now in human food
Kirk
WP Article - "Criminal Probe Opened in Pet Food Scare"
This article can be found online at:
_http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR20070420020
16_pf.html_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002016_pf.html)
* * * * * * * *Begin Article* * * * * * * *
Criminal Probe Opened in Pet Food Scare
FDA Says Charges Possible; Tainted Pork Confirmed in Calif.
By _Patricia Sullivan_
(http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/patricia+sullivan/)
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 21, 2007; Page A10
The _Food and Drug Administration_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?subject=U.S.+Food+and+Drug+Administration)
has opened a
criminal investigation in the widening pet food contamination scandal,
officials
said yesterday, as it was confirmed that tainted pork might have made its way
onto human dinner plates in California.
More than 100 hogs that ate contaminated food at a custom slaughterhouse in
_California_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?subject=California)
's Central Valley were sold to private individuals and to an
unnamed licensed facility in Northern California during the past 2 1/2 weeks.
The
hogs consumed feed that contained rice protein tainted with melamine, the
industrial chemical that has sickened and killed dogs and cats around the world.
Almost a dozen companies have found that they have used melamine-contaminated
ingredients from _China_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?subject=China) in
their animal foods, either wheat gluten, corn gluten
or rice protein concentrate. In the _United States_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?subject=United+States)
, more than 60 million
containers of cat and dog food have been pulled from the market in the past
five weeks.
People who bought pork from the American Hog Farm, a 1,500-animal facility in
_Ceres_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?subject=Ceres) ,
Calif., between April 3 and April 18 are being advised not to eat the
meat, California health officials said yesterday, although there have been no
reports of illness in either people or the hogs. Authorities are tracking down
all the purchasers.
"We are making the recommendation out of a preponderance of caution," said
Kevin Reilly of the _California Department of Health Services_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?subject=California+Department+of+Healt
h+Services) . "The risk is minimal, but the investigation is very early on."
Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said
criminal charges are a possibility, but he declined to say whether there is
reason to believe any individual or organization intentionally adulterated pet
food.
Late Thursday, _Royal Canin USA_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?subject=Royal+Canin+SA)
became the most recent company to
recall pet foods. Some of its brands were contaminated with rice protein
concentrate. Its _South African_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?subject=South+Africa)
subsidiary said contaminated corn gluten had been
linked to the deaths of 30 pets there.
Five companies received the contaminated Chinese rice protein concentrate.
Three firms have identified themselves by announcing recalls; the other two are
not publicly known because the FDA will not name them until the companies say
they used contaminants in their products.
More than six other companies, some of which make pet food under a variety of
labels, have announced recalls because melamine-contaminated wheat gluten was
used in their products, starting with a March 16 recall. Wheat gluten is by
far the larger ingredient in American pet food, the FDA said.
Although Banfield Pet Hospitals, a large nationwide chain, is working with
the FDA to develop a tally of how many pets have died because of melamine in
their foods, the company would not say what their survey shows. The FDA will
say
only that more than 16 cats and dogs have died; other reports from _Oregon_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?subject=Oregon) and
_Michigan_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/related-topics.html?subject=Michigan)
veterinarians alone put the confirmed toll at 96.
* * * * * * * *End Article* * * * * * * *
Dianne
Ravette-Jodevin Collies
Owner/Co-Founder: "_JstSayNo2Vaccs_
(http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/jstsayno2vaccs/) " @ yahoogroups.com
Owner/Founder: "_HolisticGroomer_
(http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/HolisticGroomer/) " @ yahoogroups.com
---------------------------------
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