A series of events began in 2004 that rocked the pet food industry in
the United States and as well as many other nations. This chain of
events first became apparent in 2006, and it ultimately resulted in the
deaths of thousands of dogs and cats worldwide. Late that year the
first reports of possible food-related illnesses started trickling in
to a pet food manufacturing plant called Menu
Foods. While Menu Foods was not well-known among pet owners, it was
well-known in the pet food industry because they made products for a
wide variety of companies that produce pet foods including Del Monte,
Sunshine Mills, Purina, Hills, Iams, Nutro, Natural Balance,
Royal Canin and a host of smaller so-called “all-natural” pet food
companies. The illness was a severe and potentially fatal acute renal
failure that was not dissimilar to the acute renal failure caused by
ethylene glycol, commonly known as antifreeze. Much misunderstanding
and mythology still surround what some people still mistakenly call
“wheat gluten toxicity.” As it turns out the problem was not wheat
gluten, which is really nothing more than a vegetable protein source,
but a contaminant that had no business being there in the first place.
Here is what happened.
In December 2006 the first unconfirmed reports were received suggesting
that there might be a problem with some of the products made by Menu
Foods. This was followed two months later by the first deaths due to
an unknown agent in their foods. At about the same time Menu Foods also
performed some regularly scheduled, routine feeding tests. Within
several days some of the test animals began to sicken and one in six
died from acute renal failure. The raw wheat gluten used in the foods
as a vegetable protein source, which had been imported from China, was
suspected. Menu Foods sent samples to the New York State Food
Laboratory, Cornell University, and the FDA
for testing. They also began recalling 60 million units of pet food
and closed down their Kansas production plant. Testing of the wheat
gluten revealed the presence of a contaminant. By April contamination
had also been found in Chinese imports of rice protein concentrate and
corn gluten as well. The recalls were expanded and Menu Foods closed
down their Ontario plant. Reports of pet deaths began to surface in
South Africa and Namibia and by this time more than 3500 pets were dead
in the United States, more cats than dogs.
The contaminant found by testing the samples submitted by Menu Foods
was melamine. Melamine is a plastic used in some cleaners,
countertops, fabrics, glues, flame retardants, and is a byproduct
of certain pesticides and urea (a chemical sometimes used in
fertilizers) and also has other uses. Further, testing ultimately
revealed the presence of a second contaminant, cyanuric acid. Cyanuric
acid is used to stabilize chlorine found in chemicals for pools and
spas. In essence, the contaminant (melamine) was itself contaminated
(by cyanuric acid). Amazingly, neither melamine nor cyanuric acid are
particularly toxic all by themselves. However, when they are
found together and interact to form melamine cyanurate they become
extremely toxic when ingested.
In March 2007 the FDA ceased all imports of
wheat gluten from China. China did not cooperate and did not allow
inspection by FDA investigators for almost a month. By the end of
April the FDA was detaining all vegetable protein imports from China
including wheat, rice, corn, soy, mung beans, and all derivatives of
these including glutens. Finally, China admitted exportation of
melamine-containing wheat gluten, but they provided assurances that
risk was minimal. They then began to investigate their wheat gluten
sources and exports. The contaminated wheat gluten was traced from
Menu Foods to a Las Vegas-based company called ChemNutra, operated by a
Chinese national and her American husband,
and from there it was traced back to two Chinese plants which were
closed down by the Chinese authorities. They denied responsibility.
Why were melamine and cyanuric acid present in the wheat gluten, corn
gluten, and rice protein in the first place? These vegetable products are sold on the
basis of their protein content; the more protein, the higher the
price. However, the protein is not measured directly; it is measured
on the basis of its nitrogen content which is directly proportional to
the total protein content. This is because nitrogen is easier and
cheaper to measure than total protein. Once the nitrogen is measured,
the amount of protein can be extrapolated. As it turns out, melamine
is a high nitrogen molecule. It was added to the vegetable proteins to
increase the nitrogen content which caused the protein content to
appear falsely higher than it really was. This in turn allowed the
manufacturers to charge a higher price for their products.
The Chinese companies did this because melamine was considered to be of
low toxicity. They thought nobody would be harmed and that they were
safe. Unfortunately, they bought such poor quality melamine to add to
the vegetable protein that it was itself contaminated by cyanuric
acid. What they didn't know (nor did anyone else at that time) was
that when melamine and cyanuric acid are brought together, they become
highly toxic.
To continue the story and make it worse.... In late 2007 babies in
China started getting sick. By late 2008 more than 290,000 babies had
been sickened and 51,900 had been hospitalized because of contaminated
milk formula from a company called Sanlu. Interestingly, only three
officially confirmed deaths were reported. Testing of other products
found contamination by melamine in milk candies, cookies, baby food,
sweets, egg powder, and other contaminated animal feeds which resulted
in the deaths of more than 1500 raccoon dogs throughout Asia including
Japan, Indonesia, and Hong Kong.
In China four high ranking Sanlu company officials were sentenced to
life imprisonment. Two men were sentenced to death and have
subsequently been executed. One of the companies involved was fined
$7.3 million dollars and declared bankruptcy. Also, the head of
China's version of the FDA was tried and sentenced to death for
corruption because he had received bribes in excess of $800,000. In
the United States seven people were indicted by the federal government
including the owners of ChemNutra for knowingly delivering adulterated
foods into interstate commerce as well as other charges. While Menu
Foods ultimately suffered financially and in the end was sold to
Simmons Pet Food, no charges were filed against them as there was no
reason to believe that they had any knowledge that the resources
delivered to them by the Chinese companies were tainted.
Unknown to anyone in the United States, until recently, in March 2004
some 3000 dogs in Taiwan died from acute renal failure after eating a
certain brand of dry dog food. When these cases were recently reviewed
and re-examined by American veterinary pathologists after the Menu
Foods disaster, the cause of death was determined to be due to melamine
cyanurate toxicity.
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Source: Information presented by Cathy A. Brown, VMD, PhD, DACVP,
Pathologist & Professor, Pathology Section Head of the Athens
Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at a veterinary continuing education
program offered by the University of Georgia Veterinary Medical
Teaching Hospital on August 29, 2010.
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