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Pet Food Safety Summit Set for July

Safety of Chinese Imports Questioned in Congress

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 15, 2007

• Report Finds Toxins Common in Products for Children, Pets • Feds Bar Teva Animal Health From Selling Veterinary Drugs • FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses • Evidence Destroyed in Menu Foods Case May Hamper Other Lawsuits • Pet Food Class Action Preemptively Thrown Out • More Pet Foods Added to Salmonella Recall • Lawsuits On the Trail of Nutro, Canidae Pet Foods • FDA Halts Illegally Medicated Animal Feed • Pet Owners Warned about Chicken Jerky Products • Mars Extends Pet Food Recall; More Salmonella Found • Mars Recalls Cat Food Sold at Wal-Mart due to Salmonella • Hartz Recalls Rawhide Chips After Possible Salmonella Contamination • Pet Owners Eligible For $24 Million in Landmark Melamine Settlement • Internet Rumor Claims Cocoa Mulch Causes Dog Deaths • Mars Recalls More Pet Food; Possible Salmonella Contamination • 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 --- • More about Pet Food Recalls ...

The company that imported melamine-tainted ingredients linked to the deaths of thousands of dogs and cats nationwide called today for a national Pet Food Ingredients Safety Summit.

ChemNutra, of Las Vegas, said it wants manufacturers, ingredient importers, and analysis laboratories to work together at the summit -- tentatively set for July 14, 2007 in Las Vegas -- on import standards and specifications for pet food ingredients from China and around the world.

“Just as E. coli incidents have forced retailers and restaurateurs to get more directly involved with ensuring the safety of growers, the melamine adulteration of pet food mandates that importers and manufacturers establish new protocols for ensuring the safety of our suppliers,” ChemNutra’s CEO, Steve Miller, said in a written statement.

“I am hopeful that those who import and use imported pet food ingredients will set aside any competitive differences we may have to unite for what I know is a common purpose, the safety of pets."

Since March, 18 companies have recalled more than 5,600 pet food products because they contained imported and mislabeled ingredients tainted with melamine and melamine-related derivatives.

Melamine is a chemical used in plastics and fertilizers. It is not approved for use in pet or human food.

Importers originally thought those ingredients were wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate.

But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has since learned those tainted ingredients were wheat flour — intentionally spiked with melamine to give a higher protein count.

Two Chinese companies exported those tainted ingredients to the United States -- Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. and Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd.

U.S. food inspectors sent to China to investigate the companies discovered last week that both manufacturers had closed and all their equipment was dismantled.

“We visited the two facilities, but there's essentially nothing to be found in that they are currently closed down, not operating,” Walter Batts, deputy director of the FDA’s Office of International Programs, told reporters. “There's essentially nothing, as they have determined, that is available to be seen at the facilities. They've been closed down, machinery dismantled, nothing to really get access to.”

The FDA also confirmed that China detained the manager of one of those companies – Mao Lijun of Xuzhou Anying.

The Los Angels Times reported that Mao Lijun’s factory has sickened people and plants for years.

“Farmers in this poor rural area about 400 miles northwest of Shanghai had complained to local government officials since 2004 that Mao's factory was spewing noxious fumes that made their eyes tear up and the poplar trees nearby shed their leaves prematurely,” the paper reported.

“Yet no one stopped Mao's company from churning out bags of food powders and belching smoke — until one day last month when, in the middle of the night, bulldozers arrived and tore down the facility.

The story added, “It wasn't authorities that finally acted: Mao himself razed the brick factory — days before the investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration arrived in China on a mission to track down the source of the tainted pet food ingredients.”

And those tainted ingredients haven’t just shown up in pet food. They’ve made their way into feed for pigs, chicken, and fish.

FDA officials, however, say the risk to humans who eat meat from these farm animals and fish is minimal.

Congressional Concern

Meanwhile in Congress, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have asked the country’s trade representative to examine America’s trade relationship with China.

"There is significant evidence that China is failing to meet international food safety standards -- from deceptive labeling and intentional contamination of products to unsanitary conditions,” DeLauro said in a written statement.

“In a modern, globalized food supply system significant amounts of food imports are a reality. And the Chinese need to be aware that their regulations need to be strengthened because trade should not trump public health."

In a letter to Ambassador Susan Schwab, the United States Trade Representative, Durbin and DeLauro, wrote: “The safety of food imports from China extends beyond the pet food recall. China is especially poor at meeting international food safety standards, which is particularly disturbing considering that China exported approximately $2.26 billion in agricultural products to the United States in 2006.

"A recent news article noted that, in February, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) blocked the entry of several food products from China because they contained banned additives, were tainted by pesticides or were contaminated with salmonella. Some products were simply unsanitary.”

Durbin and DeLauro asked Ambassador Schwab to answer two specific questions:

• What sanitary measures are included in current free trade agreements and other permanent trade relations in which the United States is currently engaged?

• What legal recourse does the United States possess with respect to imported food products that pose a threat to public health, in the event that the country where the offending product originated is not cooperative?

"Not that long ago, the vast majority of products at the local grocery store were from domestic manufacturers, and subject to standard regulations,” Sen. Durbin said. “Today, an increasing amount of our food, food additives, and over-the-counter drugs are imported from other countries -- where the laws governing food and drug safety are often lax or entirely absent.

"Fewer than one in 50 food products from overseas are inspected. Those are poor odds for any bet, and not a risk American families should have to take."

Meanwhile, the massive pet food recall sparked increased traffic and interest in pet-related Web sites.

Nielsen//NetRatings, a Internet media and market research company, said Monday that Web traffic to pet-related sites grew 115 percent in March over the previous month--from 9.1 million visitors to 19.5 million.

The company said worried pet owners flocked to online sites to learn more about that products affected by the nationwide recall of dog and cat foods.

More about the Pet Food Recall ...

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