Another Recall Alert

Full story:

http://www.itchmo.com/read/fda-melam...risks_20070509

FDA Warns Staff On Major Melamine Health Risks

May 9th, 2007

Itchmo has learned that the FDA has issued a surveillance order for Chinese
vegetable proteins including corn gluten and wheat products based on the pet
food contamination on May 1. Despite repeated FDA statements saying that
there is no risk to human health from contaminated pigs and chickens, the
FDA surveillance order indicates otherwise. It even states: Pregnant women
should not perform this assignment.

FDA document quote:

"Melamine and additional related contaminants have been found in
concentrations of up to 20% in analyzed samples. The MSDS for pure melamine
is attached as Attachment B and includes warnings "to avoid breathing dust,
avoid contact with eyes, skin and clothing". Chronic exposure may cause
cancer or reproductive damage."

Clearly, the FDA is concerned with the safety of their own staff's exposure
to melamine-tainted foods. Despite this warning, the FDA told the press and
us yesterday that animals that ate tainted foods were safe for human
consumption.

Hugs,

CatNipped

On May 10, 7:02 am, "CatNipped" wrote:
Full story:

http://www.itchmo.com/read/fda-melam...er-warns-again...

FDA Warns Staff On Major Melamine Health Risks

May 9th, 2007

Itchmo has learned that the FDA has issued a surveillance order for Chinese
vegetable proteins including corn gluten and wheat products based on the pet
food contamination on May 1. Despite repeated FDA statements saying that
there is no risk to human health from contaminated pigs and chickens, the
FDA surveillance order indicates otherwise. It even states: Pregnant women
should not perform this assignment.

FDA document quote:

"Melamine and additional related contaminants have been found in
concentrations of up to 20% in analyzed samples. The MSDS for pure melamine
is attached as Attachment B and includes warnings "to avoid breathing dust,
avoid contact with eyes, skin and clothing". Chronic exposure may cause
cancer or reproductive damage."

Clearly, the FDA is concerned with the safety of their own staff's exposure
to melamine-tainted foods. Despite this warning, the FDA told the press and
us yesterday that animals that ate tainted foods were safe for human
consumption.

Hugs,

CatNipped

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...ver-usat_N.htm



The eight-week-old pet food recall has confirmed some owners' fears
about mystery ingredients in the products they buy.


PET FOOD RECALL

Crackdown: Who was watching suppliers? | Chinese exec detained for 2
weeks, report says



Lab results: Flour, in disguise, is the culprit | Melamine only part
of problem, research says | Cats appear more vulnerable



China connection : FDA limits Chinese food additive imports | Asian
giant grapples with food-safety probe | China admits tainted food link



Probe continues: FDA raids wheat gluten importer | Melamine may not
be accident | P&G vows more control of Menu Foods



Science: Pet deaths not easy to solve | Timeline



Recall widens: Cross-contamination prompts new recalls | Premium dry
foods recalled | Canadian pet food added to list | Dog biscuits become
latest product

More



This ad in USA TODAY a week after the first recalls touts Blue
Buffalo's pet food. The firm has since recalled or pulled a third of
its product line.
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
Even some pet-food companies say they don't always know what's really
in the food they sell. Or where the ingredients come from.
If you long suspected pet food contained mystery meat, this won't
surprise you. But for a $15 billion industry whose profits depend on
consumers' trust, the admission may be the biggest revelation of all
from the 8-week-old pet-food recall.


STORY: Chinese exec has been detained 2 weeks, report says
Tuesday, federal officials said the contaminated pet-food ingredient
from China that sickened dogs and cats nationwide was actually wheat
flour - not wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate. That had escaped
the pet-food makers who thought they bought wheat gluten or rice
protein concentrate.

Five pet-food companies also recently said the company that made food
for them added rice protein concentrate without their knowledge or
consent. That came to light, the pet-food companies say, because the
foods had to be recalled after the contamination was discovered.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Food and Drug Administration | Nutrition
The Food and Drug Administration speculates that the wheat flour was
deliberately spiked with melamine to make it look more protein-rich,
thus more valuable, than it was. China has admitted two companies
exported melamine-tainted product. The FDA also suspects that melamine
and melamine compounds in the flour are creating a toxic brew that
causes pets' kidneys to fail.

While some pet-food companies claim that they were victims of fraud,
the case also illuminates weaknesses in U.S. pet-food-manufacturing
oversight that companies are now trying to correct. One is that
companies who market pet foods often don't make them and may not watch
their contract manufacturers closely enough. The situations also raise
questions about how diligent companies have been in selecting and
inspecting suppliers of raw ingredients.

"The industry got lax and is ratcheting up the due diligence," says
Greg Aldrich, consultant at Pet Food & Ingredient Technology. "None of
them want to be caught in something like this again."

The recalls' scope has been vast. More than 5,800 products have been
recalled. The FDA has received unconfirmed reports of 4,150 cat and
dog deaths since Menu Foods announced the first recalls March 16. The
company faces more than 50 lawsuits from pet owners.

Brands at all prices have been affected, from Wal-Mart's lower-priced
Ol' Roy to premium foods made by Natural Balance Pet Foods. That
company was co-founded by Eight Is Enough actor Dick Van Patten, who
has eaten the food at trade shows to show off its quality.

"The entire industry is bloodied," says Mark Witriol, co-owner of Pet
Food Express, which has 31 San Francisco-area locations. "Consumer
trust is completely broken."

The recall has also relentlessly mowed down companies which at first
thought they were safe. One is the high-end Blue Buffalo, which calls
customers "pet parents" and sells some cans for almost $2 a pop.

