identifying the one company in China that produced this material." We were in the plant on the morning of March 16, and since then we have had more than 400 people working on this issue virtually around the clock. Responding on Friday, Sundlof said, "We learned of the pet food recall from the company, Menu Foods, on the evening of March 15. The uncertainty about what is safe to feed their pets has gone on far too long." ( Watch Durbin call response to pet food recall 'a failure' ) "The FDA's response to this situation has been tragically slow," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, told reporters in Chicago. The Senate's second-ranking Democrat announced Thursday the Senate will hold hearings on the FDA's handling of the recall. ( Watch people whose pets died describe what happened ) The recalled food has been linked to kidney failure in an undetermined number of dogs and cats. "We are focusing on the melamine right now because we believe that, even if melamine is not the causative agent, it is somehow associated with the causative agent, so it serves as a marker," Sundlof said Thursday. "Melamine is not very toxic as a chemical, so we're wondering why we are seeing the kinds of serious conditions, especially the kidney failure, that we're seeing in cats and dogs," he said.
The FDA has found melamine, a component of fertilizers and plastic utensils, in the gluten, but that may not be the culprit, said Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. Sundlof said the agency is virtually sure the animal deaths linked to tainted pet food were caused by something that contaminated the wheat gluten, a normal ingredient of the food. But that's just one theory at this point." ( Watch theory about why anyone would deliberately adulterate pet food ) "Wheat gluten is a high-protein substance and by trying to artificially inflate the protein level, it could command a higher price. "Somebody may have added melamine to the wheat gluten in order to increase what appears to be the protein level," the FDA's Stephen Sundlof told CNN on Friday. (CNN) - Contaminants that led to a massive recall of pet food could have been added intentionally, according to one theory being considered by the Food and Drug Administration.
0 kommentar(er)
