Pet Food recall, part 2

there'll be more news in the next couple of days, but first notice: http://news.yahoo.com/s/a...ood_recall

Pet food recall expanded on new finding
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
Wed Apr 18, 8:44 AM ET


WASHINGTON - An industrial chemical that led to a nationwide recall of more than 100 brands of cat and dog foods has been found to contaminate a second pet food ingredient, expanding the recall further.

The chemical, melamine, is believed to have contaminated rice protein concentrate used to make a variety of Natural Balance Pet Foods products for both dogs and cats, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. Previously, the chemical was found to contaminate another ingredient, wheat gluten, used by at least six other pet food and treat manufacturers.

Natural Balance said it was recalling all its Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, its Venison and Brown Rice dog treats and its Venison and Green Pea dry cat food.

The Pacoima, Calif., company said recent laboratory tests showed the products contain melamine. It believes the source of the contaminant was rice protein concentrate, which the company recently added to the dry venison formulas. Natural Balance does not use wheat gluten, which was associated with the previous melamine contamination, it said.

Last month, Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans of dog and cat food after the deaths of 16 pets, mostly cats, that ate its products. The FDA said tests indicated the food was contaminated with melamine, used in making plastics and other industrial processes. Five other companies later recalled pet products also made with wheat gluten tainted by the chemical.

The FDA has since blocked Chinese imports of wheat gluten. An FDA spokeswoman did not immediately return messages left seeking comment.

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com

http://www.naturalbalance...m/faq.html

http://www.naturalbalance...lease.html

Natural Balance pet food recalled
By Julie Schmit and Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
Posted 1d 10h ago
Updated 10h 13m ago


The industrial chemical melamine has been found in more pet food, and suspicion is falling on a second pet-food ingredient imported from China as the source of the contamination.

Natural Balance Pet Foods said Tuesday it found melamine in samples of some of its food, which led to a recall. The company suspects melamine was in a rice protein concentrate used as an ingredient, said President Joey Herrick in an interview.

Melamine is the chief suspect related to the Menu Foods recall, first announced four weeks ago for more than 60 million cans and pouches of wet dog and cat food. The melamine in Menu's products was in wheat gluten imported from China and sold to Menu and several other pet-food makers, which also did recalls.

The rice protein concentrate was imported from China by San Francisco-based Wilbur-Ellis. Herrick says the concentrate, which is being tested, is suspected to have melamine, as it was the only new ingredient. Recalled Natural Balance products include Venison and Brown Rice canned and dry dog foods, dog treats and Venison and Green Pea dry cat food.

Wilbur-Ellis CEO John Thacher said his company sold the concentrate to five pet-food makers, but that most of it went to two firms. One of the primary companies was Diamond Pet Foods, which packs some of the Natural Balance product but doesn't use the concentrate in any Diamond-made foods, says Diamond spokesman Jim Fallon. The other major customer, which Thacher would not name, tested the rice protein and found no melamine, Thacher says. Natural Balance's rice protein concentrate is mixed with venison meal, Thacher says.

Natural Balance has received about 10 reports of sick pets, mostly dogs, since [last] Thursday, Herrick says. It started testing the foods Friday, when it also asked retailers to pull the products. As in the Menu recall, some of the pets developed kidney failure, Natural says.

Natural Balance was co-founded in 1989 by actor Dick Van Patten, according to the company's website.

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that melamine is believed to have contaminated rice protein concentrate used to make a variety of Natural Balance Pet Foods products for both dogs and cats. It said Monday that Natural Balance had informed the agency of the issue. Thacher says it told the FDA on Sunday that it had detected melamine in some rice protein concentrate imported from China about a week ago. Wilbur-Ellis has ceased importing the ingredient from the Chinese firm, Binzhou Futian Biology Technology, Thacher says.

Along with Diamond, pet-food makers Nestlé Purina PetCare and Procter & Gamble said Tuesday that they don't use rice protein concentrate in their foods.