A week after the first recalls, when contaminated wheat gluten was the
suspect, Blue Buffalo ran a full-page newspaper ad touting the
healthfulness of its products and pointing out - in large type - that
they didn't include wheat gluten. "You love them like family. So feed
them like family," the ad said.

Since then, the 4-year-old Blue Buffalo has recalled or pulled a third
of its product line.

Its first recall on April 19 was a dry cat food, whose recipe called
for rice protein concentrate. At the time of the recall, the food was
thought to have been made with contaminated rice protein concentrate
from China. The FDA has now identified that as contaminated wheat
flour.

Blue Buffalo said then that it didn't know that the concentrate came
from China. That's not surprising: C.J. Foods, which made the cat food
for Blue Buffalo, didn't know either, says C.J. Vice President Jerry
Krueger.

C.J. got the ingredient from a U.S. supplier. It was imported by San
Francisco-based Wilbur-Ellis.

As part of a post-9/11 measure to protect the food supply, federal law
requires food companies to be able to trace products one step forward
and one step back. For C.J., that meant to the U.S. supplier it won't
identify and to Blue Buffalo.

While that has long been industry practice, the recall is likely to
compel pet-food makers to know more about companies throughout the
supply chain, says Sanford Goodman, CEO of M.I. Industries, owner of
the Nature's Variety brand. Its products haven't been involved in the
recall.

"The industry is now changed. ... It's incumbent for each of us to
follow these ingredients back to the source," Goodman says.

A critical ingredient

Blue Buffalo's second recall began April 27 after the FDA traced what
it thought was contaminated rice protein concentrate from Wilbur-Ellis
to several pet-food makers, including American Nutrition.

Like Menu Foods, American Nutrition makes canned dog and cat food for
others. Such contract manufacturing is common in the industry because
it's often cheaper for companies than operating plants themselves.
Small companies, such as Blue Buffalo, and large companies, such as
Wal-Mart, use contract manufacturers.

Both American Nutrition and Menu typically follow recipes their
customers provide. They may also work with pet-food sellers to develop
recipes. Either way, the ingredient list is supposed to reflect what's
in the food. If it calls for brown rice, "that is what goes in, not
cracked brown rice or anything else," says Goodman. If ingredients
change, labeling changes, he says.

Blue Buffalo says on its website that American Nutrition "deliberately
deceived" it by adding what was then thought to be rice protein
concentrate to some of its products, even though the recipes didn't
call for it. "What we say is in the can has got to be in the can,"
says Bill Bishop, Blue Buffalo president.

The American Nutrition recall also swept up some canned products from
Mulligan Stew Pet Food, Canine Caviar Pet Foods, Diamond Pet Foods,
Natural Balance and Costco's Kirkland Signature brand.

None say their recipes contained rice protein concentrate, and none
say they were notified of the ingredient's addition by American
Nutrition before the recall.

Mulligan says in a posting on its website that American Nutrition
"tampered with our company's intellectual property" - its pet-food
formula. Diamond and Natural Balance, in press releases, said American
engaged in a "manufacturing deviation." While Costco hasn't accused
American Nutrition of wrongdoing, its formula called for "rice flour,"
says Craig Wilson, assistant vice president of food safety.

American Nutrition, in an e-mail response to questions from USA TODAY,
said it's checking what it told the companies. The FDA had no comment,
except to say that it was investigating.

Based on American Nutrition's comments, it didn't appear to know that
the rice protein concentrate was actually wheat flour.

Before the FDA said that Tuesday, American Nutrition said in a
statement it didn't do anything deceitful by using the rice protein
ingredient. It said the pet-food formulas, per the customers'
requests, were "rice-based" and so it selected rice protein as a
"fortification source" from the "same family."

Still, the pet-food labels - what consumers look at - should have
listed rice protein concentrate, says Eric Nelson, president of the
American Association of Feed Control Officials, which defines
ingredients.

By spiking the wheat flour with melamine, the flour would appear to
contain more nitrogen. That's what pet-food companies look for when
they test for protein content.

While wheat flour, wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate are all
powders, wheat flour is usually whiter, says consultant Aldrich, but
the difference may not be apparent to a factory worker.

Other routine raw-ingredient tests wouldn't identify wheat flour, he
says. "It's easy to see how it got missed ... because no one was looking
for it," says Aldrich. "Should they have been suspicious of their
suppliers? Probably."

Improving oversight

There's no consistency in how well pet-food sellers supervise their co-
packers. "Some do extensive audits. Some don't," Aldrich says. Costco
audited American Nutrition for good manufacturing practices, which
govern things from cleanliness to record keeping, and found it to be a
good operator.

Since the recall, Wal-Mart has begun setting up an audit process for
its pet-food makers, says spokeswoman Karen Burke.

Blue Buffalo says it sometimes has an employee in plants when its
product is being made. The smaller Canine Caviar does not.

Blue Buffalo has terminated its contract with American Nutrition,
saying it no longer trusts the company. Canine Caviar is considering
dropping its canned-food line because it lacks confidence in American
Nutrition and Menu, and there are few other options, says President
Jeff Baker.

Other pet-food sellers are stepping up their oversight of:

·Raw-ingredient sourcing. Royal Canin USA has vowed not to use
vegetable proteins, which include wheat gluten and rice protein
concentrate, from China.

C.J. Foods said in a press release that it will not use protein
sources from "exotic locations." Wal-Mart has asked its pet-food
makers to find ways to improve raw-ingredient sourcing, says Burke.

