Newswise — The incidents of pet food contaminated with melamine contained in wheat gluten imported from China have now spread into pig feed. Dr. Gary Weaver, DVM, Director of the Program on Agriculture and Animal Health Policy for the University of Maryland's Center for Food, Nutrition, and Agriculture Policy (CFNAP), explains why contaminations are likely to continue and what should be done to improve U.S. oversight of imported animal and human food ingredients. Key quotes:
"Uncontrolled distribution of low-quality, imported food ingredients is a great threat to US public health."
-"The US has very little direct, hands-on control over our pet food industry.Incidents like the recent events probably will continue to happen until the US effectively overhauls our food safety programs."
-"FDA appears to be some 30 years behind as they use pre-global economy border food inspection strategies in our new global economy world of massive international food trade from many countries with food safety standards much lower than ours."
-"Unscrupulous people know that adding the industrial chemical, melamine to food products and ingredients can make that food product and ingredient test as having a higher protein content."
-"Billions of dollars' worth of foreign ingredients that Americans eat in everything from salad dressing to ice cream get a pass from overwhelmed FDA inspectors, despite a rising tide of these imports from countries with spotty food safety records."
How did melamine get into animal food?
Several hundred tons of melamine-contaminated wheat gluten was purchased by an import company in Nevada from a Chinese middleman animal feed exporter in China. This Chinese animal feed exporter mixed together multiple batches of wheat gluten that had been purchased from several unidentified wheat gluten producers in China.
The Nevada US import company imported the melamine-contaminated wheat gluten and then sold it to several pet food manufacturers including the Canadian firm, Menu Foods, which manufactures for 100 brand names sold in Canada, the US, and Mexico.
Chinese officials have since told the FDA that these several hundred tons of Chinese wheat gluten was solely intended for industrial use. It was never meant for animal or human consumption as food. Later, Chinese officials told the FDA that they never sold any wheat gluten to the US. For weeks, China has yet to provide FDA investigators visas to visit the suspected Chinese facilities that reportedly sold the melamine-contaminated wheat gluten to the Nevada US importer. The FDA reported on April 18, 2007 that rice protein concentrate used in as-yet- unrecalled US pet food brands is also melamine-contaminated.
Why wasn't the wheat gluten screened for toxic substances?
Historically, FDA does not routinely screen food ingredients like wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate because they have not usually been contaminated. Also, FDA focuses on microbial " not chemical " contamination of food products and ingredients.
US experts say there are many other potential food ingredient melamine-tampering targets for unscrupulous sellers including whey protein isolates, soy protein isolates, soy protein concentrate, soy grits and soy lecithin.
How can something like this happen?
The US imports many food products and ingredients including cheap wheat gluten from the global marketplace where food safety standards are oftentimes lower than what Americans are accustomed to and will accept. Many of these imported food products and ingredients can and do change ownership many times far away in distant lands before arriving in the US Many of these particular food products and ingredients are virtually untraceable once things go wrong here in the US All pet food ingredients are priced based upon their protein levels. Unscrupulous people know that adding the industrial chemical, melamine to food products and ingredients can make that food product and ingredient test as having a higher protein content.
The sole source Chinese animal feed exporter for the several hundred tons of melamine-contaminated wheat gluten had substantial melamine stores on hand at its animal feed business and was actively advertising on the Internet to buy even more "scrap melamine" .
The FDA considers both wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate melamine-contaminations as aberrations because the food ingredients wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate historically been usually contaminant-free.
What controls does the US have over pet foods?
The US has very little direct, hands-on control over our pet food industry.Less than one-third of US pet food processors have been inspected by the FDA once in the last 3 ½ years. Product safety is primarily the responsibility of the regulated company. Each company informs the FDA when it believes that their company pet food may have been compromised. The FDA then has the opportunity to react to the private company's voiced concerns.
Could this happen again in the US?
Yes, and it probably will continue to happen until the US effectively overhauls our food safety programs. US officials oftentimes cannot trace imported food ingredients such as wheat gluten, rice protein concentrate, and corn gluten to their manufacturers. The Bioterrorism Prevention Act of 2001 is supposed to somewhat improve traceability here, but has proven ineffective so far. It was never intended for this challenge, plus the Department of Homeland Security shrouds its enforcement in secrecy.
Is wheat gluten in human food products?
