The Pet Food Bible Blog

It seems like everyday new information is released about the recent pet food recall. Let’s recap what’s happened so far.

–>On March 16th, Menu Foods, Inc. recalled dog and cat foods produced at its facilities in Emporia, Kansas and Pennsauken, New Jersey between December 3, 2006 and March 6, 2007. A full listing of all the recalled products can be found at http://www.menufoods.com/recall

–>On March 16th, Nestle’ Purina PetCare voluntarily recalled its 5.3 oz Mighty Dog pouch products that were produced by Menu Foods from December through March. On March 30th, they also recalled all sizes and varieties of its Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy wet food. For complete information please visit http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/purina203_07.html or http://www.purina.com

–>On March 30th, Hill’s Pet Nutrition recalled Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry food. This cat food is sold only through veterinarians. Consumers can contact Hill’s for more information. http://www.hillspet.com

–>On March 31th, Del Monte Pet Products recalled a selection of its pet treat products sold under Jerky Treats, Gravy Train Beef Sticks and Pounce Meaty Morsels along with other dog snacks and and wet dog food products. A complete list can be found at http://www.delmonte.com/petfoodrecall.html

The general consensus is that something is wrong with the wheat gluten in these products. For now I would not purchase ANY pet food product that contains wheat gluten in the ingredient list just to be safe, even if the product is not currently on any recall lists. It’s possible that the contaminated wheat gluten has been used in the production of other pet foods. The current thinking is that a substance known as melamine is the causative agent, but research is still underway to determine if other substances are present.

What is wheat gluten?

Wheat gluten is basically the same as wheat protein. It’s a mixture of two different proteins, gliadin and glutenin. When the flour of wheat is washed to remove the starch, what’s left over is gluten. Gluten gives dough its tough and elastic character. Wheat gluten is not typically associated with food contamination and has been used safely in pet foods for decades.

One use of wheat gluten is to bind ingredients and help form cutlet shapes in wet-style and cuts-and-gravy-type pet foods. It is also used to help thicken pet food “gravy.” Wheat gluten also has uses in human food products as a stabilizer or thickener.

Where did the contaminated wheat gluten come from?

Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development, of China

Is the human food supply affected with contaminated wheat gluten?

According to the FDA, records obtained during investigations reveal that all wheat gluten purchased from the suspect Chinese supplier were purchased by a U.S. firm that supplies ingredients to pet food companies. Who was that U.S. firm??? I don’t know. If anyone knows please let me know and I’ll post that information here also. At this time there is no evidence to suggest that any of the contaminated wheat gluten has entered the human food supply.

What is melamine?

Melamine is a nitrogen-containing compound that has a number of industrial uses which include a binding agent (hey isn’t that what gluten does?), and flame retardant. It’s also used in the manufacturing of cooking utensils and plates. In some parts of the world melamine is used as a fertilizer but is not registered for that use in the United States.

Melamine has not been documented as being highly toxic, but may be a marker for something else in the gluten.

What about the aminopterin?

The FDA has not been able to replicate the detection of aminopterin in the samples it has tested. It is unknown how the two labs in New York were able to detect that substance but it has not been confirmed by any other testing laboratory. It is still a significant finding, however.
Rat poison is simply not a substance that should EVER be detected in pet food.

Why do we need to import wheat gluten from China?

Apparently, North America doesn’t produce enough to meet its own demands.