Protein content in food is often indirectly measured by examining for the nitrogen content. But, some unscrupulous people thought they could trick the system by adulterating foods with melamine, to falsify the nitrogen content of feeds. But melamine is a plastic and there are grave consequences when ingested (with cyanuric acid) by animals. First reports of melamine toxicosis came after the Beijing Olympics when babies fed adulterated milk powder started dying from melamine associated nephrosis.
This paper reports the range of ailments tilapia show when fed different concentrations of adulterated food. They include lower growth rate, fin erosion, anorexia, sluggish swimming behaviour, paling/darkening of skin and mortalities. Microscopically, alterations were evident in the kidney, liver and gills.
Why is it important to know this? It’s because some if this substance is still floating around in the world, especially in China.
| Journal of Fish Diseases | |||||||||||||||||
| Volume 36, Number 6 (June 2013) | |||||||||||||||||
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Toxicity of melamine, an adulterant in fish feeds: experimental assessment of its effects on tilapia. | ||||||||||||||||
| Authors: | W Phromkunthong, N Nuntapong, M Boonyaratpalin, V Kiron | ||||||||||||||||
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| Source: | Journal of Fish Diseases, Volume 36, Number 6 (June 2013) | ||||||||||||||||
| Page Numbers: | 555 – 568 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Abstract: | Unscrupulous inclusion of melamine in fish feeds can be harmful to fish and may be hazardous to human health. An eight-week feeding trial examined the effects of melamine (inclusion levels; 5–30 g kg-1feed) on the growth performance, feed efficiency, histopathological changes and melamine residues in sex-reversed red tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus(L.) × O.mossambicus(Peters). Fish which received melamine-containing feeds grew less, utilized feeds less efficiently and performed poorly, besides exhibiting defects such as fin erosion, anorexia, sluggish swimming behaviour, paling/darkening of skin and low survival. Melamine concentration in the fish reflected its inclusion level in the feeds, and the content was higher in the viscera than in the fish fillet or whole fish. Histopathological alterations were evident in the kidney, liver and gills of fish subjected to melamine treatment – the severity of lesions corresponded to its dosage. Enlargement of renal tubules was observed in the kidney of fish fed with =10 g melamine kg-1feed, although, crystals were not deposited. Fish subjected to melamine insult had more prominent lesions in liver than in kidney. Toxic effects on the gills manifested as epithelial hyperplasia of the primary and secondary lamellae. The anomalies were severe at higher intake levels of melamine. | ||||||||||||||||
| Citation: | W Phromkunthong, N Nuntapong, M Boonyaratpalin, V Kiron . Toxicity of melamine, an adulterant in fish feeds: experimental assessment of its effects on tilapia. Journal of Fish Diseases, Volume 36, Number 6 (June 2013), pp. 555-568, <http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=4E69B0B7174FFBD5F5B0> | ||||||||||||||||
| URL: | http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=4E69B0B7174FFBD5F5B0 | ||||||||||||||||
