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<p class=MsoPlainText><a
href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/05/02/pet.food.poultry/">http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/05/02/pet.food.poultry/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.75pt;line-height:19.5pt'><a
name=ContentArea></a><b><span style='font-size:19.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Feds: Millions have eaten chickens fed tainted pet food<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black;display:none'>Story Highlights</span></b><b><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>•Chickens in possibly hundreds of farms may have been fed
tainted food<br>
• Likelihood of human illness after eating such chicken is "very
low"<br>
• No human illness linked to the tainted feed reported to FDA, USDA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>NEW YORK</span></b><span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'> (CNN) -- People have
eaten millions of chickens that were given feed tainted with recalled pet food,
federal officials said Tuesday, though they said the threat to human health is
minimal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>The announcement
came after an investigation of chicken farms in Indiana found that 38 of the
facilities had given contaminated feed to poultry raised for human consumption,
and that 2.5 million to 3 million people ate them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>The officials
added that they expect to discover that chickens on possibly hundreds of farms
in other states were also given tainted feed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>In a
teleconference with reporters, an official with the Food and Drug
Administration said no recall has been issued because "the likelihood of
illness after eating chicken fed the contaminated product is very low." (<a
href="http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta/2007/05/is-melamine-changing-your-diet.html"
target="_blank">Blog: Melamine 'dilution' means human risk is probably lower</a>
)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>No human
illnesses have been reported related to the feed, officials with the FDA and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Last week, as
part of its investigation into the nationwide pet food recall, the FDA ordered
that all vegetable protein imports from China used in human and animal food be
detained.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>The products
include wheat gluten, rice gluten, rice protein, rice protein concentrate, corn
gluten, corn gluten meal, corn byproducts, soy protein, soy gluten proteins and
mung bean protein.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>FDA officials
said Tuesday that they have found no evidence that tainted wheat gluten was
added directly to any food products sold in the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Two FDA
investigators are in China and a third was en route working with the Chinese
government's General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine to investigate the sources of the contaminated products. (<a
href="javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/health/2007/05/02/jv.china.food.safety.cnn','2009/05/01');"
target="_blank">Watch more on concerns about China's food safety</a></span><a
href="javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/health/2007/05/02/jv.china.food.safety.cnn','2009/05/01');"
target="_blank"><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#000099;
text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=19 height=12 id="Picture_x0020_1"
src="cid:image001.gif@01C78CD2.1CD30240" alt=Video></span></a><span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>It was unclear
how long tainted food additives from China have been entering the United
States.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>"Clearly
that is a concern if that has been going on for a long period of time,"
said Dr. David Acheson, who had been appointed earlier in the day to the newly
created position of FDA assistant commissioner for food protection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>The FDA's
investigation began in March after at least 17 cats and dogs died of kidney
failure linked to the tainted pet food. The urine of cats that ate the food
tested positive for melamine, an industrial chemical used in the manufacturing
of plastic utensils and fertilizer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Investigators
suspect that melamine, in combination with a rice protein additive imported
from China and found to contain cyanuric acid, may cause crystals to form in
the kidneys, shutting them down. Cyanuric acid is used as a stabilizer in
outdoor swimming pools and hot tubs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>"We had one
case recently where the cat's kidneys were completely obstructed and when we
went to surgery to relieve the obstruction there was no normal stone, instead
the ureters were completely full of these melamine-type crystals," said
Dr. Louise Murray, director of medicine at New York's Bergh Memorial Animal
Hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>The National
Chicken Council, which represents U.S. poultry producers, marketers and
processors, said Tuesday in a written statement: "We are confident that
any poultry producers involved will work expeditiously with the government to
resolve this matter to the satisfaction of the government agencies."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h3><a name=rv1></a><a name=1></a><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>Leftovers link possible<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>NCC spokesman
Richard Lobb said Chinese producers appear to have been spiking their feed with
the contaminants to make it appear that it contains more protein than it does.
Some tests for protein content measure nitrogen content, an ingredient of
melamine and cyanuric acid.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Lobb said the
chicken feed may have been contaminated as a result of a practice common among
pet food manufacturers -- they sometimes sell their leftover material to
manufacturers of chicken and pig feed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>"It's like
cooking cupcakes -- you get some of the dough on the pan, you scrape it off and
throw it away. What they're saying is that somebody bought that material and it
got mixed in corn and soybean that gets manufactured in poultry feed," he
said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>"The
dilution factor is enormous. You have a relatively small amount of pet food
byproducts used," Lobb said. "It's a safe and wholesome product to
use."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Representatives
of Perdue and Tyson Foods -- two of the largest U.S. chicken producers -- said
Tuesday in letters to supermarkets that they do not use protein ingredients
from China in their feeds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Last week, FDA
officials said 6,000 hogs that may have ingested tainted pet food entered the
human food supply. Pork producers in seven states -- California, Kansas, North
Carolina, New York, South Carolina and Utah -- are being investigated for
buying adulterated feed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>The agency also
reported last week that it has received more than 17,000 consumer complaints
related to the recall, including reports of approximately 4,150 dog and cat pet
deaths.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>More than 150
brands and 5,300 pet food products have been recalled. Companies that produced
affected items include Menu Foods, Hill's Pet Nutrition, P&G Pet Care, Nestle
Purina PetCare, Del Monte Pet Products and Sunshine Mills have been recalled in
cooperation with the FDA. The first recall was initiated March 16 by Menu
Foods.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=cnnscattribution><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:black'>CNN's Katy Byron, Joe Johns, Miriam Falco and Elizabeth Cohen
contributed to this report.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
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