Contaminated ingredient: not wheat gluten or RPC

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Roby - 09 May 2007 22:13 GMT

avma.org posted this yesterday:

"SCHAUMBURG, Ill. ? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined
that the contaminated wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported
from China?associated with the deaths of at least 16 dogs and cats and the
recall of hundreds of dog and cat food brands-was mislabeled and was really
wheat flour contaminated with melamine and melamine-related products."

Specialty foods formulated to avoid wheat allergies use RPC instead of
wheat gluten ... at least, that's what was supposed to happen. In fact,
the food contained wheat flour.

It goes on and on.

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Sherry - 09 May 2007 22:24 GMT

> avma.org posted this yesterday:
>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> It goes on and on.

Pardon my ignorance, but I don't get it. What was the intended use for
the with the wheat flour,
had been labeled correctly?
(Just a suggestion, but it would help if you'd provided a link to the
entire story)

Sherry

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Cheryl - 10 May 2007 01:09 GMT

> Pardon my ignorance, but I don't get it. What was the intended
> use for the with the wheat flour,
> had been labeled correctly?
> (Just a suggestion, but it would help if you'd provided a link
> to the entire story)

Found it.
http://www.avma.org/press/releases/070508_petfoodrecall.asp

Check this out though.

"David Acheson, M.D., assistant commissioner for food protection,
Office of the Commissioner at the FDA, said that investigators
believe that melamine, which is high in nitrogen, was added to the
wheat flour. As a result, protein level test results on the flour
were consistent with those of wheat gluten. This discovery does not
change recent pet food recalls or livestock restrictions, but
rather just expands the understanding of the ongoing pet food and
livestock feed contamination and investigation."

So it was tainted to test high in protein enough to be wheat
gluten, but was really wheat flour? Like Lynne said, they didn't
*look* at it??

Read the rest of the article. Manufacturers and the FDA are
apparently in serious panic mode and killing chickens whose feed
tested negative to melamine? Am I reading that right? It isn't
translating in my brain properly. A little burnt out from work.
Argh...

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Cheryl

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jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt@sonic.net - 09 May 2007 22:40 GMT

> avma.org posted this yesterday:

> "SCHAUMBURG, Ill. ? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined
> that the contaminated wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported
> from China?associated with the deaths of at least 16 dogs and cats and the
> recall of hundreds of dog and cat food brands-was mislabeled and was really
> wheat flour contaminated with melamine and melamine-related products."

> Specialty foods formulated to avoid wheat allergies use RPC instead of
> wheat gluten ... at least, that's what was supposed to happen. In fact,
> the food contained wheat flour.

What's RPC? Are you saying that wheat flour was used instead of RPC?

I wish newspapers would quit repeating the "16 dog and cat deaths" phrase
because it's more like 1400.

Joyce

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Roby - 10 May 2007 00:59 GMT

> > avma.org posted this yesterday:
>
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> Joyce

RPC = rice protein concentrate; a non-wheat vegetable protein that is used
in diets where wheat allergy is a problem. Using any wheat product there
is bad news.

The FDA says it happened. I've been reading the transcripts of the FDA
news briefings at http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html
It's a real mess.

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jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt@sonic.net - 10 May 2007 01:14 GMT

>> What's RPC? Are you saying that wheat flour was used instead of RPC?
>
> RPC = rice protein concentrate; a non-wheat vegetable protein that is used
> in diets where wheat allergy is a problem. Using any wheat product there
> is bad news.

I think the news about rice protein being contaminated has been out for a
while. I guess, though, if what the FDA is saying is true, it wasn't rice
protein at all, but wheat flour. Either way, it was contaminated - I haven't
been buying anything with the words "rice protein" on the can for weeks now,
regardless of what was actually *inside* the can.

> The FDA says it happened. I've been reading the transcripts of the FDA
> news briefings at http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html
> It's a real mess.

It sure is!

Joyce

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Cheryl - 10 May 2007 01:35 GMT

On Wed 09 May 2007 08:14:24p, wrote in rec.pets.cats.health+behav
<news:464263e0$0$14061$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>:

> I think the news about rice protein being contaminated has been
> out for a while. I guess, though, if what the FDA is saying is
> true, it wasn't rice protein at all, but wheat flour. Either
> way, it was contaminated - I haven't been buying anything with
> the words "rice protein" on the can for weeks now, regardless of
> what was actually *inside* the can.

The infuriating thing is that foods like Hill's Prescription ZD
(Hypoallergenic food) is formulated to avoid common allergens, and
wheat is a common allergen. Not saying that the RPC they used in
their food is really mislabeled wheat flour, but I think there was
another hypoallergenic food that was recalled. Just think that
someone may have ruled out a wheat allergy because kitty still had
symptoms.

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Cheryl

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Lynne - 09 May 2007 22:51 GMT

> avma.org posted this yesterday:

http://avma.org/press/releases/070508_petfoodrecall.asp

This is crazy. Any idiot should be able to tell the difference between
flour and gluten on visual inspection. This tells me that not only are
these pet food mfgs not testing their ingredients, THEY AREN'T EVEN LOOKING
AT THEM!

[deleted string of expletives]

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Lynne

"We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly
We are brave enough to bend to cry
And sad enough to know
We must laugh again"

~ Nikki Giovanni, 4/17/2007, Virginia Tech

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Cheryl - 10 May 2007 01:30 GMT

> http://avma.org/press/releases/070508_petfoodrecall.asp
>
> This is crazy. Any idiot should be able to tell the difference
> between flour and gluten on visual inspection. This tells me
> that not only are these pet food mfgs not testing their
> ingredients, THEY AREN'T EVEN LOOKING AT THEM!

Oops, sorry, didn't see the link at the top of your post. I guess
everyone found it already.

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Cheryl

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