Pet Food Recall: Feds Raid Vegas Company

It looks like the criminal investigation into the poisoned pet food is
finally shoving off from the dock and heading somehwere. Overdue, but
still, greatly appreciated by this pet owner. If you have not checked
this story lately, please be aware that the total number of brands and
varieties that have
been recalled is now over 300.

cat yronwode

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Pet Food Recall: Cat & Dog Food Recall Grows,
Feds Raid Vegas Company

National ledger
By Nancy Streets Apr 29, 2007

Pet food recall grows again. And - a company is raided by Feds
in Las Vegas - There has been additional recalls of cat and dog
foods due to contamination with melamine. Ogden, Utah-based
American Nutrition has recalled 28 varieties of food: Samples of
rice protein from an Ogden pet-food manufacturer were positive
for the industrial chemical melamine in federal testing, and
products made by American Nutrition, Inc. (ANI) are now part of a
nationwide pet food recall.

The Denver office of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked
the company to voluntarily recall pet foods manufactured with
rice protein imported from China by San Francisco-based
Wilbur-Ellis Co. The products recalled were manufactured by
American Nutrition for other independent companies and American
Nutrition brands are not part of the recall, the company said in
a statement.

***

However, several of the companies recalling food contend in
statements on their Web sites that American Nutrition added the
rice protein concentrate to their products without their
knowledge or approval. "It appears that ANI had been adding the
unauthorized rice protein concentrate to Harmony Farms products
for some time and only told the company when the FDA was about to
conclude that some of ANI?s rice protein concentrate [supplied by
Wilber-Ellis] was contaminated with melamine," said a statement
on the Harmony Farms site.

Other companies making similar allegations are The Blue Buffalo
Co., Natural Balance, Canine Caviar, Diamond Pet Foods and
Mulligan Stew Pet Food. Brand names affected by the recall
include Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover?s Soul and Kirkland
Signature in addition to the brands listed above. The complete
list of varieties and production runs in the ANI recall is here.
This brings the total number of brands and varieties that have
been recalled to over 300.

***

In another pet food recall development, the FDA executed a search
warrant on ChemNutra, the company the imported the adulterated
wheat gluten and sold it to Menu Foods. The pet food recall
expands weekly and now a Las Vegas company is at the center of
the investigation. Federal agents served a search warrant at
ChemNutra, which is a supplier of one of the two ingredients
suspected of the contamination.

According to reports, the FDA took documents and hard drives from
ChemNutra hoping to find information on the wheat gluten
containing melamine. ChemNutra claims the company they bought
from in China added the melamine and had no idea it was in their
product when it was bought.

The report: ChemNutra?s local office remains closed, but the
company?s spokesperson said its business as usual. On Thursday,
the FDA came and took documents from the company. ChemNutra says
they are cooperating fully, but their headaches are far from
over.

Menu Foods, one of the companies who bought wheat gluten from
ChemNutra, filed a lawsuit against the Las Vegas company. They
want ChemNutra to reimburse them for the recall costs plus
damages. Menu Foods says they were relying on ChemNutra to supply
them with a safe product.

Just to refresh your memory, Menu Foods is one of the largest pet
food manufacturers in the world, supplying most of the major pet
food companies on a private label basis. ChemNutra is a small,
privately-held company, specializing in imports from China and
boasting of substantial expertise in that area.

***

USA Today reports that the FDA also is looking at all other
ingredients imported by ChemNutra, and trying to reconcile what
it imported with what it supplied to customers, said agency
spokeswoman Julie Zawisza.

Import records obtained by The Associated Press show that since
May 2006 alone ChemNutra also imported 440,000 pounds of the
second suspect pet food ingredient, rice protein concentrate,
from the same Chinese trading agent that handled exports of the
tainted wheat gluten.

***

The three contaminates are thought to be: aminopterin (a rat
poison), melamine (an industrial chemical used in dinnerware,
counter-tops, and as a fertilizer in Asia), and cyanuric acid
(used in swimming pools to keep the chlorine from breaking down
in sunlight). How did these wind up in our pet's food supply?
.

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