No other Natural Balance products include the ingredient, the company says.

Melamine is not allowed in human or pet food. It is an industrial chemical used in plastics worldwide and also sometimes as a fertilizer in Asia, the FDA says.

While melamine is not highly toxic, the FDA is investigating whether it, or something related to it, is responsible for pet deaths in the Menu recall.

FDA: Tainted pet food ingredient came from China
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
Posted 43m ago


Testing by the Food and Drug Administration has detected melamine in imported rice protein concentrate from China, and the company who imported it said late Wednesday it had recalled it.

The company, Wilbur-Ellis, had shipped the concentrate to five U.S. pet-food manufacturers, but only one company has recalled pet food so far.

That company, Natural Balance Pet Foods, on Tuesday said melamine had been found in some of its venison-based foods and it suspected the rice protein because it was the only new ingredient in the food. Natural Balance tested the food after consumers reported dogs and cats suffering kidney failure. The food was made for Natural Balance by Diamond Pet Foods.

The other four manufacturers have yet to be named, but are located in Utah, New York, Kansas and Missouri, Wilbur-Ellis said in a news release.

Melamine is the same industrial chemical that was found in wheat gluten imported from China and used in pet food made by Menu Foods, which recalled 60 million cans and pouches of dog and cat food in mid-March.

Wilbur-Ellis is the second importer this month to recall pet food ingredients from China. On April 2, ChemNutra of Las Vegas recalled about 800 tons of wheat gluten from a different firm in China because it, too, was contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical not allowed in food but used in plastics making.

ChemNutra had sold the wheat gluten to Menu, who launched a recall suspecting that wheat gluten might be the problem, and three other pet food makers, who did smaller recalls after the FDA detected melamine in the wheat gluten.

Wilbur-Ellis, an 86-year-old distributor of agricultural and industrial products, first detected melamine in one of 146 one-ton bags of rice protein concentrate on April 11, says Wilbur-Ellis CEO John Thacher.

The company immediately quarantined the shipment, which arrived in Portland, Ore. on April 4. It didn't find melamine in any of the other bags it tested.

It brought the matter to the FDA's attention on Sunday [April 15]. The news release Wednesday from Wilbur-Ellis said the FDA found melamine in product that had previously tested clean.

Wilbur-Ellis has ceased importing rice protein concentrate from the Chinese firm, Binzhou Futian Biology Technology. Thacher says his company had been importing the concentrate from that Chinese firm since July and has had no problems.

"This is a company that, on the surface, looks like a good company," Thacher says.

Rice protein concentrate is used as a protein source in some pet foods although it does not appear to be widely used in North American products or as widely used as wheat gluten.

Diamond Pet Foods only used the rice protein concentrate in Natural Balance foods and none of its own foods, Diamond has said.

Wilbur-Ellis first detected melamine in one of the bags that was pink — while all the other bags were white — and had "melamine" stenciled on the outside. When Wilbur-Ellis asked the Chinese firm about why a rice protein concentrate would show up in a bag marked melamine, Wilbur-Ellis was told that the rice protein concentrate had simply been put in a wrong — but new — bag after its original bag broke during loading, says Thacher.

I'm sorry but this isn't news, all of this has been known for days if not even weeks It's good that it's all out in the open now though. I count myself fortunate to live in the EU, the foods I use are produced within.

Welcome to the world, my nephew - Mio http://prince.org/msg/100/322798

Hockey season underway!

It is going on all around the world.

So far 1 report says that 4,133 pets are dead another report says 39,000 reports of illness and deaths.
South Africa has also recalled pet food Vets Choice, Royal Canin brands and Hill's Prescription m/d Feline dry.
Royal Canin in france have a lawsuit against them 4 high VitD levels in pet food.
Last year spoilt pet food was sold in the UK due to a new manufacturing plant, packets where not sealed correct so food was contaminated with bacteria that made the food go off thankfully no animals got ill.