Wheat gluten (aka "wheat meat" , "gluten" or "seitan" ) is a vegetable protein source used in some pet foods and in many human foods. Cooked wheat gluten is very similar in texture and appearance to meat. Asian restaurants serve cooked wheat gluten as a "mock meat" . It is also the base of commercial foods such as the vegetarian "fake meat" Tofurky first marketed in the US in 1955. Wheat gluten is also used in many human food products because wheat gluten binds together chicken nuggets, turkey burgers, imitation crabmeat, etc. Americans also use wheat gluten to manufacture shampoos and those disposal, biodegradable, combination "spoon-forks" , aka "sporks" .
Could this melamine-contaminated wheat gluten make a child or adult ill?
No one knows if the melamine-contaminated wheat gluten and/or the melamine-contaminated rice protein concentrate would acutely sickened young and/or old people or cause any subclinical and/or long-term harm(s). Very little is known about any harm melamine might cause in animals let alone people. FDA scientists recently found only one published melamine toxicology study " and that looked for melamine toxic effects in a few dogs back in 1945.
How difficult is it for imported human and pet food ingredients to get into the US?
FDA 2006 records reflect that unless there is a known problem with an import, FDA inspectors quickly allows it into the US Once other sectors of society identify a food ingredient as a public health risk, then the FDA can quickly respond by temporarily shifting some of its limited resources from elsewhere.
What controls does the US have over many human food imports?
Even though the FDA believes it now has better control than a few years ago, it remains largely the US importer's responsibility to make sure their products are safe.
Billions of dollars' worth of foreign ingredients that Americans eat in everything from salad dressing to ice cream get a pass from overwhelmed FDA inspectors, despite a rising tide of these imports from countries with spotty food safety records.
The US will import a record $70 billion of agricultural products for the 12 months ending in September, 2007. This is about double the nearly $36 billion imported in 1997.
Even as the amount of imported food increased, the percentage of FDA inspections declined from 1.8 % in 2003 to 1.3 % in 2007. They are expected to fall even further to 1.1 % in 2008.
Should the US be doing more to monitor imported food ingredients?
The FDA is grossly under-funded and under-staffed to adequately protect American human and animal food supplies. FDA appears to be some 30 years behind as they use pre-global economy border food inspection strategies in our new global economy world of massive international food trade from many countries with food safety standards much lower than ours. Quality control and food safety is left primarily to American buyers and their suppliers. Problems experienced here risk consumer health problems, devastated brands, and of course swift civil litigation.
The Congress should adequately increase FDA's regulatory authority, budget, and workforce so that the FDA can properly protect all of the US food supply. Currently FDA lacks authority to force a disclosure, a recall, or a plant closure except with extreme circumstances including FDA personnel actually finding a hazardous batch of product.
Every pet food manufacturer with US sales should test all of their ingredients for melamine. Unscrupulous sellers who place a toxic chemical (such as melamine) into an otherwise trusted and familiar product (including wheat gluten) could do great damage before it is detected and the FDA becomes involved in its historically limited ways.
What can pet owners do to avoid melamine-contaminated pet foods?
For now, pet owners can either purchase only those premium pet foods not yet recalled or make their own pet foods until the melamine-contaminated pet food is purged from the US pet food supply. Responsible pet food cooking instructions are available on the Internet. The US, melamine-contaminated rice protein concentrate, importer Wilbur-Ellis Company recalled all of the ingredient distributed to five US pet food manufacturers. Wilbur-Ellis Company also urged its customers to recall any potentially melamine-contaminated pet food that may be on store shelves. Initially, just two of the five companies did. FDA officials will not release the names of the other two manufacturers until the companies independently announce publicly that their pet foods may have been compromised.
Why are pet food recalls important to the bigger food safety picture?
Uncontrolled distribution of low-quality, imported food ingredients is a great threat to US public health. These large pet food recalls are important because they provide insight into how the FDA handles a new contaminant in imported food not only for animals but also for people. The FDA received more 15,000 calls since the first pet food recall was announced about five weeks ago. This is more than all of the calls for all of the topics the FDA received during the last two years.
What do you think will happen as a result of these pet food contamination incidents?
Most likely, multiple US companies will sustain substantial financial damages caused by paying the monetary awards from these dozen or more federal, class-action, civil lawsuits. Some companies and a few individuals face financial ruin. The preferred endpoint here that supports the "Public Good" is that US companies in the future will realize it is a better business decision (because it is cheaper) to restrict themselves to only good behavior that affords their customers more protection.
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