Day: May 9, 2007

The FDA and USDA announced today that wheat flour, mislabeled as wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate, is actually the melamine-contaminated ingredient that has been the focus of a massive pet food recall, not wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate as previously believed. Levels of melamine in meat products from animals given contaminated feed are very low and pose little risk to humans if eaten, officials reiterated. None of these ingredients has been used in the human food supply. Also, a portion of the mislabeled “wheat gluten” has been used in the preparation of fish feeds and

FDA/USDA joint news release: There is very low risk to human health from consuming meat from hogs and chickens known to have been fed animal feed supplemented with pet food scraps that contained melamine and melamine-related compounds, according to an assessment conducted by scientists from five federal agencies. In the most extreme risk assessment scenario, when scientists assumed that all the solid food a person consumes in an entire day was contaminated with melamine at the levels observed in animals fed contaminated feed, the potential exposure was about 2,500 times lower than the dose considered safe. In

SmartPak Canine executed a voluntary nationwide recall on all lots of LiveSmart Adult Lamb and Brown Rice food. This product tested positive for presence of melamine. The company is presently investigating the source of the contamination in conjunction with its contract manufacturer, Chenango Valley Pet Food. The LiveSmart Adult Lamb formula does not contain rice protein concentrate nor wheat gluten. For more information, see the FDA press release at http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/smartpak05_07.html.