Editorial: Targeting tainted imports

Tuesday, May 1, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

The chemical from China that U.S. food regulators believe tainted at least 60 million packages of pet food and resulted in the deaths of dogs and cats in the United States is routinely used in animal feed in China to fool buyers into thinking that the food has more protein than it actually has.

A story by The New York Times on Monday says that melamine, the chemical that sickened U.S. pets, is made from coal and used in producing plastics and fertilizer in China. But scraps of melamine, although the chemical does not add any protein or nutritional value, often are sold to producers of animal feed in China because melamine increases the appearance of protein in testing.

In the United States it is illegal to use any form of melamine in any food product. But China's laws do not prohibit its use. So, as one chemical company manager in China told the Times, "everyone's doing it" in making food for animals.

As a result, wheat gluten purchased from China and used in making pet food and livestock feed sold in the United States was tainted with melamine.

Since February the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received more than 14,000 reports of pets being sickened by the foods, and the agency has recalled more than 100 brands of cat and dog food. Last week the U.S. Agriculture Department ordered the quarantine or slaughter of more than 6,000 hogs in eight states because some of the pet food sent to feed hogs in those states was tainted with melamine.

FDA officials have said they do not have the resources to inspect every food product imported into the United States. But because the Chinese government does not regulate the use of melamine, there is no telling what else is in the foods or ingredients imported from China. Perhaps it is time the United States seriously considers whether such imports should stop until it can be determined that these imports do not contain dangerous chemicals or substances.