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China has blocked requests from FDA to Check import Foods

PORKER

Well-known member
DURBIN - DELAURO JOINT PRESS RELEASE ▼
APRIL 18, 2007



For Immediate Release
April 18, 2007

DURBIN, DELAURO MEET WITH VON ESCHENBACH

URGE CHINESE GOVERNMENT TO COOPERATE ON PET FOOD CONTAMINATION INVESTIGATION

[ WASHINGTON , DC ] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) today met with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Andrew 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, 2007, 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.

"It is unacceptable that the Chinese government is blocking our food safety inspectors from entering their country and examining facilities that are suspected of providing contaminated pet food to American consumers," said Durbin. "We have asked for two things in our letter today -- that the Chinese government allow our inspectors in and that the Chinese ambassador to the United States meet with Congresswoman DeLauro and me to discuss the larger issue of contaminated food being sent to the U.S. . These are reasonable requests and we hope that we can find a level of cooperation with the Chinese."

“At time when China is exporting more foods into the U.S, the Chinese are refusing to allow our inspectors in to the country to investigate the source of the pet food contamination. The FDA needs to be allowed to investigate this so we can better protect our pets and identify the source of the source of the problem. While we have a significant trade relationship with the Chinese, the investigation of the contaminated product comes first,” said DeLauro.

Last week, Durbin, a member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, along with Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), the Chairman of the Subcommittee, held a hearing to question witnesses on 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 who 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.

Additionally, DeLauro, the Chairman of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, will further explore FDA’s inspection of imported foods in a follow-up hearing before the subcommittee.

Durbin and DeLauro have been actively engaged on food safety issues for over a decade. This Congress they introduced legislation that calls for the development of a single food safety agency and the implementation of a food safety program to standardize American food safety activities (The Safe Food Act – S. 654 and H.R. 1148 in the Senate and House respectively). The Illinois senator said legislation he has introduced to consolidate all federal food safety responsibilities into a single, independent agency has taken on new urgency because of a possibly heightened need to respond quickly and effectively to any acts of bioterrorism or agroterrorism. Currently, there are at least 12 different federal agencies and 35 different laws governing food safety. With overlapping jurisdictions, federal agencies often lack accountability on food safety-related issues.

The non-partisan U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) has been unequivocal in its recommendation for consolidation of federal food safety programs. In February of this year, the GAO deemed federal oversight of food safety as “high risk” to the economy and public health and safety. Over the past two decades, GAO has also issued numerous reports on topics such as food recalls, food safety inspections and the transport of animal feeds. Each of these reports highlights the current fragmentation and inconsistent organization of the various agencies involved in food safety oversight.

[copy of the letter attached and below]




April 18, 2007



Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

The ongoing investigation into the recent series of pet deaths and illnesses in the United States has revealed that contaminated batches of wheat gluten and rice protein responsible for these events were imported from China . According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), China was the source of both the contaminated wheat gluten responsible for the recall of more than 60 million containers of cat and dog food, and the most recent recall of rice protein products.

Both products were contaminated with melamine, a chemical used for industrial purposes in the United States and in fertilizers in China . According to experts, no level of melamine should be found in pet or human food.

In the case of the contaminated wheat gluten, FDA has identified Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. as the source of the product. Although spokespeople for Xuzhou Anying have denied involvement in the incident, U.S.-based importer ChemNutra, Inc., has demonstrated that it imported the contaminated wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying and various media reports show that the Chinese company was involved in purchasing significant quantities of melamine. In the case of the rice protein contamination, U.S. importer Wilbur-Ellis has said that it imported its products from Binzhou Futian Biology Technology, Ltd.

In response to these contaminations, on March 30, 2007, FDA took steps to block imports of Chinese wheat gluten thought to pose a risk to the safety of the human and pet food supply. The Agency has also made multiple requests to the Chinese Government to allow U.S. inspectors to look at the facilities that are suspected to have produced the contaminated product. On April 4, 2007, the FDA sent its first letter to the Chinese Government asking for visas to allow its inspectors visit China . The request was not granted, and on April 17, 2007, the FDA sent an additional letter emphasizing that it wished to be allowed to send its inspectors to China .

