Damnit! Something I actually ate recently, White Rabbit Candy, has been recalled due to melamine contamination! Actually, I bought a bag of this last year because I remember it being so very tasty when I had it as a child. I was rather turned off by its plasticy taste and only ate a few pieces - I figured that my childlike tastebuds just had no taste. For those of you who are wondering why melamine ends up in so many foods, there's a great Scientific American article here. As it turns out, melamine is a great protein mimic because it's rich in nitrogen (as is protein). Some simple tests that measure protein levels are based on breaking the protein down, releasing the nitrogen, and measuring it to estimate the protein concentration. Melamine breaks down and releases nitrogen in much the same way, and is quite good at impersonating protein. I hope melamine doesn't get a bad name from this, I rather like these (harmless) melamine bowls.