Thank you for keeping us updated. I personally think we all have to keep an eye on the news on human and animal foods best being safe than sorry.



.
[Edited 4/19/07 1:25am]

Teacher said:

I'm sorry but this isn't news, all of this has been known for days if not even weeks It's good that it's all out in the open now though. I count myself fortunate to live in the EU, the foods I use are produced within.

katt said:

It is going on all around the world.

So far 1 report says that 4,133 pets are dead another report says 39,000 reports of illness and deaths.
South Africa has also recalled pet food Vets Choice, Royal Canin brands and Hill's Prescription m/d Feline dry.
Royal Canin in france have a lawsuit against them 4 high VitD levels in pet food.
Last year spoilt pet food was sold in the UK due to a new manufacturing plant, packets where not sealed correct so food was contaminated with bacteria that made the food go off thankfully no animals got ill.

Thank you for keeping us updated. I personally think we all have to keep an eye on the news on human and animal foods best being safe than sorry.



.
[Edited 4/19/07 1:25am]

PositivityNYC said:

You read, what, none of it?

It is new --
a) new dog & cat food Brand issued recalls Monday & Tuesday
b) they are affected by a new, totally different contaminant

Not to mention:
the suppliers for both contaminents have customers world-wide; it is not just a problem in the US.
there are 4 additional pet food brands yet to be named who rec. the bad protein shipment.


unbelievable.....

Welcome to the world, my nephew - Mio http://prince.org/msg/100/322798

Hockey season underway!

PositivityNYC said:

katt said:

It is going on all around the world.

So far 1 report says that 4,133 pets are dead another report says 39,000 reports of illness and deaths.
South Africa has also recalled pet food Vets Choice, Royal Canin brands and Hill's Prescription m/d Feline dry.
Royal Canin in france have a lawsuit against them 4 high VitD levels in pet food.
Last year spoilt pet food was sold in the UK due to a new manufacturing plant, packets where not sealed correct so food was contaminated with bacteria that made the food go off thankfully no animals got ill.

Thank you for keeping us updated. I personally think we all have to keep an eye on the news on human and animal foods best being safe than sorry.



.
[Edited 4/19/07 1:25am]

you know how I care about the fids, Katt

I called her vet... she's fine -- seems fine -- but still he wants me to bring her in for urine/blood tests..

In the last week she's had like 1 1/2 cans & some of the biscuit-type treats. They were added to the recall on Tuesday as a precaution (so far all dogs & cats that got sick ate the dry version [Monday's recall]) -- but he said even animals with no kidney failure symptoms (vomiting, lethargy, loss of appetite) can get sick [eventually]..

wish us luck...

made it into farm feed.. just pig so far..
one of the other pet food brands is named, issues recall (a few are still in "hiding")
mention of contaminated corn in pet food in Africa


FDA asks if pet food tainted on purpose
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 41 minutes ago


WASHINGTON - Imported ingredients used in recalled pet food may have been intentionally spiked with an industrial chemical to boost their apparent protein content, federal officials said Thursday.

That's one theory being pursued by the Food and Drug Administration as it investigates how the chemical, melamine, contaminated at least two ingredients used to make more than 100 brands of dog and cat foods.

In California, state agriculture officials placed a hog farm under quarantine after melamine was found in pig urine there. Additional testing was under way to determine whether the chemical was present in the meat produced by American Hog Farm in Ceres since April 3, the state Department of Food and Agriculture said.

So far, melamine's been found in both wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported from China. Media reports from South Africa suggest a third pet food ingredient, corn gluten, used in that country also was contaminated with melamine. That tainted ingredient has not been found in the United States, the FDA said.

FDA investigators were awaiting visas that would allow them to visit the Chinese plants where the vegetable protein ingredients were produced.

"Melamine was found in all three of those — it would certainly lend credibility to the theory that it may be intentional. That will be one of the theories we will pursue when we get into the plants in China," Stephen Sundlof, the FDA's chief veterinarian, told reporters.

