Menu Foods has recalled some of its dog and cat food because it contains trace amounts of rat poison, which has led to kidney failure and the untimely deaths of at least 16 dogs and cats. The tainted food has come from both a factory in Emporia and a factory in New Jersey.
The Food and Drug Administration is looking at the wheat gluten, a thickening agent that Menu Foods imports from China, to see if it could’ve been tainted with rat poison. But that raises the question: Why is Menu Foods importing wheat gluten to Kansas? Surely the Chinese can’t beat our prices for wheat. Isn’t this like the old saying about selling coal to Newcastle?
Posted by Ross Stewart
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25 Comments
Why do we import cars when we make them here?
Ross,
I didn’t know Jack about wheat Gluten, but even the most basic internet search revealed that wheat gluten is usually only available in Asian markets and is predominently an Asian food.
So that is probably why it is imported, because no one here processes wheat Gluten.
As a baker – I have two kinds of Wheat Gluten in my cupboard presently.
Bob’s Red MillHodgson’s Mill
Both in the States.
Small local mills sell it, also.
My guess is that we just imported it….because.
I just don’t see it as being a big deal.
It’s because the company that owns Menu Foods is a multi-billion dollar French Company. They have facilities in Canada and the U.S. in this hemisphere.
I’m pretty sure France has a trade agreement with China on wheat products, but will have to look it up.
“…wheat gluten is usually only available in Asian markets”
If this is true, it’s conversation over. If this is true, wouldn’t the white Intern have looked it up?
because its cheaper…….It doesnt suprise me that the chinese are cheaper
I have no idea really, I am practically cut and pasting from the internet.
I just found it to be a rather stupid blog topic asking a question which leads to little more than speculation when instead you could go find out.
Wheat gluten is made and shipped by the rail box car load in Ark City at the flour mills there. I worked there in college days at the starch plant where they made starch and gluten. Gluten is that gummy stuff you get when you farmers out there chew the wheat grains for awhile. The white stuff you get is the flour and starch, At the mills,the gummy stuff is heated in a large rotating kiln where it is dried and turned into a powder and bagged up. It is about 80% protein and used in all kinds of foods such as baked goods and candies and gravies. Read the containers and you will see “glutenates” or the like.
And yes, the Eagle and TV stations need to have someone in Emporia asking that question, why are they using Chinese gluten and they need to cease it. They have no control over food practices in a 4th world country as China.
4th world being not only 3rd world but Communist-Socialist on top to drag it down farther.
My guess is menu foods is done millions lost in recall, kroger walmart ect sue menu foods over lost sales, and pet owners sue over dead pets and all because menu wanted to save a dime on chinese wheat. And China exports wheat? they can feed billion+ people had still have surplus to export?
MrBill – LOVE your definition. Chewing the grains, indeed.
Actually, the gluten is added to yeast dough when you’re making bread products to help promote a steady rise during proofing.
I use it mostly with heavier grained doughs, whole wheat, rye, cracked wheat, etc., just to ensure good texture, especially if the flour being used is a lower protein.
Only a little is needed.
For the amount used, it is a pretty cheap product – I can’t see where China could produce and ship it any cheaper, but perhaps as one poster said – it’s coming from a French-owned company.
They may have an independent contract.
Who knows?
HOw does rat poison get in gluten to begin with?
That’s what puzzles me.
Rats are after the grain, they poison around the grain. Transferance?
I’m sure it has to do with lower standards regarding health and inspection rules and if Chinese heath standards scare Google the new trade laws we have with Mexico now that allow Mexican truck drivers unregulated access to American roads
Chew it? yesWhen I was growing up on the wheat farm we used to chew the wheat grains and the gluten turns to a chewy gum.
At the mills they put large amounts of the ground up wheat in a large rotating tube with water wash. The starch washes out for use as starch and the left over gluten turns into a 20ft. long tube of putty like paste that is dried, turned to flakey powder and bagged and loaded into box cars.
And yes, anywhere there is grain there are rats, mice, weevils etc. So there is a large possibility for cross contamination from pesticide or as this stuff is called , a “rodenticide” Its not allowed here in the US now but it used to be as a cancer treatment.
“Rats are after the grain,” the cats are after the rats, the dogs are after the cats. Silly people.
There are plenty of wheat gluten suppliers in the United States.
However an even bigger question is if the poison passed that easily from china to Canada to the US, various states, such as Kansas, then who’s monitoring the food supplies, pet or human?
There are plenty of wheat gluten suppliers in the United States.
However an even bigger question is if the poison passed that easily from china to Canada to the US, various states, such as Kansas, then who’s monitoring the food supplies, pet or human?
mrbill, wheat gum. Yum. We used to pick the heads and pull the little prickly-soft shards down to reveal the dried grain. If you were patient enough to get 30 or 40 you could have a good sized gumball.
Last time I was lazy; waited for the grain truck to leave and sauntered over to some overflow on the field. I grabbed a handful, thinking how I might grind my own, and stuck it in my mouth, only to bite down on a pebble amongst the grains. Ouch.
Now I put the field in Alfalfa. Smells better, stays green longer, love the purple flowers, and can cut it three times a year.
Sorghum is better to chew.
To bad they dont allow the Kansas wheat farmer to grow Marijuana, I talked to some good ole boys and they said in 2 years they could put all the Mexican Drug Cartels out of business if we could raise it and tax it here.
Hell, we could likely raise so much we would then need a Farm Program to subsidize the coming low prices.
Marijuana used to grow wild near rivers in most of the surrounding states. Find a river that has sandbars and for some reason the seeds of the weed tended to drop in.
You people piss me off. If your dog was lying in front of you dying, like mine is now, you wouldn’t be so god-damned flip.
Plus, how do you know that YOU haven’t eaten some of it in some imported product? On top of that, I’m aware that some elderly eat dog food to save on grocery bills. Yes, that’s right, here in America. Think about it, you damned dummies.
UPDATE: It may not be just the rat poison. Melamine, a plastic, found in the tainted pet food, and suspected wheat gluten.
And it’s possibly in dry dog food?
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/03/pet_food_recall09.html“And that melamine-contaminated wheat gluten, the FDA announced, might have been used to make dry dog food. If that’s the case, the scope of this massive recall could be even wider.”
As of Friday, March 30, Purina recalled Alpo Prime Cuts in gravy, which is what my dog ate. The wheat gluten was contaminated with melamine and came from the same supplier (Chinese) used by Menu Foods.
It’s my understanding that melamine isn’t metabolized, so it isn’t toxic per se, but causes secondary problems that can be fatal. My dog is at the vet hospital now and may not make it. He has kidney damage and also a urinary infection, probably caused by crystallization of the melamine.
My vet advises that, until this mess is sorted out, one can make a reasonably good dog food by boiling hamburger in water, draining off ALL the fat, then add peas, carrots and little rice to bulk it out.
Bottom line: Screw Purina and all the rest of them. Purina stonewalled me all week, insisting there was no problem, despite the fact that thousands of people, I now learn, were calling with reports of tainted food. From now on, my pets eat my food.