ALEXA OLESEN
Associated Press
April 26, 2007 at 6:43 AM EDT
BEIJING — China said Thursday it has banned melamine from food products after the chemical was found in exports of vegetable protein shipped to the United States, but rejected it as the cause of dozens of pet deaths in North America.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials say they suspect the substance, which is a chemical found in plastics and pesticides, is to blame.
China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement there was no evidence to support the FDA's claim but that it would co-operate with the United States to find out what actually killed the animals.
The comments in a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry were the first detailed response from Beijing to concerns that emerged a month ago about the country's wheat and rice gluten exports.
China has said it was investigating the issue but had not acknowledged until Thursday that Chinese companies had shipped gluten tainted with melamine to the United States.
The ministry said the contaminated vegetable protein managed to get past customs without inspection because it had not been declared for use in pet food.
“At present, there is no clear evidence showing that melamine is the direct cause of the poisoning or death of the pets,” the statement said. “China is willing to strengthen co-operation with the U.S. side ... to find out the real cause leading to the pet deaths in order to protect the health of the pets of the two countries.”
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials have said they suspect Chinese wheat and rice gluten laced with melamine and added to pet food may have killed at least 15 cats and dogs. The chemical appears to have caused acute kidney failure in animals that have died or been sickened after eating foods contaminated with the chemical.
China said an investigation triggered by FDA complaints found melamine in wheat and rice gluten exported to the United States by two Chinese companies: Xuzhou Anying Bio-technology Development Co. and Binzhou Futian Bio-technology Co.
The case has prompted China to step up inspections of plant-based proteins and to list melamine as a banned substance for food exports and domestic sales, it said.
China also invited FDA officials to visit China to help with further investigations into the case and to consult on improving inspection techniques, it said.
Last month, Toronto-area Menu Foods Income Fund recalled 60 million cans and pouches of its "cuts and gravy" style food, sold under 95 different brand names, after it received reports of kidney failure and even death among dogs and cats.
The Canadian division of French pet food company Royal Canin last week recalled five of its veterinary diet products. It also cut its ties with Chinese suppliers of vegetable proteins after finding out the rice gluten was contaminated with melamine.
www.theglobeandmail.com/
Update APRIL 6 2007
1. Visit Our Pet Food Recall Resource Center for the Latest Info
VISIT THE PET FOOD RECALL RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE LATEST
INFO
Late last week, news
conferences held by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Menu
Foods, Inc., confirmed suspicions by the ASPCA that a contaminant
other than aminopterin may be responsible for the illnesses and
deaths of animals who ingested recently recalled contaminated
foods. The contaminant, melamine, was found in wheat gluten samples
of the recalled lots.
To add to the fast-breaking developments, Hill’s Pet Nutrition
voluntarily recalled its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat
food—its only product containing wheat gluten—which it believes may
have been contaminated by infected wheat gluten. At this time, the
ASPCA is uncertain as to whether other pet food manufacturers will
issue voluntary recalls, and we advise pet parents to contact their
manufacturer directly.
Although we share your concerns about keeping your companion
animals safe and healthy, we also want to assure consumers that
there is no need to panic or take sudden actions, such as
refraining from feeding dry food altogether. “There are several dry
cat and dog foods that do not include any wheat gluten in their
formulas,” says the ASPCA’s Dr. Steven Hansen, veterinary
toxicologist, “and you can get that information from the label on
your pet food or the manufacturer. Further, if your pet is used to
eating a particular type of food, a sudden change in diet or diet
type may upset his stomach. This may be especially problematic for
pets with pre-existing illnesses.”
For additional information on the pet food recall, including
answers to your most frequently asked questions, please visit
the
Pet Food Recall Resource
Center.
30
March 07 RSPCA
PET FOOD RECALL UPDATE: OTHER CONTAMINANTS MAY BE
INVOLVED
Since Menu Foods,
Inc. announced its massive pet food recall on March 16, the ASPCA
Animal Poison Control Center has been flooded with calls from pet
parents and animal welfare professionals alike. Based on data from
these calls, the ASPCA reports that clinical signs in cats affected
by the contaminated foods are not fully consistent with the
ingestion of rat poison containing aminopterin which, says Menu
Foods, is at the “root” of the contamination issue.