Chinese authorities have told the FDA that the wheat gluten was an industrial product not meant for pet food, Sundlof said. Still, melamine can skew test results to make a product appear more protein-rich than it really is, he added. That raises the possibility the contamination was deliberate.

"What we expect to do with our inspections in China will answer some of those questions," said Michael Rogers (news, bio, voting record), director of the division of field investigations within the FDA's office of regulatory affairs.

Wilbur-Ellis Co., the U.S. importer of the tainted rice protein, said Thursday it was recalling all the ingredient it had distributed to five U.S. pet food manufacturers. The San Francisco company in turn urged its customers to recall any products that may be on store shelves.

So far, just two of those companies have done so: Natural Balance Pet Foods and Blue Buffalo Co.

Natural Balance, of Pacoima, Calif., announced a limited recall Monday of its Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, Venison and Brown Rice dog treats and Venison and Green Pea dry cat food.

Blue Buffalo, of Wilton, Conn., followed Thursday by recalling 5,044 bags of its Spa Select Kitten dry food. The company intercepted most of the kitten food before it reached distribution centers, company co-founder Billy Bishop said.

FDA officials would not release the names of the other two manufacturers that Wilbur-Ellis supplied, citing its ongoing investigation.

The FDA could not provide updated numbers of pet deaths or injuries due to the contaminated pet food. The agency has received more than 15,000 calls since the first recall was announced more than a month ago.

The FDA and Agriculture Department also were investigating whether some pet food made by one of the five companies supplied by Wilbur-Ellis was diverted for use as hog feed after it was found unsuitable for pet consumption.

"We understand it did make it into some hog feed and we are following up on that as well," Sundlof said.

Later Thursday, California officials said they believe the melamine at the quarantined hog farm came from rice protein concentrate imported from China by Diamond Pet Food's Lathrop facility, which produces products under the Natural Balance brand and sold salvage pet food to the farm for pig feed.

"Although all animals appear healthy, we are taking this action out of an abundance of caution," State Veterinarian Richard Breitmeyer said in a statement. "It is unknown if the chemical will be detected in meat."

Officials were investigating American Hog Farm's sales records to determine who may be affected by the quarantine, said Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The 1,500-animal farm operates as a "custom slaughterhouse," which means it generally does not supply meat to commercial outlets.

"Mostly it is not so-called mainstream pork. This is an operation that sells to folks who come in and want a whole pig," said Lyle said.

Officials urged those who purchased pigs from American Hog Farm since April 3 to not consume the product until further notice.

Dr. Mark Horton, state public health officer, said so far "evidence suggests a minimal health risk to persons who may have consumed pork" from the farm.

A man who answered the phone for American Hog Farm late Thursday declined to comment and referred calls to state officials. Phone calls to Diamond Pet Food's Lathrop facility and Meta, Mo., headquarters were not immediately returned.

___

On the Net:

Food and Drug Administration pet food recall info:

http://www.fda.gov/oc/opa...tfood.html
[Edited 4/20/07 0:51am]

katt said:

PositivityNYC said:

you know how I care about the fids, Katt

I called her vet... she's fine -- seems fine -- but still he wants me to bring her in for urine/blood tests..

In the last week she's had like 1 1/2 cans & some of the biscuit-type treats. They were added to the recall on Tuesday as a precaution (so far all dogs & cats that got sick ate the dry version [Monday's recall]) -- but he said even animals with no kidney failure symptoms (vomiting, lethargy, loss of appetite) can get sick [eventually]..

wish us luck...

Get the bloods done ASAP and if needed get them done once a week just 2 stay safe. I hope little 1 is ok keep a close eye give little 1 a tum rub from me..

http://en.epochtimes.com/...54640.html
Menu Foods Says ChemNutra Statement Wrong
Apr 28, 2007

NEW YORK—Menu Foods said on Friday that ChemNutra was wrong in implying that suspicious wheat gluten used in its pet food may have come from other suppliers, since it did not start having problems with tainted supplies until it starting working with ChemNutra.

