Breaking News CBS News/AP: Tainted Pet Food Could Be Sold In China to People

[PhilipShore]

CBS News/AP

(AP) A Chinese company accused of selling chemical-tainted wheat gluten linked to the pet food deaths of cats and dogs in the U.S. said Thursday that most of its sales are domestic, raising the possibility that people or animals in China might have been exposed to the chemical.

The tainted wheat gluten underscores China's dismal food-safety record. Mass food poisoning cases are common in the country, many blamed on cooks who disregard hygiene rules or mistakenly use industrial chemicals instead of salt and other ingredients.

Last year, seven companies were punished for using banned Sudan dye to color egg yolks red. In 2004, at least 12 infants died from malnutrition after drinking formula with little or no nutritional value in eastern China's Anhui province.

Last month, 57 people were hospitalized in Zhejiang after eating food laced with rat poison, while nearly 400 people were hospitalized with possible food poisoning after a wedding banquet in Yunnan province in southern China.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/05/ap/world/main2653693.shtml