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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has identified the Chinese company that it said supplied the contaminated ingredient used in now-recalled pet foods that has sickened and killed thousands of animals nationwide.
The FDA ordered "detention without examination" of wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd., which is based in Jiangsu province. Xuzhou Anying's wheat gluten contains melamine, which is described as a poisonous or injurious substance and an unsafe food additive, according to an import notice issued Friday by the FDA.
Xuzhou Anying officials who speak English could not be reached for comment Sunday evening, and translators were unavailable.
The FDA import notice said all wheat gluten from China and the Netherlands is to be inspected. The Netherlands is included in the order because Chinese wheat gluten is shipped through that country, it said.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review was the first to report that the FDA found melamine, a chemical commonly used in plastics and household textiles, in the recalled pet food and in one of its main ingredients -- wheat gluten. Melamine also was found in the blood, urine and kidney tissues of animals who became sick or died after eating the food, FDA officials announced.
FDA officials said Friday the contaminated ingredient came from China but declined to identify the company publicly. They said all wheat gluten from China was being inspected at U.S. ports but made no mention of the Netherlands.
The same day, the agency issued the import notice saying Xuzhou Anying's wheat gluten contains melamine and described it as a poisonous or injurious substance and an unsafe food additive.
Xuzhou Anying is a research, manufacturing, distribution and export company founded in 1995, according to its Web site, www.xzay.com.
"Our company sticks to the tenet of 'Sincere and Keeping Promise' and 'Putting Quality at the First Place,' " the company said. "Our products are favored by customers home and abroad because (of) the stable quality and innovative technology."
Xuzhou Anying has annual sales between $2.5 million and $5 million and has 50 to 100 employees, according to its profile on Alibaba.com, a China-based e-commerce Web site.
The company advertises that its wheat gluten, which it also calls "wheat vital protein," makes food look, smell and taste good.
On March 16, Ontario, Canada-based Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans and pouches of "cuts and gravy" style pet food, sold under nearly 100 brand names. Much of it was manufactured in the United States. On Friday, the company said it has received more than 300,000 calls to its hot line from concerned pet owners and those reporting pets who were sick or died of kidney failure, although it could not provide a breakdown.
On Friday, Hills Pet Nutrition Inc. recalled one type of dry cat food -- Prescription Diet m/d Feline -- saying a potentially contaminated ingredient used by Menu Foods was used in that product. That triggered more fears among pet owners that other dry cat and dog foods could be at risk as well, although no others have been recalled.
To have its wheat gluten imported to the United States again, Xuzhou Anying must show it has corrected the problem and describe what steps it is taking to keep it from happening again, according to the import notice said. The notice specifically requests that the company provide results of its internal investigation into the melamine contamination and documents detailing corrective actions.
Five shipments of wheat gluten uncontaminated by melamine must pass third-party laboratory analysis before the FDA will consider releasing the detention order, according to the notice.
Neither the FDA nor independent scientists can say how -- or even if -- the melamine has sickened and killed cats and dogs.
Two studies -- one in which it was fed to dogs and another in which the chemical was injected into cats -- were done many years ago, and none of the animals got sick, although one dog stopped eating, said Dr. Richard Goldstein, associate professor of medicine at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine and a kidney specialist who is researching the outbreak's health impact on pets.
The dogs' kidneys were not damaged, but the cats' kidneys were not examined in those studies, he said.
Rats that were fed large amounts of melamine for six months developed bladder stones and, in some cases, bladder cancer caused by those stones, he said. He said he does not think that study is relevant to the current outbreak.
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