FDA probes pet food maker, supplier

WASHINGTON —  Federal agents searched facilities of a dog and cat food manufacturer and one of its suppliers as part of an investigation into the widening recall of pet products, the companies disclosed Friday.

Food and Drug Administration officials searched an Emporia, Kan., pet food plant operated by Menu Foods and the Las Vegas offices of ChemNutra Inc., according to the companies.

Menu Foods made many of the more than 100 brands of pet food recalled since March 16 because of contamination by the chemical melamine. ChemNutra supplied the manufacturer with wheat gluten, one of the two ingredients tainted by melamine used in recalled pet products. Both companies said they were cooperating with the investigation.

Menu Foods also said the U.S. attorney’s offices in Kansas and the western district of Missouri had targeted the company as part of misdemeanor investigations into whether it violated the federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act. The sale of adulterated food is a misdemeanor.

The FDA also is looking at all other ingredients imported by ChemNutra and is trying to reconcile what it imported with what it supplied to customers, agency spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said.

Import records show that since May 2006, ChemNutra also imported 440,000 pounds of the second suspect pet food ingredient, rice protein concentrate, from the same Chinese trading agent that handled exports of the tainted wheat gluten.

It’s unknown whether ChemNutra’s rice protein concentrate was contaminated. Limited testing suggests it wasn’t. However, another company’s imports of that same ingredient, albeit from a different source, have been found to be tainted.