I read an interesting article the other day about the recall and pet food safety. If you will recall, when the recall was first announced in the early spring 2007, it was initially not known what the toxin was that had gotten into the pet foods that were causing illness and death. It took a significant amount of effort by various laboratories and organizations to eventually discover the melamine in the pet food samples. Once the melamine was found, veterinary experts were still baffled. Melamine is thought to be a relatively non-toxic substance, so why was it causing so much trouble?
One theory that exists currently is that the Chinese manufacturers that had been using the melamine in the grain protein ingredients to boost the protein content and their profit margin decided to go one step further. They began buying “melamine scrap” instead of pure melamine. Melamine scrap is the solid waste product that comes from the manufacture of plastic using melamine. There is a significant amount of waste water that is produced in the melamine industry and this polluted water must be disposed of properly. The easiest way to dispose of it is to turn it into a solid, 70% melamine and 30% other chemicals. This solid scrap was bought up by the Chinese manufacturers and blended in with ordinary wheat flour to raise the protein to a level that is acceptable for wheat gluten.
Unfortunately, one of the chemicals that made up the 30% balance in the scrap was cyanuric acid. This acid binds to melamine and forms crystals in the kidneys of dogs and cats. These crystals caused the renal failure that was so devastating to pets in the United States and elsewhere.
I suppose someone may have gotten rich from this short-lived scheme, but more likely than not they are paying the price. If these tainted ingredients had been sold only to Chinese pet food manufacturers, it is possible that we never would have heard of this problem. The fact that they tainted pet foods here in the U.S. led to a relatively rapid (depending on your perspective on this) recall and investigation.
cat food » Theories About Melamine, Scrap and Greed said
[...] came across this post – Theories About Melamine, Scrap and Greed – and thought it was worth sharing. I hope you find it interesting too and take the time to read [...]