Chinese Wheat Paining Cats and Dogs
American manufacturers operate by a double standard when it comes to outsourcing production. They want cheap materials and labor from a place like China and they also want the high standard of quality that one would find in the States. American pet food company Menu Foods learned this week that when you look to China for pet food of high quality, that perhaps you are barking up the wrong tree. Friday, the AFP reported that investigators had solved the mystery of the contaminated Menu Foods “cuts and gravy” pet food that caused the death of 16 cats and dogs and almost a hundred more to fall ill. Since the beginning of March, an alarming number of pets have experienced kidney failure that was found to be triggered by a chemical in their pet food called aminopterin, a substance that was once used in the U.S. to induce abortions but has since been banned by the FDA. Well then how did a substance illegal in the U.S. find its way into nearly 100 brands of American pet food? Hmmm. The chemical present in the pet food was found in the wheat gluten. And where does Menu Foods purchase its wheat gluten? You guessed it. China! Yes, that’s right. If your pet is dying and you want someone to blame, blame China, where aminopterin is commonly used as a rat poison. Well first blame your pet food company for having no idea what type of chemicals are put into to its own product, and after that, blame China. An executive at the National Pest Management Association said that it would be rare for wheat to be contaminated as it makes no sense to spray wheat with a rodenticide. He says the chemical is sometimes sprayed around the perimeter of the wheat storage facility. Why I trust a guy who has made the decision to dedicate his life to managing pests, I don’t know, but he sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. Menu Foods has recalled all dog and cat food packaged between Dec. 3 and Mar. 6. Let this be a lesson to those companies that use China in its supply chain. Along with cheap material and cheap labor comes cheap quality, cheap controls and an overall cheap attitude. Menu Foods is probably hoping something else will be cheap– the amount of money they will pay to the pet owners for veterinary expenses and in legal fees. The company has already agreed to compensate medical expenses for the poisoned pets.
•AP: Pet Owners Double Checking Cabinets