U.S. officials have said the wheat gluten used in pet food made by Menu Foods was tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical that is not approved for use in food, and is linked to a U.S. pet food recall that includes over 100 brands and could expand further.

"ChemNutra's statement is wrong, and unnecessarily alarms consumers," a Menu Foods spokesman said via e-mail.

Earlier in the day, ChemNutra, whose offices were searched by the FDA, said it believed Menu Foods used significantly more wheat gluten every month than ChemNutra provided.

"We hope that Menu Foods will disclose its other sources to the FDA to ensure that any suspect product is quarantined," ChemNutra Chief Executive Steve Miller said.

Menu Foods, which is based in Canada, acknowledged that it has been using wheat gluten from two suppliers in the United States and Europe for many years, but had not experienced any problems until it also started buying the ingredient from ChemNutra.

"Last fall, (Menu Foods) added a third supplier, ChemNutra, and the issues we have experienced date to that time," the spokesman said.

Wheat gluten and rice protein imported from China and used in some pet food have already been found to be tainted with melamine, according to the FDA. It was first found in March in wheat gluten used by Menu Foods, and could have caused the deaths of 16 cats and dogs, FDA officials have said.

Menu Foods has filed a lawsuit against ChemNutra for damages and costs associated with the recall, a ChemNutra spokesman said.

The company is mulling several responses, including whether or not it can assert a claim against Menu Foods for the delay in letting it know about the problem, he added.

ChemNutra said it had quarantined its wheat gluten as soon as Menu Foods informed it that the company might have contributed to pet illnesses.

The company said it had been told that it could be held accountable for importing melamine-tainted wheat gluten from China, which it sold to Menu Foods. It said it had no prior knowledge or reason to believe that its Chinese supplier had put melamine in the product.

http://www.chemnutra.com/...letter.htm
Letter from the Chairman of ChemNutra

Dear Pet Owners, Pet Food Businesses & all who love animals:

We at ChemNutra want to express our support and condolences for pet owners whose cats have fallen ill or died as the probable result of contaminated pet food produced by Menu Foods, as well as pet owners throughout North America who have become fearful about their pets’ food following news of the contamination. We also offer our empathy for the difficulties imposed on pet food businesses that were negatively impacted by this situation.

The possibility that any animal fell ill or died because of an ingredient we may have supplied to Menu Foods saddens us and also angers us because it means that ChemNutra has been victimized as well, by our own supplier. In fact, news reports and congressional testimony provide increasing evidence of this possibility.

We are appalled and distressed that Menu Foods took so long to recall its products, although it clearly suspected there was a problem for weeks prior to the first recall. And it wasn’t until eight days before they issued their first recall that Menu Foods told us that wheat gluten was one of many ingredients it was investigating.

Moreover, here at ChemNutra, we are concerned that we may have been the victim of deliberate and mercenary contamination for the purpose of making the wheat gluten we purchased appear to have a higher protein content than it did, because melamine causes a false high result on protein tests. We had no idea that melamine was an issue until being notified by the FDA on March 29. In fact, we had never heard of melamine before. It’s simply not a chemical even on the radar screen for food ingredient suppliers. You can find more information on the timeline of events that occurred since late February here.

We assure you that we will never again do business with the supplier of the suspect wheat gluten, XuZhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. XuZhou Anying had been recommended to us by a long-time reliable source in China, and presented what appeared to be legitimate proof that its product was safe. We hope that U.S. and Chinese government investigations of XuZhou Anying reveal what actually occurred.

ChemNutra has an excellent record of compliance with all applicable regulations, but please know that as additional product safety recommendations are developed by the FDA, the Pet Food Institute and our customers, we will implement them immediately.



