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Spiked Pet Food Nothing New to Chinese, Times Finds

Latest Recalls: Harmony Farms, Natural Balance

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 1, 2007

• RECALL LIST • Consumer Complaints --- News • Mars Petcare Recalls Some Pedigree Dog Food • Expert Finds Unexplained Pet Deaths 'Not Consistent' • Illness, Death Dog Nutro Pet Food • Feds Raid PETCO Warehouse in Illinois • Pet Owners Not Thrilled with Poison Food Settlement • CDC Links 2006 Salmonella Outbreak to Dog Food • FDA Orders Illinois Pet Food Maker to Clean Up Its Act • String of Illnesses Afflicts NUTRO-Fed Pets • Pet Owners Not Thrilled with Poisoning Settlement • Menu Foods Settles Pet Food Class Action • Many Pet Foods Still Missing From Store Shelves • Pet Owners Cheer Indictments in Toxic Pet Food Case • Indictments in Toxic Pet Food Case • Diamond Pet Foods Agrees To $3.1 Million Settlement • Tests Find More Toxic Pet Toys • Finding Safe Toys to Give Your Pet • China Agrees to Stepped-Up Food, Drug Inspections • Menu Foods Denies Acetaminophen Found in its Cat Food • Veterinarians Solve Pet Food Death Puzzle • Menu Foods Agrees to Test for Pain Killer in its Cat Food • Lab Tests Again Find Acetaminophen in Pet Food • Toxic Pet Toys: A Doctor's Advice • Consumers Respond to Toxic Wal-Mart Pet Toy Stories • Federal Import Safety Panel Outlines Proposals • Pet Industry Agrees on Need for Toxicity Standards • Industry Responds to Reports of Lead in Wal-Mart Pet Toys • Wal-Mart Attacks Lab Tests that Found Lead, Chromium in Pet Toys • Wal-Mart Reviewing Results of Tests on China-Made Pet Toys • Lab Tests Find Lead, Other Toxins in Pet Toys Sold at Wal-Mart • CANIDAE Denies Reports of Painkiller in its Pet Food • Lab Tests Find Painkiller in Samples of Pet Food • Purina Denies Claim on Bichon Frise Deaths • FDA Blocks Nutro Pet Food Shipment from Entering U.S. • FDA Testing Dog Treats Pulled from Wal-Mart Shelves • Wal-Mart Finds Melamine in Chinese-Made Dog Treats --- • More about Pet Food Recalls ...

Entrepreneurs in China have -- for years -- secretly added the chemical at the heart of the nationwide pet food recall into animal feed in that country.

It’s been done to artificially inflate the protein levels in the feed. That’s the startling discovery made by reporters for The New York Times.

The Times reported that powdery scraps of melamine -- a chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers -- were secretly mixed into animal feed in China.

“The melamine powder has been dubbed ‘fake protein’ and is used to deceive those who raise animals into thinking they are buying feed that provides higher nutritional value,” The Times reported.

The newspaper also said the practice is widespread in China, which has little regulatory supervision.

Now the question is: Did the Chinese companies that supplied the wheat gluten and rice protein used in pet foods in America follow this same practice?

Did those companies intentionally spike these ingredients with melamine to dupe U.S. importers that the products had higher protein contents?

U.S. food inspectors heading to China this week will try to answer those questions when they examine the facilities that manufactured these tainted ingredients, which are linked to the illnesses and deaths of scores of pets in the Unites States, Puerto Rico, and South Africa.

The president of Menu Foods -- the first of several companies to recall pet foods -- is convinced that’s what happened.

“What this appears to be is a case of deliberate contamination of wheat gluten in order to pass off substandard products,” the company’s Paul Henderson told a U.S. House committee last week. Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of pet in March after learning dogs and cats suffered kidney problems or died after eating the foods.

“For a seller who knows how industry testing methods work, this would allow them to cheat the buyers,” Henderson said.

The Chinese government disputes reports that melamine-tainted products from its country caused pets to die. But on Friday, that country banned the use of melamine in wheat gluten, rice protein, and other vegetable proteins exported from China or used in domestic food supplies.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says the California company that imported tainted rice gluten from China has done business with that overseas supplier since August 2006. Wilber-Ellis, however, says it did not learn the products were tainted until this month.

