Second Pet Food Ingredient Contains Toxic Melamine

With the horrific news in recent weeks regarding pet food in North American, more worrying information about the scandal has come out today.

It is now suspected that another main pet food ingredient provided by producers in China was tampered with so that the company could increase the cost of the deliveries. It is thought that an industrial chemical was added to the food.

This report is coming from the Federal investigators that are looking into what caused dozens of pet food brands in North American to become contaminated and cause serious illness and death of many loved pets.

It is not yet known if the industrial chemical was put into the pet food ingredient by accident or on purpose, but the investigation is going to try its best to determine how it got there.

A senator for Illinois, Democrat Richard J. Durbin is working hard to oversee the pet food investigation. When speaking about the case he said, "It could have been intentional, not accidental. Economic fraud is a theory."

When attempting to uncover that cause of the pet food contamination, the US Food and Drug Administration found melamine. The substance was found in the systems of pets that had died as a result of eating the food. Melamine is a plastic component and it is to safe for this to be included in food. The investigators where able to find that source of the melamine came from a company in China. The first ingredient found to be contaminated was wheat gluten. Now rice proteins from China have been found to contain melamine.

The recent appearance of the chemical appearing in another pet food ingredient today has raised even more concerns and highlighted the fact that pet food is poorly regulated. The chief executive of the Human Society of the United States, Wayne Acelle has said, "This has exposed that the safety standards for pet foods are not in place in any significant way and the kind of drumbeat, day after day, of recalls has shaken consumers' confidence in the pet food industry's adherence to food safety standards."

The second ingredient found to contain the dangerous chemical melamine is rice protein. The US Food and Drug Administration has yet to see any rice protein being provided to companies that produce food for humans, but it did point out that not all of the rice protein imported into the country could be accounted for.

The two poisonous ingredients came from China, but two separate companies supplied them.

Investigations into the issue are not being helped by the Chinese government According to Sen. Durbin, "It troubles me greatly that Chinese are making it more difficult to understand what led to this pet food crisis." The investigators claim that they are having trouble obtaining visas to enter China and visit the companies where the ingredients came from.

As a result of the contaminated rice protein yet another dog food brand is being pulled from the shelves. Natural Balance has now asked that "all its Venison and Brown Rice and bagged dog foods, its Venison and Brown Rice dog treats and its Venison and Green Pea dry cat food.", be pulled from shelves immediately.

The tampering theory is giving a reason for intent by ChemNutra, a Las Vegas based company that imported the contaminated wheat gluten from China. The company "has suggested that spiking a product with melamine can make it to appear to be richer in protein tests, thus increasing its value."

Sources
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.petfood19apr19,0,4141728.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6569998,00.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=3055575