Is the Chinese company just a convenient fall guy for the pet food crisis?

[mhatrw]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/05/business/gluten.php

But Thursday, the Chinese company identified by the agency said that it had never shipped wheat gluten to the United States or Canada. "We are a trading company and don't manufacture the product," said Mao Lijun, the general manager of Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development, an agricultural products company located in coastal Jiangsu Province. "We have never exported wheat gluten directly or indirectly to the U.S., Canada or the Netherlands."

The statements from China have only deepened the mystery surrounding the massive pet food recalls in the North America. They also seem to be exposing flaws in the global food chain.

ChemNutra, a Las Vegas company that supplies pet food makers, said it imported 792 metric tons of wheat gluten from Xuzhou between November 29 and March 8. The products were then shipped from its Kansas City warehouse to three pet food makers and one distributor of pet food ingredients in the United States and Canada, it said.

The wheat gluten ended up in pet food made for several companies, including Menu Foods, of Ontario, and Hill's Pet Nutrition, a division of Colgate-Palmolive. Xuzhou Anying said it never shipped the packages.


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The most tragic thing about this is that BushCo has reduced the credibility of our federal agencies to the point where deciding between what China says and what the FDA and USDA say is like flipping a coin.

[Mojorabbit]

1. I really wonder then

who did ship the wheat. I can't believe someone would deliberately poison it but I guess you never know...

[valerief]

2. Maybe someone from Dubai, you know, the people who own our ports, can

offer some info.

It's not like we have an infrastructure here in Murka anymore to actually test food.

[Lint Head]

3. It's easy. Just blame the Chinese.

:dem: :sarcasm:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Considering they don't even know what the culprit is...

yes. It's a witch hunt.

I remember they were blaming Mexican immigrants for the Spinach recall last summer. A lot of people out to be ashamed.

[mhatrw]

5. It goes deeper than that. Either the Chinese company is lying about this

or ChemNutra is lying about who they got the wheat gluten from. This is significant regardless of whether this wheat gluten was contaminated with melamine when it was shipped and regardless of whether this supposedly contaminated wheat gluten is what is killing pets.

[hang a left]

6. It is a huge cover-up

Bad for NAFTA

Bad for large corporations with international operations.

Bad for FDA

Bad for Bush

You cannot spin this away. Huge hit for Bushco, hence the news black out.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Let's not forget Boeing and Airbus.