My kids’ food may be tainted.

UPDATED 04/06/07

I cannot call my kids, pets. They are so much more than a domesticated animal. They have personalities, they have feelings, and they also have their moods. I’ve raised them, taught them what is acceptable and what isn’t, and provide them with all that I can so their life can be joyous.
Now, the FDA and Menu Foods (manufacturer of ingredients for almost all of the US dog and cat food brands) are refusing to identify the source of the contaminated wheat gluten. Here are the details as of right now.

NOTE: This situation is changing all the time. I will keep you up to date as best I can.

Date unverified (ca. March 2 2007) Menu Foods has 9 of 25 cats die after taste tests.

March 16 2007 Menu Foods recalls 60 million cans and pouches of wet style cat and dog food manufactured at their Emporia, KS plant.

March 17 - present The list of cat and dog food continues to expand, now including a dry cat food marketed by Hill’s Science Diet - Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry food

Date unverified (ca. March 23 2007) Researched indicate aminopterin
found in the recalled foods.

March 30 2007 The FDA disputes finding aminopterin as the cause and focuses on imported wheat gluten from China.

March 31 2007 Menu Foods states that the suspect wheat was imported from China to an US wheat gluten manufacturer.

Both the FDA and Menu Foods refuse to name the manufacturer.

Upon some digging, I found there are only three manufacturers of wheat gluten here in the US. They are;

MGP Ingredients (they announced on March 21 2007 that they haven’t supplied wheat gluten to Menu Foods in over 18 months.)

Manildra Milling Co., an Australian based company (according to their own records, they only use US and Australian grown wheat for their products)

Which leaves us to the last suspect…

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co
I will report back if I find they can be ruled out. (UPDATE: Ruled out)

(UPDATE: The wheat Gluten was manufactured by Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company in China.)

If I find that a company is using unregulated sources for what my kids eat, I will launch the biggest pet food boycott this country has ever seen. Also, it may pay to take heed that wheat gluten is also found in many of our (human) consumption products. I hope the FDA will take this serious and investigate if the tainted wheat gluten is now in our food chain. (UPDATE: Concern that the tainted wheat gluten is in our food supply is being investigated)
More to come…