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Limited resources NO.88

Limited resources

¡¡¡¡It¡®s been nearly a week since Canadian pet food manufacturer Menu Foods Inc. recalled some 60 million cans and pouches of wet food linked to the deaths of at least 15 cats and one dog, yet authorities still can¡®t explain exactly what went wrong. Some critics and animal lovers are honing in on what they see as lax regulation of the $15 billion pet food industry in the United States.

¡¡¡¡"There¡®s almost a void there," says Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association. "There is no real petª²food department of any federal agency."

¡¡¡¡Technically, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is responsible for ensuring that pet foods, like human foods, are safe to eat, truthfully labeled and produced under sanitary conditions. But on Tuesday, FDA officials admitted that the regulation of pet food takes a back seat to its regulatory obligations of other food and drug sectors, and that inspections of pet food processing plants are done only on a for cause basis.

¡¡¡¡"There are limited resources," said David Elder, director of the Office of Surveillance and Compliance in the FDA¡®s Center for Veterinary Medicine in Rockville, Md. Elder added that inspections of companion animals food products are "based on risk" , which means that the processing plant in Emporia, Kans., where the tainted food was manufactured, had never been inspected by government officials until after consumers started complaining about pets dying of kidney failure. The Emporia plant remains open and continues to produce new food, according to a Menu Foods spokesperson, who adds that safety tests are being done around the clock.

¡¡¡¡The chief executive of Menu Foods told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the company is looking at one unnamed ingredient as the possible cause of the renal failure. The FDA has previously said the investigation is focusing on possibly contaminated wheat gluten, a common ingredient in pet foods. FDA inspectors have been sent to Menu Foods plants in Kansas and New Jersey.

¡¡¡¡The industry insists their products are absolutely safe. "Pet foods are the highest regulated product you¡®ll find in the grocery store," says Duane Ekedahl, president of the Pet Food Institute (PFI), an industry trade association representing the interests of 20 member companies whose products make up about 97 percent of the dog and cat food produced in the United States. While serious, the Menu Foods recall shouldn¡®t be blown out of proportion, says Ekedahl, who points out that the recalled food accounts for less then 2 percent of the overall market. He adds that every pet food company conducts extensive tests, both of incoming raw materials and of finished products. On Tuesday, PFI issued a statement claiming that "All cat and dog food products on store shelves are safe. The recall is now complete and all suspected products have been removed from the stream of commerce."