Explains the ASPCA’s Dr. Steven Hansen, veterinary toxicologist,
“There are so many inconsistencies in the purported link between
aminopterin and the animals affected that we urge veterinary
toxicologists and veterinary pathologists at diagnostic
laboratories to continue looking for additional
contaminants.”
Pets who are being treated for kidney failure suspected to be
related to contaminated food should stay on their treatment. If
your pet has eaten contaminated food and shows any signs of
illness, including loss of appetite, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea,
changes in water consumption and changes in urination, please
consult with a veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control
Center at (888) 426-4435 immediately. In order to help with your
pet’s diagnosis, you are advised to:
- retain food samples
for analysis
- save all packaging and receipts, and document the product name,
type of product, date codes and/or production lot numbers
- document the dates that the product was fed to your pet, how much
was eaten, and the time when you first noticed
symptoms
Adverse effects or
deaths of pets conclusively linked to eating the contaminated foods
should be
reported to the FDA. Additionally,
the
American Veterinary Medical Association
website contains helpful
information for pet parents and veterinarians.
For a complete list of recalled pet food brands, please
visit
http://www.menufoods.com/recall.
----- Original Message -----
From:
Katie
Walter
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Subject: To all rescuers - Please read this, regarding tainted pet
foods
Dear
rescuers;
I
just received a call back from a representative of the FDA, in
response to a message I left had with them this past Friday
afternoon. I spoke with a very nice woman there, who informed
me that if we have any complaints of our animals becoming ill, or
dying from
ANY kind of dog or cat foods,
that we need to log on to:
http://www.fda.gov/default.htm ,
and
then click on Consumer Complaints Coordinator:
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/complain.html ,
and
then find your State.
Then
find the correlating phone number for your State, and call to
report your pets illness or death to that number for your own
State. She told me that this really the only way that
the FDA will really know exactly how many animals are being
affected by the tainted foods, and if other foods (like some dry
foods) might also actually be affected.
She
also told me,
that
if you suspect
you are having a problem with any of the dry cat or dog
foods making your animals ill, that this is the only way an
investigation will be opened on those particular
foods.
She told me that as of today, she had not heard of any animals
dying from any of the dry pet foods, and so I went on to explain to
her how many emails I had been seeing and receiving, where many
consumers believe that some of the brands of the dry pet foods have
also been affecting their animals. She sounded very
surprised, and again stated that this NEEDS to be reported to your
various local State FDA complaint divisions phone
numbers.
I
just hope that I have explained all of this, so that it sounds
clear enough to all of you, as I felt I needed to get the word
out right away, so that we can get the ball rolling on
this.
This
is not meant to cause any kind of a panic, but as I stated earlier,
I have been seeing so many emails, where people suspect
that some of the dry foods could also possibly making their animals
ill.
Please
feel free to cross post!
Katie
PETA
Let me help you ensure the safety of the animals in your own home
in light of the Menu Foods dog and cat food recall and tell you
what PETA is doing to hold the dog and cat food industry
accountable.
You must know that dog and cat food manufacturer Menu Foods is
recalling some 90 name brands of canned wet food, including Iams
and Eukanuba, that have been linked to renal failure and more than
a dozen animal deaths.
How to Keep Your Animals Safe
Make sure you are not feeding your animal companion any of the
recalled foods. You can find the full list of products that are
being recalled by Menu Foods
here.
If you believe that your animal companion has fallen ill from
eating a product manufactured by Menu Foods, immediately take the
animal to your veterinarian. Symptoms of kidney failure include
lack of appetite, listlessness, increased thirst, increased
urination, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Please also report any animal illness or death to Menu Foods at
866-895-2708 and to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at
888-463-6332.
What PETA Is Doing
The fact that animals are dying from tainted Menu Foods products is
horrific. To make matters worse, the company's response is
stupefying and infuriating.
It's our understanding that Menu Foods learned of animal deaths as
early as February 20 but didn't issue a recall for almost a
month.
PETA is urging government authorities in
Canada
and
the U.S.
to investigate Menu Foods and file criminal charges if the company
is found to have violated laws by waiting nearly a month before
recalling contaminated food and intentionally feeding it to healthy
dogs and cats in laboratories, killing several of them.
We know from experience that Menu Foods has never put the interests
of animals ahead of its profits. Do you remember when a PETA
investigator went undercover at a contract testing laboratory in
Missouri that conducted cruel experiments on animals for Menu Foods
and Iams? What PETA's investigator uncovered there was shocking;
some dogs had huge chunks of muscle removed from their legs and
were left to suffer for days. You can read more about the
investigation
here.
