One of our most common interactions with melamine is in our kitchen. It could be in our cupboards, plastic or cutlery. Melamine cutlery is a combination of melamine and formaldehyde, also known as melamine resin. Melamine cutlery is generally considered safe because melamine does not migrate into most foods. However, melamine can slowly migrate into food and drink under extreme conditions, including heating food on melamine-laced cutlery to more than 160°F, especially if the food is acidic. Acidic foods absorb melamine more easily from cutlery than other foods, but the levels are still relatively low and generally considered safe. For example, putting orange juice (an acidic food) in a melamine-formaldehyde cup for 15 minutes absorbed less than 10 parts of melamine per billion parts of orange juice. This is well below the 2,500 PPB limit set by the FDA.

According to the FDA, melamine cutlery can safely serve food and beverages as long as the following rules are followed:
Do not use in the oven.
Do not use in the microwave.
Do not use in temperatures exceeding 160° F or with food.

Melamine is dangerous when heated because it releases hydrogen cyanide and nitrogen oxides. Some melamine also absorbs faster when heated. While melamine cutlery may seem harmless when used properly, the melamine poisoning tragedies of 2007 and 2008 should remind us to be aware and question the chemicals we bring into our homes.

According to Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York university, a study conducted in South Africa in the 1960s showed that sheep fed 250mg/kg (milligrams per kilogram of body weight) of melamine became sick, while others died. In another study, a sheep fed 2,600mg/kg of melamine a day died of irreversible kidney damage within days of the experiment. According to the study, melamine crystals can be seen hanging from the foreskin.

In contaminated dog and cat food, melamine and its byproduct cyanuric acid can form crystals in the animals' kidneys. Many of these cats and dogs became sick or died from kidney failure. Of the class-action lawsuits filed against U.S. companies that distributed contaminated products from China, 13,424 claims claimed pets died, while 9,001 claims claimed their pets got sick but survived. Pets around the world were affected by these products, leading to the largest pet food recall in history.