Melamine migration from bamboo tableware in China
Study explores the migration of melamine, a suspected carcinogen, and its derivatives from tableware made with melamine-formaldehyde resin or melamine combined with bamboo or wheat straw, purchased in China; 35% of bamboo tableware samples exceeded China’s specific migration limit for melamine; many melamine-based products are marketed to children.
Bamboo and other powdered plant-based materials are sometimes added to melamine-formaldehyde resin to label products as ‘natural’ or ‘eco-friendly’. Unfortunately, plant-based materials in plastics are known to accelerate the degradation of certain polymers they are mixed with causing starting substances and additives within the plastic polymers to migrate at higher rates into the foods.