The U.S. and other countries were in an uproar when it was discovered that Chinese manufacturers had added the chemical melamine to their products, which were used to make pet food and suspected of killing animals in America. But now it has been revealed that some American firms have been doing the same thing for a long time. From the Wall Street Journal:
The use of a potentially dangerous chemical as an animal feed additive by a pair of U.S. companies could shift the terms of a debate now playing out over China’s regulation of its food production and exports.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Wednesday said it has alerted manufacturers of feed for livestock, fish and shrimp to a voluntary recall of products made by Tembec BTLSR Inc. of Toledo, Ohio. The FDA said Tembec had added melamine, an agent used in plastics and fire retardants but unfit for use in food, to animal feed agents to improve the product’s texture. The FDA said Tembec is a contract manufacturer for another company, Uniscope Inc. of Johnstown, Colo. [Full text]
See also “U.S. Company Used Melamine in Feed” from the Washington Post and a previous CDT post about Chinese authorities turning away imports of seafood and bottled water.
