WP Article - Criminal Probe Opened in Pet Food Scare

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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)

 

 

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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+Dep\

artment+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.

 

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Dianne

Ravette-Jodevin Collies

Owner/Co-Founder: " _JstSayNo2Vaccs_

(http://tech.jstsayno2vaccs/) " @

Owner/Founder: " _HolisticGroomer_

(http://pets.HolisticGroomer/) " @