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Human food not affected by pet scare

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 4, 2007

WASHINGTON - None of the contaminated wheat gluten that led to the U.S. recall of pet food went to manufacturers of food for humans, the importer of the ingredient said Tuesday.

The Chinese wheat gluten imported by ChemNutra Inc. all went to companies that make pet foods, said Stephen Miller, chief executive officer of the Las Vegas company.

Miller declined to identify what companies ChemNutra supplied. Nearly 100 brands of cat and dog foods made with the ingredient, since found to be chemically contaminated, have been recalled.

The recalled pet food apparently has resulted in kidney failure in animals across the country. The Food and Drug Administration has confirmed about 15 pet deaths, and anecdotal reports suggest that hundreds of cats and dogs may have died.

Menu Foods, a major manufacturer of nearly 100 store- and major-brand pet foods, announced the first recall March 16. Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc., Del Monte Pet Products and Nestle Purina PetCare Co. have since recalled some of their products as well.

The FDA said it has received more than 9,400 pet food-related complaints from consumers in recent weeks.

FDA testing of the wheat gluten revealed it was contaminated with melamine, a chemical with a variety of industrial uses, including the manufacture of plastic kitchenware. As late as Monday, FDA officials had said they were uncertain if the contaminated ingredient had been used in any foods destined for human consumption.

'Very upsetting'

Last week, the FDA blocked wheat gluten imports from the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. in Wangdien, China, saying it was the source of the contaminated product.

"Obviously, if this ingredient was responsible, it's just very upsetting," Miller said.

ChemNutra said it has recalled 873 tons of wheat gluten that it shipped to three makers of pet food and a single distributor who in turn supplies the pet food industry. The company said the recall applied only to wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying, one of its three Chinese suppliers of the ingredient, which is used as a protein source.

The importer shipped the product in 25-kilogram paper bags between Nov. 9 and March 8, when it learned the ingredient was suspected as the cause of the pet food problems. ChemNutra said it then quarantined its wheat gluten inventory.

Each bag of wheat gluten included content analysis and test results provided by Xuzhou Anying, ChemNutra said.

"The company is particularly troubled that the certificates of analysis provided by the above-named supplier did not report the presence of melamine," ChemNutra said in a statement.

[Last modified April 4, 2007, 01:35:49]