Steve Miller
CEO
ChemNutra

ChemNutra Inc., 810 S. Durango Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89145 - (702) 799-9800; Fax: (702) 799-9820


TIMELINE OF EVENTS RELATED TO PET FOOD RECALLS
http://www.chemnutra.com/...meline.pdf
February 20, 2007:
Menu Foods learns of contamination in pet food (Source: Senate Hearing)
March 6, 2007:
Menu Foods informs ChemNutra to stop shipments of wheat gluten, ostensibly because
of a specification change relating to the water absorption factor.
March 8, 2007:
Menu Foods informs ChemNutra that wheat gluten was one of many ingredients it was
investigating as suspect in cat illnesses. Menu Foods wanted information as to whether
XuZhou Anying’s wheat gluten had any of four substances that Menu Foods suspected
might cause renal failure: propylene glycol, heavy metals, Ochratoxin or Easter Lily
Flower. Menu Foods never asks about melamine. ChemNutra, notwithstanding what it
believed to be a remote risk at that time, quarantines all wheat gluten – from all sources --
in its possession.
March 16, 2007:
Menu Foods issues first product recall and related press release, which does not ID wheat
gluten as the primary suspect source. (Cite: Menu Foods)
March 19, 2007:
Food and Drug Administration notifies ChemNutra that it wants records relating to wheat
gluten shipments. ChemNutra immediately complies.
March 23, 2007:
State of New York reports aminopterin found in three cans of Menu Foods. This was
inaccurately associated by some media with wheat gluten from China, as aminopterin
wasn’t found in the wheat gluten ChemNutra supplied and is illegal for use in China.
March 24, 2007:
Menu Foods recalls all varieties of “wet” pet food. (Cite: Menu Foods)
March 29, 2007:
Melamine is mentioned to ChemNutra for the first time by the Food and Drug
Administration, which says it has found evidence of the chemical in the wheat gluten, but
does not quantify how much until the next day.
March 31, 2007:
ChemNutra CEO Steve Miller meets in-person with the president of XuZhou Anying
Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd, who says he didn’t know there was
melamine or how it could have become mixed with XuZhou Anying’s wheat gluten and
promised to look into it.
April 2, 2007:
ChemNutra recalls all XuZhou Anying wheat gluten sold to ChemNutra’s customers.
April 5, 2007:
All Menu Foods pet food in Canada and the United States using ChemNutra wheat gluten
voluntarily recalled; expands recall to cover product distributed back to November 8,
2006. (Cite: Menu Foods)
April 10, 2007:
Menu Foods voluntarily recalls additional pet food made with ChemNutra wheat gluten
manufactured at a Canadian facility. (Cite: Menu Foods)
April 12, 2007:
Government scrutiny, as reported by the media and at Senate hearings, focuses on
possibility of deliberate contamination by XuZhou Anying Biologic Technology
Development Co. Ltd and actions of Menu Foods during time period leading up to first
recall.

http://www.soonews.ca/vie...p?id=12080

Investigation Reveals Melamine to be Routinely added to Pet Food in China.....

SooNews Wire -- SooNews.ca -- Monday, April 30, 2007, 3:01PM



Today in the New York Times, an article written by David Barboza and Alexei Barrionuevo revealed that melamine,an additive which is believed resposible for the deaths and sickness of cats and dogs, is routinely added to pet food as a filler in China.

The story stated the following:

As American food safety regulators head to China to investigate how a chemical made from coal found its way into pet food that killed dogs and cats in the United States, workers in this heavily polluted northern city openly admit that the substance is routinely added to animal feed as a fake protein.

The Shandong Mingshui Great Chemical Company makes a chemical called melamine and sometimes sells melamine scrap to other producers who use it to make animal feed.

For years, producers of animal feed all over China have secretly supplemented their feed with the substance, called melamine, a cheap additive that looks like protein in tests, even though it does not provide any nutritional benefits, according to melamine scrap traders and agricultural workers here.

