk protein concentrate. Shipment and transhipment can easily hide the fact that MPC originates in foreign countries routinely challenged by outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease, Hoof and Mouth Disease, brucellosis, and many other serious diseases. Don’t count on U.S. Customs to watch out for consumers since less than two percent of any imports is being inspected. Global terrorism underscores the need to maintain safe, domestic milk supplies.
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FDA has listed as a top priority to change the definition of milk to allow MPC use in anything at all while the agency that has lost touch with the very people it was supposed to serve continues to ignore consumers’ rights in its push to “Modernize Food Standards.” Consumers everywhere should insist that all MPC be excluded from use in foods until strict testing is conducted to prove that the product meets both safety and nutritional standards to ensure the health of the unsuspecting public.
http://www.sustainabletable.org/features/articles/dairy/MPC – Milk Protein Concentrate
Another unappetizing product of dairy farms is something called MPC or Milk Protein Concentrate. Though cheese and other dairy product producers would like to call this stuff just plain milk, the fact is that MPC is what is left over when the higher quality substances in milk have been extracted for other, higher quality products. MPC is sold in a powdered form (but is NOT powdered milk – which made from actual milk) and is considered to be a dairy waste product.
Unregulated and untested for safety, this cheap alternative to real milk is not approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), and is not on the GRAS (generally regarded as safe) list. MPC is usually imported from other countries where food regulations are less stringent, and is often imported as a chemical or pharmaceutical product rather than a food product. xiii
Although it is technically illegal to use this waste product in food items, Kraft has been doing a booming business thanks to MPC, importing over 52,000 metric tons of the substance in 2000. MPC is on the ingredient lists of processed cheeses and frozen desserts as well as less obvious foods such as high protein sports drinks, energy bars, and nutritional supplements. As dairy processors buy more and more MPC from overseas rather than real milk from the USA, dairy farmers are finding themselves with a surplus of dry milk (which is made from real milk and should be used in place of MPC), which must then be purchased by the government through the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation, courtesy of taxpayer dollars. xiv
also
Untested, Unregulated Milk Protein Concentrate from China - a HUMAN food poison?http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x797295#topparticularly this one on radioactive MPC
9. Chernobyl Cheese - From october 2002http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x797295#797546 While dairy produced in the US must meet rigorous quality and sanitary standards, MPC enters the country uninspected and without country of origin labeling. Imports of MPC have been traced from countries with poor or nonexistent safety regulations, where foot-and-mouth and other infectious diseases are endemic. One source of MPC, Apollo Ingredients, has listed its "Radioactivity index Max. 50 Bq/kg."
"That level did not occur by mere coincidence," says Bunting, who maintains that there is good evidence that MPC coming into the US from China originates from the Chernobyl area.
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