WASHINGTON----The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it's investigation into contaminated pet food and the possible adulteration of food for human consumption is continuing.

A second Congressional hearing with the topic "Diminished Capacity: Can the FDA Assure the Safety and Security of the Nation's Food Supply?" will be held Tuesday, April 24 by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. http://energycommerce.house.gov/membios/schedule.shtml

On Monday, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) send a letter to the FDA, asking commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to identify the companies that were recipients of the contaminated rice protein shipments from China and to request that the FDA identify and inspect all suspect pet food ingredients imported by the U.S. from China and other countries.

Recent reports indicate that in addition to the contaminated wheat gluten found during the first wave of pet food recalls, contaminated shipments of rice protein and corn gluten have been used for pet food and could have entered the human food supply. On April 2nd, a Chinese company, Binzhou-Futian, sold rice protein to Wilbur-Ellis and a second unknown importer. Wilbur-Ellis has said that the shipment was distributed to five pet food manufacturers. Three of those manufacturers have revealed themselves and recalled food, the other two have not.

Given the strong possibility that these two pet food manufacturers also received contaminated rice protein and that they have failed to implement voluntary recalls, Durbin and Cantwell asked FDA to release the names of these manufacturers and require them to trace and recall any pet food made with the potentially contaminated rice protein. The Senators have also asked that the name of the second importer be released.

Last week, Sen. Durbin and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) met with von Eschenbach in Durbin's Capitol office to discuss the latest recall of pet food, this time caused by contaminated rice protein imported from China. In the meeting, Durbin and DeLauro learned that the Chinese Government has blocked requests from the FDA to send personnel to China to inspect the facilities suspected of producing the contaminated products. The FDA first contacted the Chinese Government on April 4 but have not been granted permission to send food inspectors into the country. In response, Durbin and DeLauro sent a letter to the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Zhou Wenzong, urging the Chinese Government to issue visas to U.S. food inspectors as quickly as possible.

Two weeks ago, Durbin and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing the FDA's response to the pet food recall. The hearing examined the timeline of the investigation, the source of the contamination, and the agency's regulatory and inspection responsibilities. In the hearing, the Senators also questioned outside experts about the current state of the pet food industry, as well as regulatory or resource shortfalls that led to the widespread recall of tainted pet food.

The FDA said it is investigating an imported shipment of rice protein concentrate which has been found to contain melamine. The rice protein concentrate may have been used as an ingredient in some pet foods. FDA's investigation of the rice protein is being carried out by specialists in FDA headquarters and in eight FDA district offices. They said that thus far, the following has been established:

The suspect shipment of rice protein concentrate was imported and offloaded during the week of April 2 by Wilbur-Ellis, an importer and distributor of agricultural products, including rice protein concentrate, with headquarters in San Francisco, CA. The source of the product is identified as Binzhou Futian Biological Technology in China.

The shipment consisted primarily of rice protein concentrate in white bags, but also included one pink bag that was labeled, in part, with the word "melamine."

On April 15, Wilbur-Ellis notified FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine about the suspect shipment. On April 16, FDA launched a nationwide investigation tracing eight import entries identified as being shipped from the Chinese firm since July 2006. FDA testing revealed melamine in both the white and pink bags.

Wilbur-Ellis has initiated a recall of all suspect rice protein concentrate it had imported and distributed. As a result of the notification by Wilbur-Ellis, Royal Canin USA and C.J. Foods voluntarily recalled certain products. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/2007/042007HumanRisk.html

On Monday, after Royal Canin USA's discovery of a melamine derivative in rice gluten in some of its dry pet food products, Royal Canin Canada removed Sensible Choice Diet and certain veterinary prescribed specialty diet products from distribution. http://www.royalcanin.ca/index_en.php.

FDA investigators have obtained records showing distribution to five pet food manufacturers in seven locations. Investigators are currently inspecting all five manufacturers and collecting additional samples, as appropriate.

FDA has confirmed the presence of melamine in finished pet food products containing rice protein concentrate. Those products, and others within the same product line, are currently under recall by Natural Balance Pet Foods and are labeled as: Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods; Venison and Brown Rice dog treats; and Venison and Green Pea dry cat food; see http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/naturalbalance04_07.html.

If FDA's investigation determines that additional pet food products have been manufactured from the suspect rice protein concentrate, FDA will expect manufacturers to initiate voluntary actions to remove these products from the marketplace. FDA will continue to communicate its findings promptly.

In a related development, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) issued a press release on April 19 stating that CDFA laboratory testing had detected melamine in urine from hogs at the American Hog Farm in Ceres, CA. Due to the involvement of animal feed, FDA is working with CDFA on this development.

The FDA said it was conducting a full investigation to determine any impact on the human food supply. The agency is now sampling all rice protein concentrate from China and continues to sample all wheat gluten imported from China, and it is ready to increase its surveillance of other products, if necessary.

To search for the latest list of recalled products, which will be updated when new information is received, please see: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/petfoodrecall/ or http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/default.asp.

In South Africa, pet food containing melamine, traced to China, has been deemed responsible for killing at least 30 dogs, according to the South African Veterinary Association.

South Africa is refusing to allow any gluten products from China into their country after the FDA said that imported ingredients used in the adulterated pet food may have been intentionally added in order to hike the protein content.

South African authorities said that tests of Royal Canin SA's products found that corn gluten, used in producing dog and cat dry pet food products manufactured by Vets Choice and Royal Canin were contaminated were melamine and the corn gluten had been imported from China. 4-23-07