How did the melamine get into animal feed?
The pet food manufacturing process results in some crushed or otherwise damaged product that cannot be sold for pet food. These scraps are often sold to livestock manufacturers to add to animal feed. Pet food scraps containing a melamine-contaminated product labeled as rice protein concentrate went to hog producers in various states, including California, Illinois, Kansas, North Carolina, New York, South Carolina, and Utah. Pet food scraps containing a melamine-contaminated product labeled as wheat gluten went to chicken farms in Indiana. In addition, FDA found that some of the contaminated product labeled as wheat gluten was shipped to Skretting, a company located in British Columbia, Canada, which used it to manufacture fish feed. The feed was distributed in the United States to 197 fish hatcheries and 2 commercial aquaculture establishments.
