Friday, March 30, 2007

Melamine Found in Recalled Pet Food

The Food and Drug Administration has released the results of their testing of samples of contaminated pet food that was recalled by Menu Foods earlier this month.  Here is a synopsis of the FDA’s results:

• The FDA found melamine in samples of the recalled pet food.  Melamine is a chemical used to make plastics.  It is also used as a fertilizer in Asia.
• Melamine was also detected in the wheat gluten used as an ingredient in the tainted pet food.
• FDA Officials confirmed that the contaminated wheat gluten was also shipped to a company that manufacturers dry pet food.  The FDA Officials will not release the name of the company at this time as they cannot confirm if the company has used the wheat gluten.
• Melamine was detected in the urine of cats that got sick after eating the recalled food and it was also found in the urine of one cat that died as a result of eating the tainted food.
• Scientists do not have enough data on mammalian toxicity levels of melamine to conclude it caused the death or sickness of pets eating the contaminated food
• FDA scientists did not find evidence of aminopterin in the samples they tested.  Scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory found aminopterin in the samples they tested.