·Manufacturing oversight. Iams has a new policy forbidding its
suppliers, including Menu Foods, from switching suppliers of raw
ingredients unless Iams has checked out that supplier and OK'd the
switch. Natural Balance and Diamond are requesting production records,
which include ingredients, from contract manufacturers.

·Production. The recall will push more pet-food companies to make
their food rather than contract it out, says Tim Phillips, editor of
Petfood Industry magazine.

One company is already heading in that direction. Natura Pet Products,
owner of the Innova and Evo brands, has vowed to buy or build a
canning facility to make its own wet foods, even though none of its
products have been recalled.

"At the end of the day, if anybody is going to screw something up, we
want it to be us," says Natura co-founder Peter Atkins.

Top Post Alert:

Not only that, but I heard on a radio station today that the FDA is
concerned about another ingredient in Chinese food products. What
ingredient? Well, it looks like the FDA redacted that information from
all their reports.

Nice to know our government is protecting us.


chatnoir wrote:
On May 10, 7:02 am, "CatNipped" wrote:
Full story:

http://www.itchmo.com/read/fda-melam...er-warns-again...

FDA Warns Staff On Major Melamine Health Risks

May 9th, 2007

Itchmo has learned that the FDA has issued a surveillance order for Chinese
vegetable proteins including corn gluten and wheat products based on the pet
food contamination on May 1. Despite repeated FDA statements saying that
there is no risk to human health from contaminated pigs and chickens, the
FDA surveillance order indicates otherwise. It even states: Pregnant women
should not perform this assignment.

FDA document quote:

"Melamine and additional related contaminants have been found in
concentrations of up to 20% in analyzed samples. The MSDS for pure melamine
is attached as Attachment B and includes warnings "to avoid breathing dust,
avoid contact with eyes, skin and clothing". Chronic exposure may cause
cancer or reproductive damage."

Clearly, the FDA is concerned with the safety of their own staff's exposure
to melamine-tainted foods. Despite this warning, the FDA told the press and
us yesterday that animals that ate tainted foods were safe for human
consumption.

Hugs,

CatNipped

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...ver-usat_N.htm



The eight-week-old pet food recall has confirmed some owners' fears
about mystery ingredients in the products they buy.


PET FOOD RECALL

Crackdown: Who was watching suppliers? | Chinese exec detained for 2
weeks, report says



Lab results: Flour, in disguise, is the culprit | Melamine only part
of problem, research says | Cats appear more vulnerable



China connection : FDA limits Chinese food additive imports | Asian
giant grapples with food-safety probe | China admits tainted food link



Probe continues: FDA raids wheat gluten importer | Melamine may not
be accident | P&G vows more control of Menu Foods



Science: Pet deaths not easy to solve | Timeline



Recall widens: Cross-contamination prompts new recalls | Premium dry
foods recalled | Canadian pet food added to list | Dog biscuits become
latest product

More



This ad in USA TODAY a week after the first recalls touts Blue
Buffalo's pet food. The firm has since recalled or pulled a third of
its product line.
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
Even some pet-food companies say they don't always know what's really
in the food they sell. Or where the ingredients come from.
If you long suspected pet food contained mystery meat, this won't
surprise you. But for a $15 billion industry whose profits depend on
consumers' trust, the admission may be the biggest revelation of all
from the 8-week-old pet-food recall.


STORY: Chinese exec has been detained 2 weeks, report says
Tuesday, federal officials said the contaminated pet-food ingredient
from China that sickened dogs and cats nationwide was actually wheat
flour - not wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate. That had escaped
the pet-food makers who thought they bought wheat gluten or rice
protein concentrate.

Five pet-food companies also recently said the company that made food
for them added rice protein concentrate without their knowledge or
consent. That came to light, the pet-food companies say, because the
foods had to be recalled after the contamination was discovered.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Food and Drug Administration | Nutrition
The Food and Drug Administration speculates that the wheat flour was
deliberately spiked with melamine to make it look more protein-rich,
thus more valuable, than it was. China has admitted two companies
exported melamine-tainted product. The FDA also suspects that melamine
and melamine compounds in the flour are creating a toxic brew that
causes pets' kidneys to fail.

While some pet-food companies claim that they were victims of fraud,
the case also illuminates weaknesses in U.S. pet-food-manufacturing
oversight that companies are now trying to correct. One is that
companies who market pet foods often don't make them and may not watch
their contract manufacturers closely enough. The situations also raise
questions about how diligent companies have been in selecting and
inspecting suppliers of raw ingredients.

"The industry got lax and is ratcheting up the due diligence," says
Greg Aldrich, consultant at Pet Food & Ingredient Technology. "None of
them want to be caught in something like this again."

The recalls' scope has been vast. More than 5,800 products have been
recalled. The FDA has received unconfirmed reports of 4,150 cat and
dog deaths since Menu Foods announced the first recalls March 16. The
company faces more than 50 lawsuits from pet owners.

Brands at all prices have been affected, from Wal-Mart's lower-priced
Ol' Roy to premium foods made by Natural Balance Pet Foods. That
company was co-founded by Eight Is Enough actor Dick Van Patten, who
has eaten the food at trade shows to show off its quality.

"The entire industry is bloodied," says Mark Witriol, co-owner of Pet
Food Express, which has 31 San Francisco-area locations. "Consumer
trust is completely broken."

The recall has also relentlessly mowed down companies which at first
thought they were safe. One is the high-end Blue Buffalo, which calls
customers "pet parents" and sells some cans for almost $2 a pop.

