American Pets are Dietary “Puppies in the Coal Mine”

Center for Science in the Public Interest | Apr 22, 2007

CSPI Urges FDA to Ban Grain Imports from China

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should ban imports of wheat gluten, rice protein, and other grain products from China until the agency can certify that the products are free of chemical or microbial contamination, urged the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). In a letter to FDA commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, CSPI recommended that FDA should also evaluate whether a ban is needed for other foods or ingredients coming from China—the source of the contaminated gluten linked to the largest-ever recall of pet food.

CSPI’s letter comes in the wake of troubling new disclosures that China has denied entry to FDA inspectors investigating the pet food recall. Melamine, the suspected toxin in the pet food, was also recently detected by California authorities in the urine of hogs fed contaminated feed—a development that suggests that the problem could reach the human food supply.

“If U.S. pets must serve as the ‘puppies in the coal mine,’ we urge FDA to heed the warning and take action now to ban grains and other grain products until the Chinese government and producers can guarantee that these imports are free of illegal and dangerous substances,” wrote CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson and CSPI food safety director Caroline Smith DeWaal. CSPI recognizes that while closing the borders to these food imports is a serious action, it is a necessary action for FDA, given its current budget shortfall and lack of food inspectors. FDA inspection staff has actually shrunk by 15 percent since 2003.