China probing wheat gluten tied to pet deaths

updated 2:49 p.m. ET April 6, 2007

BEIJING - China said Friday it is investigating allegations a Chinese company exported tainted wheat gluten used in pet food that has been linked to the deaths of more than a dozen cats and dogs in the United States.

It was the first time Chinese authorities officially responded to the uproar that has resulted in a ban on gluten imports from the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. and a U.S. recall of nearly 100 brands of pet food.

“We are investigating this,” Zeng Xing, an official with the press office of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, told The Associated Press.

Zeng, whose agency monitors the export of food, animals and farm products, refused to give any details of the probe other than to confirm China is looking into the claim that the exported wheat gluten contained melamine, a chemical found in plastics and pesticides.

Xia Wenjun, another agency official, was cited by the state-run Xinhua News Agency as saying that “sampling and examination” of wheat gluten was underway nationwide.

The probe will center on melamine and agency officials will stay in touch with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Xia told Xinhua, adding that further measures would be taken “based on developments in the United States.”

Chinese veterinarians and animal rights activists said they were not aware of any reports of deaths in the country due to tainted pet food.

Contamination a widespread problem
Product contamination is a widespread problem in China, but this is the first recent high-profile incident of a tainted food being exported. In domestic cases, such as one involving drug regulators who took bribes to approve shoddy drugs, the government has promised investigations.

According to state regulations, exported food should be inspected by Zeng’s agency for poisonous substances. China’s customs service is supposed to allow a product to pass only when a certificate of quality supervision is provided.

It wasn’t immediately clear if those procedures were followed in the case of the wheat gluten, which is a protein-rich meat substitute developed in China and most commonly used in vegetarian and Asian cuisines.

Las Vegas-based ChemNutra Inc., which imported the gluten and sold it to companies that make pet food, said this week that Xuzhou Anying never reported the presence of melamine in the content analysis it provided. ChemNutra previously said none of the tainted material went to manufacturers of food for humans.

Mao Lijun, general manager of Xuzhou Anying, on Friday would say only that the allegations were “under investigation.”

Chemical scares and mass poisonings are common in China, which has been struggling to improve a dismal food-safety record. Manufacturers often mislabel food products or add illegal substances to them. Cooks routinely disregard hygiene rules or mistakenly use industrial chemicals instead of salt and other ingredients.

Last year, seven companies were punished for using banned Sudan I dye to color egg yolks red. The industrial dye, a possible carcinogen used for leather, floor polish and other household chemicals, has been found in various consumer products sold in China, such as roasted meat, chili powder and lipstick.

In 2004, at least 12 infants died from malnutrition after drinking formula with little or no nutritional value in eastern China’s Anhui province.

So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has confirmed about 15 pet deaths, while anecdotal reports suggest hundreds of cats and dogs may have died of kidney failure from the tainted food.

Last week, the FDA blocked imports from Xuzhou Anying, which says it exports more than 10,000 tons of wheat gluten a year.

Only 873 tons have been linked to the contaminated pet food in America, raising the possibility that more of the bad product could still be in China or the United States. Xuzhou Anying says the U.S. is its only foreign market.

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