A week after the first recalls, when contaminated wheat gluten was the
suspect, Blue Buffalo ran a full-page newspaper ad touting the
healthfulness of its products and pointing out - in large type - that
they didn't include wheat gluten. "You love them like family. So feed
them like family," the ad said.

Since then, the 4-year-old Blue Buffalo has recalled or pulled a third
of its product line.

Its first recall on April 19 was a dry cat food, whose recipe called
for rice protein concentrate. At the time of the recall, the food was
thought to have been made with contaminated rice protein concentrate
from China. The FDA has now identified that as contaminated wheat
flour.

Blue Buffalo said then that it didn't know that the concentrate came
from China. That's not surprising: C.J. Foods, which made the cat food
for Blue Buffalo, didn't know either, says C.J. Vice President Jerry
Krueger.

C.J. got the ingredient from a U.S. supplier. It was imported by San
Francisco-based Wilbur-Ellis.

As part of a post-9/11 measure to protect the food supply, federal law
requires food companies to be able to trace products one step forward
and one step back. For C.J., that meant to the U.S. supplier it won't
identify and to Blue Buffalo.

While that has long been industry practice, the recall is likely to
compel pet-food makers to know more about companies throughout the
supply chain, says Sanford Goodman, CEO of M.I. Industries, owner of
the Nature's Variety brand. Its products haven't been involved in the
recall.

"The industry is now changed. ... It's incumbent for each of us to
follow these ingredients back to the source," Goodman says.

A critical ingredient

Blue Buffalo's second recall began April 27 after the FDA traced what
it thought was contaminated rice protein concentrate from Wilbur-Ellis
to several pet-food makers, including American Nutrition.

Like Menu Foods, American Nutrition makes canned dog and cat food for
others. Such contract manufacturing is common in the industry because
it's often cheaper for companies than operating plants themselves.
Small companies, such as Blue Buffalo, and large companies, such as
Wal-Mart, use contract manufacturers.

Both American Nutrition and Menu typically follow recipes their
customers provide. They may also work with pet-food sellers to develop
recipes. Either way, the ingredient list is supposed to reflect what's
in the food. If it calls for brown rice, "that is what goes in, not
cracked brown rice or anything else," says Goodman. If ingredients
change, labeling changes, he says.

Blue Buffalo says on its website that American Nutrition "deliberately
deceived" it by adding what was then thought to be rice protein
concentrate to some of its products, even though the recipes didn't
call for it. "What we say is in the can has got to be in the can,"
says Bill Bishop, Blue Buffalo president.

The American Nutrition recall also swept up some canned products from
Mulligan Stew Pet Food, Canine Caviar Pet Foods, Diamond Pet Foods,
Natural Balance and Costco's Kirkland Signature brand.

None say their recipes contained rice protein concentrate, and none
say they were notified of the ingredient's addition by American
Nutrition before the recall.

Mulligan says in a posting on its website that American Nutrition
"tampered with our company's intellectual property" - its pet-food
formula. Diamond and Natural Balance, in press releases, said American
engaged in a "manufacturing deviation." While Costco hasn't accused
American Nutrition of wrongdoing, its formula called for "rice flour,"
says Craig Wilson, assistant vice president of food safety.

American Nutrition, in an e-mail response to questions from USA TODAY,
said it's checking what it told the companies. The FDA had no comment,
except to say that it was investigating.

Based on American Nutrition's comments, it didn't appear to know that
the rice protein concentrate was actually wheat flour.

Before the FDA said that Tuesday, American Nutrition said in a
statement it didn't do anything deceitful by using the rice protein
ingredient. It said the pet-food formulas, per the customers'
requests, were "rice-based" and so it selected rice protein as a
"fortification source" from the "same family."

Still, the pet-food labels - what consumers look at - should have
listed rice protein concentrate, says Eric Nelson, president of the
American Association of Feed Control Officials, which defines
ingredients.

By spiking the wheat flour with melamine, the flour would appear to
contain more nitrogen. That's what pet-food companies look for when
they test for protein content.

While wheat flour, wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate are all
powders, wheat flour is usually whiter, says consultant Aldrich, but
the difference may not be apparent to a factory worker.

Other routine raw-ingredient tests wouldn't identify wheat flour, he
says. "It's easy to see how it got missed ... because no one was looking
for it," says Aldrich. "Should they have been suspicious of their
suppliers? Probably."

Improving oversight

There's no consistency in how well pet-food sellers supervise their co-
packers. "Some do extensive audits. Some don't," Aldrich says. Costco
audited American Nutrition for good manufacturing practices, which
govern things from cleanliness to record keeping, and found it to be a
good operator.

Since the recall, Wal-Mart has begun setting up an audit process for
its pet-food makers, says spokeswoman Karen Burke.

Blue Buffalo says it sometimes has an employee in plants when its
product is being made. The smaller Canine Caviar does not.

Blue Buffalo has terminated its contract with American Nutrition,
saying it no longer trusts the company. Canine Caviar is considering
dropping its canned-food line because it lacks confidence in American
Nutrition and Menu, and there are few other options, says President
Jeff Baker.

Other pet-food sellers are stepping up their oversight of:

·Raw-ingredient sourcing. Royal Canin USA has vowed not to use
vegetable proteins, which include wheat gluten and rice protein
concentrate, from China.

C.J. Foods said in a press release that it will not use protein
sources from "exotic locations." Wal-Mart has asked its pet-food
makers to find ways to improve raw-ingredient sourcing, says Burke.

