How did melamine get into pet food?
Melamine is a chemical used as a fertilizer and in the manufacture of plastics. Melamine is also a by-product of several pesticides. At first, there were several competing theories as to how the melamine got into the glutens and protein concentrates, including contamination from pesticides and genetically engineered crops. What seems apparent now is that the melamine was deliberately added to the grain in order to boost its apparent protein content. Melamine added to grain does not actually increase the amount of protein, but, in the process of testing for protein content, nitrogen content is used as a rough indicator. Thus, the test commonly used to determine the amount of protein in grain actually measures the amount of nitrogen. Melamine increases nitrogen levels in the test and makes the grain appear to be of higher quality than it really is. Chinese wholesalers knowingly added melamine to their grain to get a higher price at market. Apparently this has been done undetected for yea
