New Tainted Ingredient Prompts Widened Pet Food Recall

FRIDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) -- The massive recall of pet foods expanded again Thursday, this time for products containing a tainted rice protein concentrate imported from China.

Blue Buffalo, of Wilton, Conn., said it was recalling more than 5,000 bags of Spa Select Kitten dry food because the foods are contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers.

Melamine is the same chemical that was found in pet foods manufactured by the Canadian company Menu Foods. That recall began March 16 with moist dog and cat foods made with contaminated wheat gluten from China and has since been extended to more than 60 million packages of food, including dry foods and dog biscuits.

On Wednesday, Natural Balance Pet Foods, of Pacoima, Calif., recalled all its venison dog products and dry venison cat food after discovering they were contaminated with melamine. The company believes the melamine was in the rice protein concentrate.

At a late afternoon teleconference Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's chief veterinarian, Dr. Stephen F. Sundlof, could not say how much food was involved in the new recall.

But he did say that more recalls of pet food are expected and that consumers should check the FDA Web site before buying any pet food.

The rice protein concentrate involved in this week's recall was imported by Wilbur-Ellis Co. of San Francisco from Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd. in China. That is a separate company from the one that shipped in the tainted wheat gluten.

Wilbur-Ellis told the FDA it had shipped the rice protein concentrate to five U.S. pet food manufacturers in Utah, New York, Kansas and Missouri and was recalling all of it. The FDA declined to identify the three other manufacturers during the Thursday teleconference.

"Natural Balance tested the food after customers reported dogs and cats suffering kidney failure," Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, told reporters.

In its own recall notice, Wilbur-Ellis said it began importing rice protein concentrate from Binzhou Futian in July 2006, had received a total of 14 containers holding 336 metric tons from the company and had distributed 155 metric tons as of Wednesday.

So far, the FDA has not said how many cats and dogs have become sick or died from contaminated food. To date, Sundlof said, the agency has received more than 15,000 calls on sick or dead pets.

The FDA continues to sample all wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate coming into the United States from China, Sundlof said. "Additional products will be added as we receive information," he said.