·Manufacturing oversight. Iams has a new policy forbidding its
suppliers, including Menu Foods, from switching suppliers of raw
ingredients unless Iams has checked out that supplier and OK'd the
switch. Natural Balance and Diamond are requesting production records,
which include ingredients, from contract manufacturers.

·Production. The recall will push more pet-food companies to make
their food rather than contract it out, says Tim Phillips, editor of
Petfood Industry magazine.

One company is already heading in that direction. Natura Pet Products,
owner of the Innova and Evo brands, has vowed to buy or build a
canning facility to make its own wet foods, even though none of its
products have been recalled.

"At the end of the day, if anybody is going to screw something up, we
want it to be us," says Natura co-founder Peter Atkins.

I read on Usenet that the US is getting set to import whole cooked
chickens from China - without being labeled so. Also, I'm hearing about
contaminated imported catfish from China - probably not identified
either. sigh

q wrote in
:

Top Post Alert:

Not only that, but I heard on a radio station today that the FDA is
concerned about another ingredient in Chinese food products. What
ingredient? Well, it looks like the FDA redacted that information
from all their reports.

Nice to know our government is protecting us.


chatnoir wrote:
On May 10, 7:02 am, "CatNipped" wrote:
Full story:

http://www.itchmo.com/read/fda-melam...er-warns-again
...

FDA Warns Staff On Major Melamine Health Risks

May 9th, 2007

Itchmo has learned that the FDA has issued a surveillance order for
Chinese vegetable proteins including corn gluten and wheat products
based on the pet food contamination on May 1. Despite repeated FDA
statements saying that there is no risk to human health from
contaminated pigs and chickens, the FDA surveillance order indicates
otherwise. It even states: Pregnant women should not perform this
assignment.

FDA document quote:

"Melamine and additional related contaminants have been found in
concentrations of up to 20% in analyzed samples. The MSDS for pure
melamine is attached as Attachment B and includes warnings "to avoid
breathing dust, avoid contact with eyes, skin and clothing". Chronic
exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage."

Clearly, the FDA is concerned with the safety of their own staff's
exposure to melamine-tainted foods. Despite this warning, the FDA
told the press and us yesterday that animals that ate tainted foods
were safe for human consumption.

Hugs,

CatNipped

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...food-cover-usa
t_N.htm



The eight-week-old pet food recall has confirmed some owners' fears
about mystery ingredients in the products they buy.


PET FOOD RECALL

Crackdown: Who was watching suppliers? | Chinese exec detained
for 2
weeks, report says



Lab results: Flour, in disguise, is the culprit | Melamine only
part
of problem, research says | Cats appear more vulnerable



China connection : FDA limits Chinese food additive imports |
Asian
giant grapples with food-safety probe | China admits tainted food
link



Probe continues: FDA raids wheat gluten importer | Melamine may
not
be accident | P&G vows more control of Menu Foods



Science: Pet deaths not easy to solve | Timeline



Recall widens: Cross-contamination prompts new recalls | Premium
dry
foods recalled | Canadian pet food added to list | Dog biscuits
become latest product

More



This ad in USA TODAY a week after the first recalls touts Blue
Buffalo's pet food. The firm has since recalled or pulled a third of
its product line.
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
Even some pet-food companies say they don't always know what's really
in the food they sell. Or where the ingredients come from.
If you long suspected pet food contained mystery meat, this won't
surprise you. But for a $15 billion industry whose profits depend on
consumers' trust, the admission may be the biggest revelation of all
from the 8-week-old pet-food recall.


STORY: Chinese exec has been detained 2 weeks, report says
Tuesday, federal officials said the contaminated pet-food ingredient
from China that sickened dogs and cats nationwide was actually wheat
flour - not wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate. That had
escaped the pet-food makers who thought they bought wheat gluten or
rice protein concentrate.

Five pet-food companies also recently said the company that made food
for them added rice protein concentrate without their knowledge or
consent. That came to light, the pet-food companies say, because the
foods had to be recalled after the contamination was discovered.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Food and Drug Administration | Nutrition
The Food and Drug Administration speculates that the wheat flour was
deliberately spiked with melamine to make it look more protein-rich,
thus more valuable, than it was. China has admitted two companies
exported melamine-tainted product. The FDA also suspects that
melamine and melamine compounds in the flour are creating a toxic
brew that causes pets' kidneys to fail.

While some pet-food companies claim that they were victims of fraud,
the case also illuminates weaknesses in U.S. pet-food-manufacturing
oversight that companies are now trying to correct. One is that
companies who market pet foods often don't make them and may not
watch their contract manufacturers closely enough. The situations
also raise questions about how diligent companies have been in
selecting and inspecting suppliers of raw ingredients.

"The industry got lax and is ratcheting up the due diligence," says
Greg Aldrich, consultant at Pet Food & Ingredient Technology. "None
of them want to be caught in something like this again."

The recalls' scope has been vast. More than 5,800 products have been
recalled. The FDA has received unconfirmed reports of 4,150 cat and
dog deaths since Menu Foods announced the first recalls March 16. The
company faces more than 50 lawsuits from pet owners.

Brands at all prices have been affected, from Wal-Mart's lower-priced
Ol' Roy to premium foods made by Natural Balance Pet Foods. That
company was co-founded by Eight Is Enough actor Dick Van Patten, who
has eaten the food at trade shows to show off its quality.

"The entire industry is bloodied," says Mark Witriol, co-owner of Pet
Food Express, which has 31 San Francisco-area locations. "Consumer
trust is completely broken."

The recall has also relentlessly mowed down companies which at first
thought they were safe. One is the high-end Blue Buffalo, which calls
customers "pet parents" and sells some cans for almost $2 a pop.

