Early in 2007, a number of animal deaths started to be reported, all due to renal failure. What happened next lifted the lid on the largest food contamination scandal in history with its effects still being felt today. What started with the deaths of a number of animals ended in one of the largest food recalls in history spreading to cover not just pet food but infant formula and milk.

The source of the contamination? Shipments of wheat gluten imported in September 2006 by ChemNutra, an LA based company and sold to Menu Foods, the Canadian based maker of wet cat and dog food in North America.

In November 2006 Menu Foods started to use the tainted gluten in manufacturing plants in NJ and Kansas.

Starting in December 2006 through to February 2007 Menu Foods received a number of complaints from pet owners, especially cat owners, that their pets were falling ill after consuming foods produced by Menu Foods.

Dog Food Secrets

In February 2007 Menu Food’s CFO Mark Wiens sold half of his shares in the company, 14,000 shares for $89,900.

Not even two weeks later, after an internal review, and the death of 16 pets, Menu Foods suspected an issue with the products and on March 16, Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans of dog and cat food. Most of these products had wheat Gluten, which was seen as the primary culprit and samples of food products were subsequently sent to the Cornell University and a New York based testing agency for carrying out tests. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said tests indicated the food was contaminated.

By the end of March, it was clear that there was a problem with the wheat gluten being used by the company. All units were recalled on a nationwide level immediately and the company received some 6 million units from the US itself. Following the recall, a number of deaths were being reported in the US and Mexico by the end of March 2007. No official records are available for the number of pet deaths in Mexico, but analysts say that they could be more than the number of deaths in the US.

During the first recall, only gravy and liquid based food were recalled, but looking at the gravity of the situation, the company decided to recall at least a dozen more food products. In the last week of March 2007 (25th-30th), the FDA stated that traces of Melamine were found. The FDA also banned the Xuzhou Bio manufacturing unit and the companies using raw material from this company were directed to recall all food products, even the dried ones.

Dog Food Dangers

The Xuzhou Bio manufacturing unit had undertaken tests on its own level to test their wheat gluten in April. Senate hearings brought out the facts and the public was warned. Further recalls were made all through April. More deaths and contamination in Africa led to a recall in South Africa in April and Switzerland in June. In May, reports of people having consumed pork infected with renal diseases were out, causing widespread panic and Mao Lijun, the GM of Xuzhou Bio company was detained. Nationwide calls were made in this respect and later, in June 2007, human food was also tested positive for melamine, which led to further recalls of food being supplied in poultry farms and to places directly concerning humans.

There have been an increasing number of recalls throughout 2008 and into 2009 so the issue is far from resolved and pet owners are recommended to stay on top of any further pet food recalls.