“Many companies buy melamine scrap to make animal feed, such as fish feed,” said Ji Denghui, general manager of the Fujian Sanming Dinghui Chemical Company, which sells melamine. “I don’t know if there’s a regulation on it. Probably not. No law or regulation says ‘don’t do it,’ so everyone’s doing it. The laws in China are like that, aren’t they? If there’s no accident, there won’t be any regulation.”

Melamine is at the center of a recall of 60 million packages of pet food, after the chemical was found in wheat gluten linked this month to the deaths of at least 16 pets and the illness of possibly thousands of pets in the United States.

No one knows exactly how melamine (which is not believed to be particularly toxic) became so fatal in pet food, but its presence in any form of American food is illegal.

The link to China has set off concerns among critics of the Food and Drug Administration that ingredients in pet food as well as human food, which are increasingly coming from abroad, are not being adequately screened.

“They have fewer people inspecting product at the ports than ever before,” says Caroline Smith DeWaal, the director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington. “Until China gets programs in place to verify the safety of their products, they need to be inspected by U.S. inspectors. This open-door policy on food ingredients is an open invitation for an attack on the food supply, either intentional or unintentional.”

Now, with evidence mounting that the tainted wheat gluten came from China, American regulators have been granted permission to visit the region to conduct inspections of food treatment facilities.

The Food and Drug Administration has already banned imports of wheat gluten from China after it received more than 14,000 reports of pets believed to have been sickened by packaged food. And last week, the agency opened a criminal investigation in the case and searched the offices of at least one pet food supplier.

The Department of Agriculture has also stepped in. On Thursday, the agency ordered more than 6,000 hogs to be quarantined or slaughtered after some of the pet food ingredients laced with melamine were accidentally sent to hog farms in eight states, including California.

The pet food case is also putting China’s agricultural exports under greater scrutiny because the country has had a terrible food safety record.

In recent years, for instance, China’s food safety scandals have involved everything from fake baby milk formulas and soy sauce made from human hair to instances where cuttlefish were soaked in calligraphy ink to improve their color and eels were fed contraceptive pills to make them grow long and slim.

For their part, Chinese officials dispute any suggestion that melamine from the country could have killed pets. But regulators here on Friday banned the use of melamine in vegetable proteins made for export or for use in domestic food supplies.

Yet what is clear from visiting this region of northeast China is that for years melamine has been quietly mixed into Chinese animal feed and then sold to unsuspecting farmers as protein-rich pig, poultry and fish feed.

Many animal feed operators here advertise on the Internet, seeking to purchase melamine scrap. The Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, one of the companies that American regulators named as having shipped melamine-tainted wheat gluten to the United States, had posted such a notice on the Internet last March.

Here at the Shandong Mingshui Great Chemical Group factory, huge boiler vats are turning coal into melamine, which is then used to create plastics and fertilizer.


But the leftover melamine scrap, golf ball-size chunks of white rock, is sometimes being sold to local agricultural entrepreneurs, who say they mix a powdered form of the scrap into animal feed to deceive those who raise animals into thinking they are buying feed that is high in protein.

“It just saves money if you add melamine scrap,” said the manager of an animal feed factory here.

Last Friday here in Zhangqiu, a fast-growing industrial city southeast of Beijing, two animal feed producers explained in great detail how they purchase low-grade wheat, corn, soybean or other proteins and then mix in small portions of nitrogen-rich melamine scrap, whose chemical properties help the feed register an inflated protein level.

Melamine is the new scam of choice, they say, because urea — another nitrogen-rich chemical — is illegal for use in pig and poultry feed and can be easily detected in China as well as in the United States.

“People use melamine scrap to boost nitrogen levels for the tests,” said the manager of the animal feed factory. “If you add it in small quantities, it won’t hurt the animals.”

The manager, who works at a small animal feed operation here that consists of a handful of storage and mixing areas, said he has mixed melamine scrap into animal feed for years.

He said he was not currently using melamine. But he then pulled out a plastic bag containing what he said was melamine powder and said he could dye it any color to match the right feed stock.

