ChemNutra

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ChemNutra is an American importer of ingredients for food, animal feed and pharmaceuticals based in Summerlin, Nevada [1] Self-described as "The China-Source Experts" they import their products from China and provide them to North American manufacturers. The Chief Executive Officer is Stephen S. Miller and the president is Sally Qing Miller. [2]

Contents

Companies supplied by ChemNutra include Menu Foods and at least two other pet food manufacturers, as well as the pet food ingredient supplier The Scoular Co. [3] [4]

Recall

On March 16, 2007 pet food manufacturer Menu Foods announced a recall of dog food sold under 53 brands, and cat food sold under 42 brands, after an unknown number of animals suffered kidney failure after eating it. On April 3 the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) distributed a recall notice issued by ChemNutra for potentially-contaminated wheat gluten that had been imported from what the FDA alleges is one of its three Chinese suppliers, the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development. [4] Mao Lijun, the general manager of Xuzhou Anying Biologic, denies directly supplying ChemNutra with the wheat gluten, claiming that "We have never exported to the U.S." since they are a trading company. [3] [5]

On February 6, 2008, a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Missouri returned a 27 count criminal indictment against the owners of ChemNutra and in the case headed by the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations that was investigating XAC and SSC. [6]

As of April 6, at least 471 cases of poisoning have been reported and 104 animals have died. The FDA reports that they have received over 12,000 complaints related to the poisoning. [3]

On April 5, the company recalled all 782 tonnes of wheat gluten it had imported from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development. [7]

The FDA served a search warrant on the company on April 27. [1]

By May 18, the company had hired two companies to help it deal with the public relations fall out from the contamination. [8]

See also

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Beginning in March 2007, there was a widespread recall of many brands of cat and dog foods due to contamination with melamine and cyanuric acid. The recalls in North America, Europe, and South Africa came in response to reports of kidney failure in pets. Initially, the recalls were associated with the consumption of mostly wet pet foods made with wheat gluten from a single Chinese company. After more than three weeks of complaints from consumers, the recall began voluntarily with the Canadian company Menu Foods on 16 March 2007, when a company test showed sickness and death in some of the test animals. Soon after, there were numerous media reports of animal deaths as a result of kidney failure. In the following weeks, several other companies who received the contaminated wheat gluten also voluntarily recalled dozens of pet food brands. One month after the initial recall, contaminated rice protein from a different source in China was also identified as being associated with kidney failure in pets in the United States, while contaminated corn gluten was associated with kidney failure with pets in South Africa. As a result of investigating the 2007 pet food recalls, a broader Chinese protein export contamination investigation unfolded, raising concerns about the safety of the human food supply.

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References

  1. 1 2 Edwards, John G. (2007-04-28). "FDA investigators serve warrant on ChemNutra". Las Vegas Review-Journal . Retrieved 2007-06-10.
  2. ↑ "ChemNutra - Quality Ingredients for Food, Feed & Pharma". Archived from the original on 2007-05-09. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  3. 1 2 3 "Senator calls FDA 'tragically slow' on pet food recall". CNN. 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
  4. 1 2 Devon Blaine/Lisa Baker (2007-04-03). "ChemNutra Announces Nationwide Wheat Gluten Recall" (Press release). US FDA. Archived from the original on April 7, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  5. ↑ "FDA hosted Press Release: All Menu Foods Pet Food with ChemNutra Wheat Gluten Voluntarily Recalled". Food and Drug Administration . Archived from the original on 2007-04-10. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  6. ↑ "Charges Filed in Contaminated Pet Food Scheme". www.fda.gov. Archived from the original on 2009-06-08.
  7. ↑ "ChemNutra Announces Nationwide Wheat Gluten Recall, USA" . Retrieved 2007-06-10.
  8. ↑ Ochman, BL. "ChemNutra Hires Two Crisis PR Firms and Starts 'Blog'". Archived from the original on 2007-05-20. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
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