FDA and Menu Foods are now saying that "Melamine" was found in contaminated foods.

Melamine is an organic compound made of urea. It's used to make plastic dinnerware, cleaning sponges, counter tops, laminate floors. And, apparently, in this recall instance, also used as fertilizer in Asia. Melamine is not used as a fertilizer in the US.

I listened to the press conference by the CEO from Menu Foods stating that they had no processes in place for testing for melamine in the China-sourced gluten which was used in the affected pet foods.

The FDA does not fault them for this either. Seems to me that it's all being laid at the feet of the unnamed China source of the gluten.

This is a HUGE PROBLEM to me as a consumer. They had no procedures in place to determine that contaminants of this nature were not in the gluten?? I'm outraged.They were obviously testing the gluten, but, not for this particular contaminant??

They state that they're changing procedures. Great, close the barn door after you kill all the "horses".

What's gonna happen if there's another contamination from a foreign supplier that uses something for fertilizer or wall paint or floor coverings that's "not allowed" in the United States?? They're not going to have a way of testing for it?? To me, that seems to be the whole flaw in their system.

My Father was a master chemist -- making dyes at a carpet company.

Even I know with my limited knowledge of chemistry that you can do a chemical panel on a product and determine if the product DOES NOT conform to the standards for that product. You might not know what is making the product not conform, but, at least you'd have a preliminary indication that there was a problem LONG BEFORE the months-and-months that it's taken to determine this problem.

Additionally, the CEO did state that they were going to reimburse for "lost" pets and for vet bills.

Now that they know that melamine is the contaminant, it's possible to test animal carcasses, leftover bags of food, and sick animals for the presence of melamine. It wouldn't surprise me that they're going to eventually request this type of documentation before reimbursement. If I'd lost an animal or had a sick animal, I would make sure that the animal were tested for melamine contamination.

Hugs for the room. And prayers for all the sick doggies and sick kitties.

Barb

PS: We need more information from Menu Foods and from the FDA and from the EPA. What happens to this melamine when it passes through an animals digestive tract?? Is it a contaminant to the humans that clean up the feces?? Is it a contaminant and deadly to the wacko dogs that like to eat cat and dog feces?? Does it become airborne?? Does it stay in the environment of a house that had a deceased animal?? A lot more questions for the government and for Menu Foods. We use melamine products in the United States; but, we DO NOT USE it as a pesticide. I'd wonder how this melamine acts in our environment as a pesticide.