He said that melamine used in pet food would probably not be harmful. “Pets are not like pigs or chickens,” he said casually, explaining that they can afford to eat less protein. “They don’t need to grow fast.”

The resulting melamine-tainted feed would be weak in protein, he acknowledged, which means the feed is less nutritious.

But, by using the melamine additive, the feed seller makes a heftier profit because melamine scrap is much cheaper than soy, wheat or corn protein.

“It’s true you can make a lot more profit by putting melamine in,” said another animal feed seller here in Zhangqiu. “Melamine will cost you about $1.20 for each protein count per ton whereas real protein costs you about $6, so you can see the difference.”

Feed producers who use melamine here say the tainted feed is often shipped to feed mills in the Yangtze River Delta, near Shanghai, or down to Guangdong Province, near Hong Kong. They also said they knew that some melamine-laced feed had been exported to other parts of Asia, including South Korea, North Korea, Indonesia and Thailand.

Evidence is mounting that Chinese protein exports have been tainted with melamine and that its use in agricultural regions like this one is widespread. But the government has issued no recall of any food or feed product here in China.

Indeed, few people outside the agriculture business know about the use of melamine scrap. The Chinese news media — which is strictly censored — has not reported much about the country’s ties to the pet food recall in the United States. And few in agriculture here see any harm in using melamine in small doses; they simply see it as cheating a little on protein, not harming animals or pets.

As for the sale of melamine scrap, it is increasingly popular as a fake ingredient in feed, traders and workers here say.

At the Hebei Haixing Insect Net Factory in nearby Hebei Province, which makes animal feed, a manager named Guo Qingyin said: “In the past melamine scrap was free, but the price has been going up in the past few years. Consumption of melamine scrap is probably bigger than that of urea in the animal feed industry now.”

And so melamine producers like the ones here in Zhangqiu are busy.

A man named Jing, who works in the sales department at the Shandong Mingshui Great Chemical Group factory here, said on Friday that prices have been rising, but he said that he had no idea how the company’s melamine scrap is used.

“We have an auction for melamine scrap every three months,” he said. “I haven’t heard of it being added to animal feed. It’s not for animal feed.”

This article has been re-printed from the New York Times.

Another link about it: http://www.iht.com/articl...Recall.php

just crazy.
thanks for posting.


anyone else have a feeling
that what you have been using
will turn out to be contaminated too?

be a blood donor... the most wonderful gift


I was hoping to dress something like Prince. toned down a bit like Prince if he was just going to the zoo or the supermarket... casual Prince!

emm said:

just crazy.
thanks for posting.


anyone else have a feeling
that what you have been using
will turn out to be contaminated too?

Could this affect non-pet animals in some way ?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi...e=politics
Chicken feed in some farms in Indiana contained byproducts from pet food manufactured with contaminated wheat gluten imported from China, two federal agencies said Monday.


The Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration said in a joint statement that officials learned of the link between the chicken feed and tainted pet food as part of the investigation into imported rice protein concentrate and wheat gluten that have been found to contain the industrial chemical melamine and related compounds.


An estimated 30 broiler poultry farms and eight breeder poultry farms in Indiana received contaminated feed in early February and fed it to poultry within days of receiving it, the agencies said. Other farms will probably be identified as having received contaminated feed, they added.


All the broilers believed to have been fed contaminated products have been processed, while the breeders are under voluntary hold by flock owners, the agencies said.


The FDA and USDA said the likelihood of human illness from eating chicken fed the contaminated product is very low. With no evidence of harm to humans, no recall of poultry products processed from these animals was being issued, the agencies said.


On Saturday, the FDA and USDA cited similar reasons for not issuing a recall after determining that hogs in some states may have been fed the tainted pet food.


More than 100 brands of pet food have been recalled since March 16 because they were contaminated with melamine. An unknown number of dogs and cats have been sickened or died after eating chemical-laced pet food.

I cant find the other link will check 2morrow.

origmnd said: