Submitted By: Lindsay Yoshitomi

In regard to the recent deaths of many US family pets, I found an interesting  LA Times article linking China to the pet food contamination. Investigations revealed that a mildly toxic chemical called melamine is the culprit. However, our family cats and dogs may not be the only animals being affected by this contaminant, as the FDA and US Department of Agriculture announced that the Chinese tainted wheat gluten in pet foods has also been found in chicken feed on 38 farms in Indiana. These chicken farms supply poultry for human consumption.

Melamine is usually used to make plastics or fertilizer. Do melamine dishes ring a bell? Anyway, supposedly, the chemical isn’t considered a human health concern even though there isn’t any scientific data to back up that claim. It’s also not known what happens to melamine when it’s combined with other compounds, and how it affects our health. But given the facts that it can kill cats and dogs makes you wonder if it really is safe. Adding melamine to food products is not illegal in China, but it is under American law.

Melamine, being nitrogen-rich, in turn raises the nitrogen levels of the feed to which it has been introduced. Nutritional value is not increased, but it fraudulently gives feed the appearance that it is higher in protein. That makes it attractive to the animal food industry in China because it boosts sales. One business, the Kalyuan Protein Feed Company in Shijiazhuang, admits they have been using the chemical additive for 15 years and with the proper quantity claims, “Our products are very safe, for sure.” Well, that’s reassuring as pets across America go through kidney failure. A spokesman for the Chinese melamine supplier, Sanming Dinghui Chemical Trading Company says, “As to whether melamine is toxic or not, I believe it won’t do any harm if there is only very small amount . . . otherwise, those companies could not do that.” Well, of course, but tell that to the thousands of American hogs who ate melamine contaminated feed, and were destroyed so tainted meat wouldn’t reach consumers.

As we import more and more food products from China, and that includes food for human consumption, how can we regulate what practices are not illegal there, but are illegal here? If the introduction of melamine to food has been an ongoing and open practice for years in China, how could we have not known? Or did cheaper products outweigh the safety issue?