A week after the first recalls, when contaminated wheat gluten was
the suspect, Blue Buffalo ran a full-page newspaper ad touting the
healthfulness of its products and pointing out - in large type - that
they didn't include wheat gluten. "You love them like family. So feed
them like family," the ad said.

Since then, the 4-year-old Blue Buffalo has recalled or pulled a
third of its product line.

Its first recall on April 19 was a dry cat food, whose recipe called
for rice protein concentrate. At the time of the recall, the food was
thought to have been made with contaminated rice protein concentrate
from China. The FDA has now identified that as contaminated wheat
flour.

Blue Buffalo said then that it didn't know that the concentrate came
from China. That's not surprising: C.J. Foods, which made the cat
food for Blue Buffalo, didn't know either, says C.J. Vice President
Jerry Krueger.

C.J. got the ingredient from a U.S. supplier. It was imported by San
Francisco-based Wilbur-Ellis.

As part of a post-9/11 measure to protect the food supply, federal
law requires food companies to be able to trace products one step
forward and one step back. For C.J., that meant to the U.S. supplier
it won't identify and to Blue Buffalo.

While that has long been industry practice, the recall is likely to
compel pet-food makers to know more about companies throughout the
supply chain, says Sanford Goodman, CEO of M.I. Industries, owner of
the Nature's Variety brand. Its products haven't been involved in the
recall.

"The industry is now changed. ... It's incumbent for each of us to
follow these ingredients back to the source," Goodman says.

A critical ingredient

Blue Buffalo's second recall began April 27 after the FDA traced what
it thought was contaminated rice protein concentrate from
Wilbur-Ellis to several pet-food makers, including American
Nutrition.

Like Menu Foods, American Nutrition makes canned dog and cat food for
others. Such contract manufacturing is common in the industry because
it's often cheaper for companies than operating plants themselves.
Small companies, such as Blue Buffalo, and large companies, such as
Wal-Mart, use contract manufacturers.

Both American Nutrition and Menu typically follow recipes their
customers provide. They may also work with pet-food sellers to
develop recipes. Either way, the ingredient list is supposed to
reflect what's in the food. If it calls for brown rice, "that is what
goes in, not cracked brown rice or anything else," says Goodman. If
ingredients change, labeling changes, he says.

Blue Buffalo says on its website that American Nutrition
"deliberately deceived" it by adding what was then thought to be rice
protein concentrate to some of its products, even though the recipes
didn't call for it. "What we say is in the can has got to be in the
can," says Bill Bishop, Blue Buffalo president.

The American Nutrition recall also swept up some canned products from
Mulligan Stew Pet Food, Canine Caviar Pet Foods, Diamond Pet Foods,
Natural Balance and Costco's Kirkland Signature brand.

None say their recipes contained rice protein concentrate, and none
say they were notified of the ingredient's addition by American
Nutrition before the recall.

Mulligan says in a posting on its website that American Nutrition
"tampered with our company's intellectual property" - its pet-food
formula. Diamond and Natural Balance, in press releases, said
American engaged in a "manufacturing deviation." While Costco hasn't
accused American Nutrition of wrongdoing, its formula called for
"rice flour," says Craig Wilson, assistant vice president of food
safety.

American Nutrition, in an e-mail response to questions from USA
TODAY, said it's checking what it told the companies. The FDA had no
comment, except to say that it was investigating.

Based on American Nutrition's comments, it didn't appear to know that
the rice protein concentrate was actually wheat flour.

Before the FDA said that Tuesday, American Nutrition said in a
statement it didn't do anything deceitful by using the rice protein
ingredient. It said the pet-food formulas, per the customers'
requests, were "rice-based" and so it selected rice protein as a
"fortification source" from the "same family."

Still, the pet-food labels - what consumers look at - should have
listed rice protein concentrate, says Eric Nelson, president of the
American Association of Feed Control Officials, which defines
ingredients.

By spiking the wheat flour with melamine, the flour would appear to
contain more nitrogen. That's what pet-food companies look for when
they test for protein content.

While wheat flour, wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate are all
powders, wheat flour is usually whiter, says consultant Aldrich, but
the difference may not be apparent to a factory worker.

Other routine raw-ingredient tests wouldn't identify wheat flour, he
says. "It's easy to see how it got missed ... because no one was
looking for it," says Aldrich. "Should they have been suspicious of
their suppliers? Probably."

Improving oversight

There's no consistency in how well pet-food sellers supervise their
co- packers. "Some do extensive audits. Some don't," Aldrich says.
Costco audited American Nutrition for good manufacturing practices,
which govern things from cleanliness to record keeping, and found it
to be a good operator.

Since the recall, Wal-Mart has begun setting up an audit process for
its pet-food makers, says spokeswoman Karen Burke.

Blue Buffalo says it sometimes has an employee in plants when its
product is being made. The smaller Canine Caviar does not.

Blue Buffalo has terminated its contract with American Nutrition,
saying it no longer trusts the company. Canine Caviar is considering
dropping its canned-food line because it lacks confidence in American
Nutrition and Menu, and there are few other options, says President
Jeff Baker.

Other pet-food sellers are stepping up their oversight of:

·Raw-ingredient sourcing. Royal Canin USA has vowed not to use
vegetable proteins, which include wheat gluten and rice protein
concentrate, from China.

C.J. Foods said in a press release that it will not use protein
sources from "exotic locations." Wal-Mart has asked its pet-food
makers to find ways to improve raw-ingredient sourcing, says Burke.

