Chemical Found in Recalled Pet Food

Contaminated wheat gluten may also be in dry food, FDA says

FRIDAY, March 30, 2007 (HealthDay News) -- A toxin used in fertilizer in China and to make plastics in the United States has been found in samples of recalled pet food and in the imported Chinese wheat gluten used in the food, U.S. heath officials said Friday.

The pet food, made by the Canadian company Menu Foods, is the subject of a nationwide recall. The recall includes more than 60 million cans and packages of moist cat and dog food.

But, contaminated wheat gluten was shipped to another as-yet unnamed maker of dry pet food, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"We are still tracing all of the wheat gluten in the shipment," Dr. Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said during a teleconference. "There is one company that has a shipment of the wheat gluten that does produce dry food. We are working with that company. We are trying to determine whether they used that product in the manufacture of the dry dog food."

Sundlof noted that the FDA still hasn't determined how the toxin, called melamine, got into the wheat gluten. The FDA is currently inspecting all foreign shipments of wheat gluten and tracing those shipments that have already entered the United States.

In light of the potential for contamination in dry food, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is asking the FDA to include dry food in its recall. The group said it has received complaints from pet owners who said their dogs or cats suffered kidney failure after eating dry food, which was not included in a March 16 recall, the Associated Press reported.

Last week, the FDA said the rodent poison aminopterin was found by New York state officials in the recalled food. However, further testing by the FDA and others have failed to confirm the presence of this poison, Sundlof said.

To date, the FDA has received 8,800 calls reporting kidney failure in cats and dogs. However, none of these cases has been confirmed, Sundlof said.

More information

For more information on pet food, visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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