China's quality control watchdog has announced two Chinese
companies exported melamine-contaminated wheat gluten and rice
protein blamed for the deaths of dogs and cats in the United
States.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier said the
Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. and Binzhou
Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd. had exported the
melamine-tainted products.
The FDA discovered melamine, a chemical used in plastics,
fertilizers, and flame retardants, in pet food recalled by
Ontario-based pet food maker Menu Foods and traced the contaminated
foodstuff to the two Chinese companies.
"The two companies illegally added melamine to the wheat gluten
and rice protein in a bid to meet the contractual demand for the
amount of protein in the products," said the General Administration
of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine.
The watchdog said the two companies managed to evade quality
check-ups by labeling them as exports that are not subject to
quality inspection.
It said it had ordered local branches to strengthen quality
inspection on all vegetable proteins and pledged to include all
vegetable proteins on the exports list subject for quality
check-ups.
It added the local public security authorities had launched an
investigation into the cases and had detained related company
officials.
The administration said it had found no further
melamine-contaminated products after checking 399 samples from 173
exporters nationwide.
The watchdog said it had notified the FDA of the investigation
results and proposed to set up a cooperation mechanism on food
safety with the United States.
(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2007)