This incident has brought suffering to pet owners who have seen their animals fall prey to illness or death, and caused significant economic losses to U.S. companies that believed they were importing wholesome products

Therefore, we strongly urge the Chinese Government to quickly issue visas to U.S. inspectors and cooperate in this investigation. Last year, the United States imported more than $2.1 billion of agricultural goods from China , up from nearly $1.8 billion the year before. Clearly, this is an important trading relationship.

We appreciate the courtesy of a timely response. We would also like to meet with you in the near future to discuss this issue.



Sincerely,



______________________________ ______________________________
Richard J. Durbin Rosa L. DeLauro

U.S. Senator Chairwoman House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
 

PORKER

Well-known member
China Says Ten Percent of Farming Land Contaminated
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CHINA: April 23, 2007


BEIJING - Over 10 percent of China's farm land is contaminated, threatening the ability of the world's most populous nation to feed itself, the official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.


Excessive fertilizer use, dirty water and solid waste were among the main pollutants, with heavy metals alone poisoning around 12 million tonnes of grain a year, the report said, quoting the Ministry of Land and Resources.
That pollution caused 20 billion yuan (US$2.59 billion) of annual losses.

In total, around 12.3 million hectares have been damaged, and the country is also losing large amounts of arable land to development as its cities expand, posing a "severe threat" to national food security, Xinhua quoted an unnamed ministry official saying.

China had already announced that agricultural land had shrunk by 306,800 hectares in the first 10 months of last year alone, to a total 121.8 million hectares.

Beijing is trying to halt the outward sprawl of its cities, with a series of restrictions on luxury developments and the use of farmland for housing or industrial zones.

Officials have called for efforts to keep arable land at or above 120 million hectares by 2010. (US$1=7.716 Yuan)



REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
 

PORKER

Well-known member
FDA to Test Imported Additives for Melamine

By Marc Kaufman and Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 25, 2007; Page A07

Concerned that a wide variety of Chinese vegetable protein products may be contaminated with the harmful compound melamine, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it will begin testing batches of six imported ingredients used in pet foods and livestock feed, as well as additives to human food.

Officials have not found the substance in food products for people but detected it in two imported ingredients widely used in pet food: wheat gluten and rice protein. The agency said that imported corn gluten, corn meal, soy protein and rice bran will also be tested. The vegetable proteins are used in bread, pizza, baby food and many vegetarian dishes.

Melamine, used in plastics and fertilizer, was earlier found in wheat gluten used in pet foods. Menu Foods, Procter & Gamble Co., Colgate-Palmolive Co., Nestle SA and Del Monte Foods Co. have all recalled pet products made with the gluten..


"This is a proactive step," said David Acheson, chief medical officer of the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "We will test a variety of foods and feeds because we need to know all there is to know" about the melamine contamination.

Melamine, a nitrogen-based compound used in products such as countertops, glues and fertilizers, was identified this month as the cause of fatal kidney failure in an unknown number of dogs and cats, leading to the recall of more than 100 brands of pet food.
Officials traced the melamine to two Chinese plants, which have been supplying American distributors since last summer. Agency officials said that some contaminated products, sold by pet food manufacturers as scraps, were fed to hogs in the Carolinas, New York, California and Utah, and that some of those animals tested positive for melamine. They said that a contaminated shipment of feed had been sent to a Missouri chicken farm as well.

Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said a second chemical called cyanuric acid, which is related to melamine, has also been found in samples of rice protein concentrate.

FDA officials said that they are in discussions with Chinese officials about inspecting the plants where the contaminated pet food originated, but that no agreement has been reached. Julia Ho, of the agency's Office of International Programs, said Chinese authorities also are investigating.

Steve Miller, chief executive of ChemNutra, a Las Vegas-based importer of nutritional and pharmaceutical chemicals, said he suspects that the contamination was intentional.

"We are concerned that we may have been the victim of deliberate and mercenary contamination for the purpose of making the wheat gluten we purchased appear to have a higher protein content than it did, because melamine causes a false high result on protein tests," Miller wrote in an open letter posted on ChemNutra's Web site.
 
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