FDA names cause of bad pet food

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration has identified contaminated wheat gluten from China as the likely cause of poisoned pet food that has sickened a number of dogs and cats, and the agency is investigating to determine whether dry pet foods have also been affected, officials said Friday.

Friday evening, Hill's Pet Nutrition recalled its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food but said none of its other products — marketed as Hill's Prescription Diet or Science Diet — was affected or used wheat gluten.

In a news conference, Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said the FDA and independent laboratories have found a chemical called melamine in pet-food samples, imported wheat gluten and urine and tissue from diseased pets. He said melamine is used in fertilizer in Asia and in plastic products but is not registered as a fertilizer in the United States.

Melamine is a polymer that is a familiar ingredient in plastic-coated cabinetry and plastic dishes.

The FDA was working to rule out the possibility that the contaminated wheat gluten could have made it into human food. However, melamine is toxic only in high doses, experts said, leaving its role in the pet deaths unclear.

Sundlof and FDA investigative officials said a company that was found to have imported the contaminated wheat gluten manufactures dry pet food as well as "wet" or "moist" food similar to that previously identified as the source of the illnesses. However, they said, investigators have not yet determined whether any of the wheat gluten has been used in any dry pet food.

The officials declined to name the pet-food company or the supplier pending the outcome of the investigation.

Information:

FDA's pet-food Web site: www.fda.gov/cvm/petfoods.htm

List of all recalled Menu Foods items: tinyurl.com/2pn6mm

Menu Foods recall phone numbers:

866-463-6738 and 866-895-2708

The FDA previously was focusing on "cuts-and-gravy" pet food manufactured by Ontario-based Menu Foods, which earlier this month recalled more than 60 million cans and pouches sold under 53 dog-food brand names and 42 cat brands. But the Hill's dry cat food recalled Friday included wheat gluten from the same supplier that Menu Foods used, The Associated Press reported.

The cuts-and-gravy dog and cat food subject to the earlier recall was produced at the Menu Foods plant in Emporia, Kan., between Dec. 3, 2006, and March 6, 2007. The products are sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Paul Henderson, CEO of Menu Foods, offered assurances that "the pet food we manufactured after March 6 is safe and healthy." He said it contains no melamine and none of the suspect wheat gluten, which is used to thicken the gravy in the company's pet foods.

Henderson said Menu Foods has dropped the imported wheat gluten's supplier, which he declined to identify.

He also promised that pet owners would be compensated for veterinary bills and the deaths of any pets.

Sundlof and Donald Smith, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, told the news conference that their testing has not been able to confirm the previously suspected culprit in the poisoned pet food: a toxin known as aminopterin that is used in China and other Asian countries to kill rats but is not permitted for such use in the United States.

It is not clear how many pets may have been poisoned by the apparently contaminated food, although anecdotal reports suggest hundreds, if not thousands, have died. The FDA has received more than 8,000 complaints, many from owners who said they fed their pets only dry food, Sundlof said. Menu Foods has received more than 300,000. Pressed by reporters on what advice the agency has for worried pet owners, Sundlof said, "We want to encourage the public to continue to use pet food that is not subject to the recall." He referred consumers to recall information on the FDA's Web site.

However, he acknowledged that it is "possible" pet owners could still be feeding their animals bad food even if they discard the recalled brands.

"This is very early" in the investigation, Sundlof said. "It may turn out that the shipment we know went to one manufacturer of dry dog food was not even used in the pet food."

The agency urged pet owners to consult with their veterinarians if their dogs or cats consumed the suspect food and showed signs of kidney failure, such as loss of appetite, lethargy and vomiting.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.