China Bans Melamine, Rejects Pet Food Link

(CBS/AP)  China said Thursday it has banned melamine from food products after the chemical was found in vegetable protein exports shipped to the United States, but rejected it as the cause of dozens of pet deaths.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials say they suspect the substance, which is a chemical found in plastics and pesticides, is to blame for dozens of pet deaths in North America.

China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday there was no evidence to support the FDA's claim but that it would cooperate with the United States to find out what actually killed the animals.

The ministry's comments were the first detailed response from Beijing to concerns that emerged a month ago about the country's wheat and rice gluten exports.

Meanwhile, officials in North Carolina say melamine has been found in all the hogs tested at a farm in western North Carolina. The farm has been quarantined.

The FDA said it was unclear whether any people had consumed the contaminated pork, CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reported.

China has said it was investigating the issue but had not acknowledged until Thursday that Chinese companies had shipped gluten tainted with melamine to the United States.

The ministry said the contaminated vegetable protein managed to get past customs without inspection because it had not been declared for use in pet food.

"There is no clear evidence showing that melamine is the direct cause of the poisoning or death of the pets," the statement said. "China is willing to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. ... to find out the real cause leading to the pet deaths in order to protect the health of the pets of the two countries."

China shipped more agricultural products to the United States in the last year than all but five other nations, Cordes reports. That's $2.3 billion worth.

But Chinese farmers have a checkered history of using human waste, contaminated irrigation systems and powerful pesticides banned in the United States.

Also, the FDA only has the resources to inspect about 1 percent of all food imports, so it must perform a kind of triage, checking only the products that have the worst history of contamination, Cordes reports.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials have said they suspect Chinese wheat and rice gluten laced with melamine and added to pet food may have killed at least 15 cats and dogs. The chemical appears to have caused acute kidney failure in animals that have died or been sickened after eating foods contaminated with the chemical.

China said an investigation triggered by U.S. FDA complaints found melamine in wheat and rice gluten exported to the United States by two Chinese companies: Xuzhou Anying Bio-technology Development Company and Binzhou Futian Bio-technology Company.

The case has prompted China to step up inspections of plant-based proteins and to list melamine as a banned substance for food exports and domestic sales, it said.

China also invited U.S. FDA officials to visit China to help with further investigations into the case and to consult on improving inspection techniques, it said.

[akrk33nnn]

not erasmus6, billysmith6. sorry erasmus6

[akrk33nnn]

erasmus6

I have a feeling you would no longer be interested if you found out that all current trade deals with China, including MFN (Most Favored Nation) status, were negotiated by the Clinton administration. The Bush administration has made few changes to trade relations with China, with the exception of imposing a tarriff on glossy paper about a month ago, and filing two suits with the WTO about two weeks ago.

[cleaningoc]

It is shameful the FDA only inspects 1% of our imported food products. Does the government know how vuneralbe we are? It would be so easy to be attacked through our foreign food source? Why do we NOT give our Farmer's a break, help them bring thier products to market. Shame! Shame America! Please stop betraying us with tainted imports and allowing these foreign countries to poison us. Do you have to have a child die before you stop this practice? It certainly seems so!!!!! Does anyone out there get how serious this is, well??? I do not know of this happening in other countries? I would like to know if we are the target. Wake up the alarm is ringing.. smell the coffee, but be aware of where it came from!!!!

[p9353apb]

With the amount of regulated, healthy food grown in the USA why would any fool import food? Money, of course!

[agnim]

"Only trailer trash would put "bargains" ahead of the American worker. Go ahead and continue to shop at Wal-Mart. You are the ones that are killing the countries ability to make a product.
Posted by Terrapin78 at 05:16 PM : Apr 26, 2007"

You must be one of the 'workers' who never learn to think! And so the rabble rousing politicians play you for a fool.

It is the AMERICAN CORPORATIONS who are *** American workers, AND THE CHINESE WORKERS TOO!

The American corporations NEED TO SHARE THE WEALTH WITH THE AMERICAN WORKERS!

[erasmus6]

ingredients meaning "Wheat gluten".

[erasmus6]

gkc99

You need to get your facts straight. The Canadian company that makes the pet food, got the ingredients from an American company. The American company is the one that got the ingredients from China.

[terrapin78]

Only idiots will complain about a bargain!
Posted by Agnim at 04:11 PM : Apr 26, 2007

Only trailer trash would put "bargains" ahead of the American worker. Go ahead and continue to shop at Wal-Mart. You are the ones that are killing the countries ability to make a product. How did the USA win WWII? We out produced the world. We would be lucky to out produce anyone now days.

That is what "bargains" have done to this country. And it is no bargain!

[gkc99]

Reportedly, much of the contaminated Chinese wheat gluten came in through Canadian companies. Since Canada basically sells legal residency / citizenship to anyone with a few hundred thousand dollars, it is easy for Chinese business people to buy a presence in Canada, ship their undergrade products to Canada, and thence to the US. The US doesn't pay much attention to the quality of goods coming from Canada as it has up until now been good due to rigorous Canadian internal standards. But now that the corner-cutting and fraudulent Asian business people use Canada as a front, perhaps stricter attention should be paid to all Canadian products.

[erasmus6]

beanerman4

"And by the time they get there, the evidence will be gone."

HELLO! It doesn't really matter because they have already admitted they were using melamine.

Now of course they could always find something else, I guess. But does it really matter? We should not be getting anything from them anymore because at any time they could be putting stuff in our food, especially now that they (and the whole world) knows that the FDA can only test about a third of what comes in the country.