Friday, April 20, 2007

The "gluten story," strike three

Itchmo's alerts are terrific. Another just came in, and as some of us suspected the corn gluten from at least one supplier is also tainted w/ Melamine. Melamine isn't even legal in the USA. It's toxic...generally a fertizer used in China and I guess some other parts of the globe. So Royal Canin, earler having recalls in S. Africa due to corn gluten, has had to recall a list of their products from the shelves here due to rice gluten. It was voluntary, but since it did test positive for Melamine what else could be done but pull it! I only hope the specialty pet supply stores get the word as quickly as those of us who have Itchmo alerts do.

The bad news is that corn gluten is in many pet foods here in the USA. I wonder how many got the tainted stuff??? The FDA doesn't believe any of the tainted corn gluten made it into the United States. Meanwhile, many pet owners are now waiting for another shoe to drop. FDA officials plan a trip to China to check out the factories involved in the manufacture of the imported gluten, but so far do not have visas.