We took action then and changes were made, but now ... this!
What You Can Do to Keep Animals Safe in the Future
Each of us, as loving companions to the cats and dogs in our care,
must stand up to corporations like Menu Foods and Iams and hold
them accountable for the food they are selling. Please take
immediate action:
Buy pet food only from companies that test their foods in modern
ways, not by experimenting on animals. The list of cruelty-free
companies includes PetGuard, Evolution, and V-dog. One of the
surest ways to stop corporations like Iams and Menu Foods is by not
purchasing their products until they are proved to be safe and
cruelty-free.
For a list of manufacturers that do not test on animals,
click here.
Thank you for everything you do for animals,
Sincerely,
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President
P.S. PETA's demand for accountability from Menu Foods is already making international headlines. By taking the three steps listed above, you can speak out against this rapidly growing scandal.
VOMITING AND KIDNEY FAILURE! PLEASE CROSS
POST
SEE
LONG LIST OF
CAT/DOG FOOD BRANDS
BEING RECALLED!
www.menufoods.com/recall/index.html
IF YOU HAVE ANY AT HOME, PLEASE OPEN THEM AND
THROW
THEM IN THE TOILET
TO
AVOID ANY NEGLIGENT DOG WALKERS DOGS AND/OR STRAYS EATING
THEM!
THANX! Adela
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2007
Subject: *LATEST UPDATE* This is bad!- MILLIONS OF CANS RECALLED-
OVER 50 BRANDS LISTED HERE-DOG & CAT FOOD!- URGENT - WET PET
FOOD RECALL - HUGE NUMBERS ***CROSSPOST***
VOMITING
AND KIDNEY FAILURE! PLEASE CROSS
POST.
Fox
News announced massive dog and cat wet food
recall.
I have attached the list of foods posted 1/2 an hour ago on the
manufacturer's website. Here's the link to more
information. CHECK ALL YOUR FOOD - the number of foods
listed is shocking!!!
Joan
Phillips
Animal
Lovers League
Recalled
Cat Product Information
Recall Information 1-866-895-2708
1.
Americas Choice, Preferred
Pets
2.
Authority
3.
Best Choice
4.
Companion
5.
Compliments
6.
Demoulas Market Basket
7.
Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog
8.
Food Lion
9.
Foodtown
10.
Giant Companion
11.
Good n Meaty
12.
Hannaford
13.
Hill Country Fare
14.
Hy-Vee
15.
Key Food
16.
Laura Lynn
17.
Li'l Red
18.
Loving Meals
19.
Main Choice
20.
Nutriplan
21.
Nutro Max Gourmet Classics
22.
Nutro Natural Choice
23.
Paws
24.
Presidents Choice
25.
Price Chopper
26.
Priority
27.
Save-A-Lot
28.
Schnucks
29.
Sophistacat
30.
Special Kitty
31.
Springfield Pride
32.
Sprout
33.
Total Pet, My True Friend
34.
Wegmans
35.
Western Family
36.
White Rose
37.
Winn Dixie
Recalled
Dog Product Information
Recall Information 1-866-895-2708
1.
Americas Choice, Preferred
Pets
2.
Authority
3.
Award
4.
Best Choice
5.
Big Bet
6.
Big Red
7.
Bloom
8.
Bruiser
9.
Cadillac
10.
Companion
11.
Demoulas Market Basket
12.
Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog
13.
Food Lion
14.
Giant Companion
15.
Great Choice
16.
Hannaford
17.
Hill Country Fare
18.
Hy-Vee
19.
Key Food
20.
Laura Lynn
21.
Loving Meals
22.
Main Choice
23.
Mixables
24.
Nutriplan
25.
Nutro Max
26.
Nutro Natural Choice
27.
Nutro
28.
Ol'Roy
29.
Paws
30.
Pet Essentials
31.
Pet Pride
32.
Presidents Choice
33.
Price Chopper
34.
Priority
35.
Publix
36.
Roche Bros
37.
Save-A-Lot
38.
Schnucks
39.
Springsfield Pride
40.
Sprout
41.
Stater Bros
42.
Total Pet, My True Friend
43.
Western Family
44.
White Rose
45.
Winn Dixie
46.
Your Pet