·Manufacturing oversight. Iams has a new policy forbidding its
suppliers, including Menu Foods, from switching suppliers of raw
ingredients unless Iams has checked out that supplier and OK'd the
switch. Natural Balance and Diamond are requesting production
records, which include ingredients, from contract manufacturers.

·Production. The recall will push more pet-food companies to make
their food rather than contract it out, says Tim Phillips, editor of
Petfood Industry magazine.

One company is already heading in that direction. Natura Pet
Products, owner of the Innova and Evo brands, has vowed to buy or
build a canning facility to make its own wet foods, even though none
of its products have been recalled.

"At the end of the day, if anybody is going to screw something up, we
want it to be us," says Natura co-founder Peter Atkins.





--
Untie the two knots to email me

Every silver lining has a cloud.

On May 12, 10:29 am, Ken Knecht wrote:
I read on Usenet that the US is getting set to import whole cooked
chickens from China - without being labeled so. Also, I'm hearing about
contaminated imported catfish from China - probably not identified
either. sigh

And you thought our pet cats and dogs got it bad!:

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007313019

U.S. Interest To Import Cooked Chicken From China Raises Eyebrows;
Food Safety Oversight A Concern

May 11, 2007 7:31 a.m. EST

Jacob Cherian - AHN Staff Writer
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - According to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, China is seeking to familiarize the U.S. market with its
cooked chickens.

The problem is that it is common for farmers in China to flood crops
with unapproved pesticides, livestock are given antibiotics which no
amount of cooking can destroy, and human feces is used as fertilizer.

Critics suspect Chinese agricultural practices could soon hit
American
consumers.

Nonetheless, officials in Washington are scrambling to work out
something that both the Chinese and Americans can agree on. The
Department of Agriculture's proposal is "to allow chickens raised,
slaughtered, and cooked in China to be sold in the United States, and
under current regulations store labels do not have to indicate the
origin of the poultry," reports The Boston Globe.

However, Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat of Connecticut does
not lend her support on the plan. She oppose Chinese entry into the
highly coveted, closed chicken market.

Instead, she asserts that Congress should restrict chicken imports
until Beijing is ready to improve food safety oversight.

"There is deception," DeLauro said. "There is lax regulation, and
they've got unsanitary conditions. They need to hear from us they're
at risk. Congress has to look at limiting some of their agricultural
imports."

Under the current guidelines, both the USDA and the FDA state that
all
countries looking to export meat, poultry, or egg products to the
U.S.
need to earn "equivalency" points - which is like saying products
imported to the U.S. are as good as the domestic competition.

Lucius Adkins, president of United Poultry Growers Association,
representing over 700 producers in Georgia, is not happy with the
proposal either: He said, the idea "should be strangled in infancy."

"You don't know what conditions existed in that plant" in China, he
said. In addition, no U.S. government representative in China would
be
watching poultry being slaughtered and processed, he said. "It's
going
to come here packaged."



q wrote :

Top Post Alert:

Not only that, but I heard on a radio station today that the FDA is
concerned about another ingredient in Chinese food products. What
ingredient? Well, it looks like the FDA redacted that information
from all their reports.

Nice to know our government is protecting us.

chatnoir wrote:
On May 10, 7:02 am, "CatNipped" wrote:
Full story:

http://www.itchmo.com/read/fda-melam...er-warns-again
...

FDA Warns Staff On Major Melamine Health Risks

May 9th, 2007

Itchmo has learned that the FDA has issued a surveillance order for
Chinese vegetable proteins including corn gluten and wheat products
based on the pet food contamination on May 1. Despite repeated FDA
statements saying that there is no risk to human health from
contaminated pigs and chickens, the FDA surveillance order indicates
otherwise. It even states: Pregnant women should not perform this
assignment.

FDA document quote:

"Melamine and additional related contaminants have been found in
concentrations of up to 20% in analyzed samples. The MSDS for pure
melamine is attached as Attachment B and includes warnings "to avoid
breathing dust, avoid contact with eyes, skin and clothing". Chronic
exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage."

Clearly, the FDA is concerned with the safety of their own staff's
exposure to melamine-tainted foods. Despite this warning, the FDA
told the press and us yesterday that animals that ate tainted foods
were safe for human consumption.

Hugs,

CatNipped

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...food-cover-usa
t_N.htm

The eight-week-old pet food recall has confirmed some owners' fears
about mystery ingredients in the products they buy.

PET FOOD RECALL

Crackdown: Who was watching suppliers? | Chinese exec detained
for 2
weeks, report says

Lab results: Flour, in disguise, is the culprit | Melamine only
part
of problem, research says | Cats appear more vulnerable

China connection : FDA limits Chinese food additive imports |
Asian
giant grapples with food-safety probe | China admits tainted food
link

Probe continues: FDA raids wheat gluten importer | Melamine may
not
be accident | P&G vows more control of Menu Foods

Science: Pet deaths not easy to solve | Timeline

Recall widens: Cross-contamination prompts new recalls | Premium
dry
foods recalled | Canadian pet food added to list | Dog biscuits
become latest product

More

This ad in USA TODAY a week after the first recalls touts Blue
Buffalo's pet food. The firm has since recalled or pulled a third of
its product line.
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
Even some pet-food companies say they don't always know what's really
in the food they sell. Or where the ingredients come from.
If you long suspected pet food contained mystery meat, this won't
surprise you. But for a $15 billion industry whose profits depend on
consumers' trust, the admission may be the biggest revelation of all
from the 8-week-old pet-food recall.

