FDA limits Chinese food additive imports
FDA限制進口中國食品添加劑

The Food and Drug Administration is enforcing a new import alert that greatly expands its curtailment of some food ingredients imported from China, authorizing border inspectors to detain ingredients used in everything from noodles to breakfast bars.
The new restriction is likely to cause delays in the delivery of raw ingredients for the production of many commonly used products.
FDA將執行一項新的進口警報，大大擴大對某些從中國進口的食品原料的限制，授權邊境檢查人員扣留從面條到早餐等各種食品需要使用的原料。新頒布的限制令很可能導致用于生產多種日常食品的原料進口延期交付。

The move reflects the FDA's growing unease with what the alert announcement called China's "manufacturing control issues" and that country's inability to ascertain what controls are in place to prevent food contamination. For example, the agency says that, after weeks of investigation, it still does not know what regions of China are affected or what firms there are major manufacturers of vegetable proteins.
對于警報所宣稱的中國"生產制造控制問題"以及無法確定已采取了哪些措施防止食品污染的現狀,FDA越來越感到擔憂.比如,FDA說經過數周調查,現在仍不清楚中國哪些地區受到了影響,哪些公司是植物蛋白的主要制造商.

Inspectors are now allowed to detain vegetable-protein imports from China because they may contain the chemical melamine. Melamine, used in the manufacture of plastics, was found in the wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate that has led to the recall of 5,300 pet food products.
檢查人員現在可以扣留從中國進口的植物蛋白,因為它們可能含有化學成分三聚氰胺(Melamine)。Melamine用于生產塑料，現已導致5300例寵物食品產品召回事件的麥麩和大米濃縮蛋白中發現了這種成分。

Melamine's effects on humans, if ingested, is unclear. In fact, the chemical has not been found in earlier tests to be highly toxic, a fact that has scientists looking for second chemical agent that could be increasing its toxicity.
人食用三聚氰胺（Melamine）會有什么影響現在還不清楚。事實上，在早先的檢測中，未發現這種化學成分毒性巨大。

The agency for the first time also said it has received reports, which it has yet to confirm, that approximately 1,950 cats and 2,200 dogs died after eating contaminated food. The only number of pet deaths that the FDA has confirmed thus far is 14.
管理局第一次表示它收到了有關報告，報告稱近1950只貓和2200只狗死于食用污染食品。此報告尚有待進一步證實。FDA迄今已證實的相關寵物死亡事件是14起。

An import alert of this breadth is rare. Before this new FDA action, only products from two Chinese companies that exported the melamine-tainted wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate had been detained.
這么嚴重的進口警報尚屬罕見。在此之前，只有從中國兩家公司進口的產品被扣留。

Now for the products to reach U.S. foodmakers, the importers will have to prove to the FDA that they are safe. The ingredients restricted include wheat gluten, rice gluten, rice protein, rice protein concentrate, corn gluten, corn gluten meal, corn by-products, soy protein, soy gluten, mung-bean protein and amino acids.
現在如果美國食品制造商需要進口原料產品，進口商必須向FDA證明產品是安全的。受限制的產品包括麥麩、大米蛋白粉、大米濃縮蛋白、玉米蛋白粉、大豆蛋白、綠豆蛋白和氨基酸等。

The FDA has not reported finding melamine in food imports for humans from China, yet it last week launched sample testing "out of an abundance of caution," said chief medical officer David Acheson.
The new restriction may be what's needed to shore up consumer confidence that the FDA can protect the food supply, said Jean Kinsey, director of the Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota. Without such action, the public's distrust will grow, she said.
According to the alert notice posted on the FDA website Friday, the agency has so far taken 750 samples of wheat gluten and products made with wheat gluten and found 330 positive for melamine or melamine combined with another substance. It also found 27 positives out of 85 samples of rice protein concentrate and products made with rice protein concentrate.