Swimming Pool Chemical

FDA officials confirmed the rice protein is contaminated with melamine and a second chemical — cyanuric acid.

That second contaminant -- detected in the rice protein and wheat gluten in some pet foods -- is used to boost the protein content of foods, FDA officials said. It’s also a stabilizer in outdoor swimming pools and hot tubs.

"The combination of melamine and cyanuric acid is of concern to human and animal health," said Captain David Elder, director of the FDA's Office of Enforcement Office of Regulatory Affairs. "Melamine, at detected levels, is not a human health concern.”

Meanwhile, the FDA is tracing all the pet food and animal feed made with the rice protein Wilbur-Ellis has imported since August 2006.

More Recalls

As the investigation continues, so do the recalls. Two more pet food companies have recalled their products because they may contain adulterated rice protein imported from China.

And that tainted ingredient, the companies say, was added without their consent.

Sierra Pet Products recalled its Harmony Farms canned dog and cat foods and Health Bar biscuits.

“The manufacturer of all Harmony Farms cans and biscuits informed (us) that they had been adding rice protein concentrate to Harmony Farms canned dog and cat foods without (our) approval,” Sierra Pet Products said on its Web site.

The company added: “It appears that American Nutrition, Inc. (ANI) had been adding the unauthorized rice protein concentrate to Harmony Farms products for some time and only told (us) when the FDA was about to conclude that some of ANI’s rice protein concentrate (supplied by Wilber-Ellis) was contaminated with melamine.”

Sierra Pet Products said it has stopped doing business with ANI. The company also said none of its products have tested positive for melamine and it has not received any reports of illnesses linked to its foods.

“We intend to re-introduce our canned products and dog biscuits as soon as we can obtain a manufacturing partner who shares our values of honesty and integrity,” the company said.

Natural Balance Pet Foods also recalled more of its food after learning ANI added potentially-tainted rice protein to four of its canned products—without the company’s knowledge or consent.

Those recalled products are:
• Chicken Formula Canned Dog Food 13 oz;
• Lamb Formula Canned Dog Food 13 oz;
• Beef Formula Canned Dog Food 13 oz;
• Ocean Fish Formula Canned Cat Food 3 oz & 6 oz

Natural Balance says there are no reports of illnesses linked to these foods.

“To make sure that this does not happen in the future, we are demanding from each of our co-manufacturers daily production record of all of our formulas before they are shipped to us and written certification of NO rice protein or any deviation of our formulas,” the company wrote on its Web site.

“We have reviewed all of our other products and determined that they are free of rice protein concentrate and that all of our other product labels are accurate.”

Service Dog

Spencer

News of any Natural Balance recall strikes a frightening chord with Laura F. of Lakeport, California.

Her survival, she says, depends on the health and safety of her dog, Spencer.

The seven-year-old Standard Poodle is a specially-trained service dog, who helped her learn how to walk after a debilitating back injury.

“He goes everywhere with me,” the Lakeport, California, woman says. “He picks up things for me and helps me with my stability…he gives me an extra four legs.”

That’s why she panicked when Spencer became sick earlier this month after eating a new bag of Natural Balance Venison and Brown Rice dog food.

“He started throwing up and continued to throw up for two days in a row,” Laura says. “He just had a hard time keeping food down.”

Her fears increased when she learned Natural Balance had recalled its Venison and Brown Rice formula for dogs because it was made with potentially contaminated rice gluten.

“I was very, very frightened. If I didn’t have a service dog, I don’t know what I’d do. Spencer is so important to me.”

Laura immediately took the 60-pound service dog to her veterinarian’s office.

“They ran some blood tests on him and he’s fine,” she says. “But how do I test for melamine in my dog’s body? Does it show up in three days, a month…I still don’t know.”

Spencer, who is also a trained therapy dog, is now eating another brand of Natural Balance — one that’s not on the recall list.

“And that’s working out OK. He hasn’t thrown up since.”

Of the entire pet food recall, Laura says: “I think it’s awful and it’s very frightening for people. Why don’t the manufacturers know what’s going into their foods and why isn’t the food being tested as well as it should be?”

Something positive, however, may come from this crisis, Laura says.

“In the long run, I think more testing will be involved and there will be more scrutiny by pet food companies about what they put into their foods.”

She adds: “I just hope this will all be over soon.”

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