STORY: Chinese exec has been detained 2 weeks, report says
Tuesday, federal officials said the contaminated pet-food ingredient
from China that sickened dogs and cats nationwide was actually wheat
flour - not wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate. That had
escaped the pet-food makers who thought they bought wheat gluten or
rice protein concentrate.

Five pet-food companies also recently said the company that made food
for them added rice protein concentrate without their knowledge or
consent. That came to light, the pet-food companies say, because the
foods had to be recalled after the contamination was discovered.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Food and Drug Administration | Nutrition
The Food and Drug Administration speculates that the wheat flour was
deliberately spiked with melamine to make it look more protein-rich,
thus more valuable, than it was. China has admitted two companies
exported melamine-tainted product. The FDA also suspects that
melamine and melamine compounds in the flour are creating a toxic
brew that causes pets' kidneys to fail.

While some pet-food companies claim that they were victims of fraud,
the case also illuminates weaknesses in U.S. pet-food-manufacturing
oversight that companies are now trying to correct. One is that
companies who market pet foods often don't make them and may not
watch their contract manufacturers closely enough. The situations
also raise questions about how diligent companies have been in
selecting and inspecting suppliers of raw ingredients.

"The industry got lax and is ratcheting up the due diligence," says
Greg Aldrich, consultant at Pet Food & Ingredient Technology. "None
of them want to be caught in something like this again."

The recalls' scope has been vast. More than 5,800 products have been
recalled. The FDA has received unconfirmed reports of 4,150 cat and
dog deaths since Menu Foods announced the first recalls March 16. The
company faces more than 50 lawsuits from pet owners.

Brands at all prices have been affected, from Wal-Mart's lower-priced
Ol' Roy to premium foods made by Natural Balance Pet Foods. That
company was co-founded by Eight Is Enough actor Dick Van Patten, who
has eaten the food at trade shows to show off its quality.

"The entire industry is bloodied," says Mark Witriol, co-owner of Pet
Food Express, which has 31 San Francisco-area locations. "Consumer
trust is completely broken."

The recall has also relentlessly mowed down companies which at first
thought they were safe. One is the high-end Blue Buffalo, which calls
customers "pet parents" and sells some cans for almost $2 a pop.

A week after the first recalls, when contaminated wheat gluten was
the suspect, Blue Buffalo ran a full-page newspaper ad touting the
healthfulness of its products and pointing out - in large type - that
they didn't include wheat gluten. "You love them like family. So feed
them like family," the ad said.

Since then, the 4-year-old Blue Buffalo has recalled or pulled a
third of its product line.

Its first recall on April 19 was a dry cat food, whose recipe called
for rice protein concentrate. At the time of the recall, the food was
thought to have been made with contaminated rice protein concentrate
from China. The FDA has now identified that as contaminated wheat
flour.

Blue Buffalo said then that it didn't know that the concentrate came
from China. That's not surprising: C.J. Foods, which made the cat
food for Blue Buffalo, didn't know either, says C.J. Vice President
Jerry Krueger.

C.J. got the ingredient from a U.S. supplier. It was imported by San
Francisco-based Wilbur-Ellis.

As part of a post-9/11 measure to protect the food supply, federal
law requires food companies to be able to trace products one step
forward and one step back. For C.J., that meant to the U.S. supplier
it won't identify and to Blue Buffalo.

While that has long been industry practice, the recall is likely to
compel pet-food makers to know more about companies throughout the
supply chain, says Sanford Goodman, CEO of M.I. Industries, owner of
the Nature's Variety brand. Its products haven't been involved in the
recall.

"The industry is now changed. ... It's incumbent for each of us to
follow these ingredients back to the source," Goodman says.

A critical ingredient

Blue Buffalo's second recall began April 27 after the FDA traced what
it thought was contaminated rice protein concentrate from
Wilbur-Ellis to several pet-food makers, including American
Nutrition.

Like Menu Foods, American Nutrition makes canned dog and cat food for
others. Such contract manufacturing is common in the industry because
it's often cheaper for companies than operating plants themselves.
Small companies, such as Blue Buffalo, and large companies, such as
Wal-Mart, use contract manufacturers.

Both American Nutrition and Menu typically follow recipes their
customers provide. They may also work with pet-food sellers to
develop recipes. Either way, the ingredient list is supposed to
reflect what's in the food. If it calls for brown rice, "that is what
goes in, not cracked brown rice or anything else," says Goodman. If
ingredients change, labeling changes, he says.

Blue Buffalo says on its website that American Nutrition
"deliberately deceived" it by adding what was then thought to be rice
protein concentrate to some of its products, even though the recipes
didn't call for it. "What we say is in the can has got to be in the
can," says Bill Bishop, Blue Buffalo president.

The American Nutrition recall also swept up some canned products from
Mulligan Stew Pet Food, Canine Caviar Pet Foods, Diamond Pet Foods,
Natural Balance and Costco's Kirkland Signature brand.

None say their recipes contained rice protein concentrate, and none
say they were notified of the ingredient's addition by American
Nutrition before the recall.

Mulligan says in a posting on its website that American Nutrition
"tampered

...

read more »

chatnoir wrote:

And you thought our pet cats and dogs got it bad!:

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007313019

U.S. Interest To Import Cooked Chicken From China Raises Eyebrows;
Food Safety Oversight A Concern

May 11, 2007 7:31 a.m. EST

Jacob Cherian - AHN Staff Writer
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - According to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, China is seeking to familiarize the U.S. market with its
cooked chickens.

Isn't anyone paying attention?? Does the phrase "recalled pet food"
mean anything to anyone in Washington? Morons.

Joyce