DM launches campaign to confiscate harmful melamine dishes

Details of the campaign were unveiled in a press conference on Monday by Salah Amiri, Director of Dubai Central Laboratory, Khalid Sharif Al Awadhi, Assistant Director of Public Health Department and Head of Food Control Section, Amina Mohammed, Head of Food and Environment Laboratory at Dubai Municipality, and Ibrahim Bahzad from the Department of Economic Development.

"A survey conducted by the Food and Environment Lab has pointed out that certain types of melamine dishes sold in the local market do not comply with the prevailing specifications of the country in this regard. The food control section, therefore, has started confiscating all such dishes in cooperation with the competent authorities, in a bid to clean the market of such fake products that affect public health," said Mr. Amiri.

He noted that surveillance has been tightened at the entry points to prevent further import of such products.

Melamine dishes, he added, are fast spreading in the local market because they are cheap and due to the fact that they will not crack up if fallen down. Besides, they come in attractive colours and sizes - a factor that made them very popular.

He said the food lab survey, which covered all types of melamine dishes and food packaging materials, have revealed that some of the dishes do contain 'urea formaldehyde' which is harmful to human health.

"The melamine that do comply with our specifications is called 'melamine formaldehyde' which belongs to the same family of the banned 'urea formaldehyde.' Because of their similarities and as the latter is cheap, it is used in making fake melamine dishes. For a normal consumer, it is very difficult to detect the difference and it takes specialised analysis to detect the quality of melamine," he said.

The danger of fake melamine dishes is the presence of formaldehyde with urea - that makes the formaldehyde to release itself and dissolve into the foodstuff thereby leading to human consumption.

Amiri said the municipality would launch awareness programmes for consumers about the hazards of these substances as well as the safe and sound use of melamine products that comply with the prevailing specifications and standards (in terms of allowed temperature, using such dishes inside microwave ovens, cleaning...etc).