Pet food scare may have been intentional

Food and Drug Administration investigators say the
Chinese companies may have spiked products with the chemical melamine so that
they would appear, in tests, to have more value as protein
products.

Melamine in three ingredients
So far,
melamine’s been found in both wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported from China. Media reports
from South Africa, where 30 dogs died, 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.

Visiting the China plant
FDA investigators were awaiting visas
that would allow them to visit the Chinese plants where the vegetable protein
ingredients were produced. “Because melamine was found in three ingredients, 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, director of the division
of field investigations within the FDA’s office of regulatory
affairs.

Related website:
FDA

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