The Food and Drug Administration, U.S., now adds that it has also found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food involved in the original recall and even in the imported wheat gluten which was an ingredient of the company’s wet-style products. The scientists at Cornell University has also found melamine in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating the same food.
The recall is expanded as Hill’s Pet Nutrition recalled its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food also. The cause for the recall is that the food also included wheat gluten from the same supplier that Menu Foods had. The recall, however, didn’t involve any other Prescription Diet or Science Diet products. The company is a division of Colgate-Palmolive Co. Federal. The expanded recall now includes its first dry pet food too.
The picture is still unclear regarding the exact number of pet deaths, although reports suggest almost hundreds had died. The FDA alone received more than 8,000 complaints. Experts are still speculating as melamine is toxic only in high doses, thus, making its role in the pet deaths unclear. The melamine discovery came a week after scientists identified a rat poison called aminopterin as the cause of the deaths. Melamine is used as a fertilizer and to make plastic kitchen ware. If melamine is the culprit, it’s still not clear. Menu Foods which stands sued itself are planning to pursue some legal action against the supplier now.
Patrick Hooker, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture and Markets said that neither aminopterin nor melamine should be in pet food, but what is more mysterious is the deaths of the pets due to these. As per him, the data available is not enough to find any relation between the substances and the caused deaths. Meanwhile, FDA has warned another unit called IAMS regarding a substance in their pet food. The increasing recalls are definitely increasing stakes of owners and many lives.
Source: MSNbc
