As if allergies weren’t enough to scare you off food in a package forever, you now have to be a world news expert to keep your children safe. The latest problem is melamine. As I mentioned in a previous posting on food recalls, it was only a matter of time before melamine-contaminated foods turned up in North America.

Unfortunately, it’s turned up in candy for kids.

Melamine is a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics. That’s its proper use. However, melamine has been used previously in pet food and more recently in dairy products which originated in China. Why add melamine to a food stuff? Melamine increases the nitrogen content of food, which fools most tests for protein levels. Since nitrogen in food is normally only food in protein molecules, most tests for protein levels look for levels of nitrogen. So, melamine helps to fool testing of foods that have been diluted or otherwise tampered with. So, it would see that Chinese food companies use the nitrogen-based compound in wheat flour and other food items to make these products appear to have more protein.

Unfortunately, eating melamine has disastrous consequences. However, in low doses, melamine is not highly toxic – so companies can get away with using it as long as they don’t use too much. At higher doses, however, melamine can result in kidney stones and kidney failure especially in small animals – or small humans. Melamine can also cause cancer or reproductive system damage.

Which brings me to the bad news: if you are trying to buy less expensive Halloween candy for the trick or treaters, avoid Sherwood brand Pirate’s Gold milk chocolate coins. If you’ve got these in your possession, you likely got them from Costco. Take them back!

When selecting Halloween treats for kids, your best bets are the ones with the shortest ingredient list: think potato chips made with safer oils like sunflower. These are low allergic potential as well as low potential for contaminated ingredients.