After many dialogues, China has permitted the American regulators to enter the country for investigating whether the Chinese suppliers had really exported contaminated pet food ingredients to the United States earlier this year which led to one of the largest pet food recalls in U.S. history.
China had earlier restricted the representatives of the United States Food and Drug Administration from entering China, despite the evidence. The F.D.A. had confirmed that a criminal investigation into the pet food scandal has been started. Whether any American companies are responsible, or were the scandal intentional; question like these remain still unanswered. The agency is also investigating imports of rice protein from China.
Melamine was also found in rice protein animal feed which was fed to livestock, and regulators fear that the chemical may enter the human food supply chain through hogs. F.D.A. has identified another Chinese company which had exported animal feed tainted with melamine to America.
Both the companies, Binzhou Futian Biological Technology and the Anying Biological Technology Development Company have declined to comment. China’s State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, The Chinese agency responsible for overall food safety issues has not commented up till now. American regulators suspect that the Chinese companies may have intentionally added melamine to their feed ingredients to boost the protein count artificially in order to meet requirements.
If it is determined that the Chinese companies had intentionally altered food ingredients it can seriously harm United States-China trade.
Source: NYtimes
Image Credit: Telenet
