April 23, 2007

 

US officials work to keep tainted pork off market in California

 

 

California state and federal government officials are working to keep pork produced from hogs that may have eaten tainted feed out of the commercial marketplace, according to a press briefing held by the California Department of Food and Agriculture Friday (Apr 20).

 

California state agriculture officials placed the American Hog Farm (AHF) located in Stanislaus County under quarantine after an industrial chemical that has tainted more than 100 brands of dog and cat food was found in pig urine there, according to an Associated Press story early Friday.

 

During the briefing, the officials said laboratory tests confirmed that urine and feed samples taken at  AHF did contain the chemical melamine, which was determined to be a contaminant suspected in the recent pet-food recall.

 

They also said about 100 hogs were processed between April 3 and April 18 by the state-inspected plant for private use by customers, and all products were labelled "not for sale". The contaminated feed arrived at the farm April 3.

 

Kevin Reilly with the California Department of Health Services said there is "minimal risk" to consumers from the product but also recommended as an added safety factor that individuals who purchased products from the period April 3 through 18 not consume that product. The investigation is ongoing but at this time, there is minimal risk, he said.

 

They also said at least one federally inspected meat plant received some animals from American Hog Farm. A northern California federally inspected plant received some animals but the pork has been retained and is not in the US food supply. The officials are attempting to determine if other animals were shipped to additional plants.

 

"We're tracing additional sales of live animals from that (AHF) farm," said Richard Breitmeyer, California State Veterinarian. "We were aware of sales to at least one federally inspected plant, and our understanding from USDA is all products currently known from that farm is under the control of US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) at the plant, not out in the commercial meat supply. We're continuing to trace other potential sales to other small state-licensed plants and that's ongoing."

 

Steven Cohen, spokesman with FSIS, said Friday that the federally inspected slaughter plant in Northern California purchased 26 pigs from the producer that fed its animals the pet food contaminated with melamine. All of the pork produced from those animals, along with all of the other pork produced on the same days in the facility, is being held, Cohen said.

 

All 18,000 pounds of it "is under retention and has not moved from that federal facility," the FSIS spokesman said in a telephone interview.

 

Of the 26 pigs, 14 arrived at the slaughter facility April 3--the same day that the farm received the tainted feed, Cohen said. The other 12 animals arrived at the slaughter plant April 4.

 

USDA is being "very cautious," Cohen said. "We're confident that none of the product moved from that facility into commerce."

 

The officials said other animals that were fed rations that contained the salvaged pet food products appear to be healthy. The animal health officials have held three additional animals for further testing to determine if or for how long the chemical may be retained in muscle tissue.

 

The US Food and Drug Administration found the problem through the inspection of records from the Diamond Pet Food Company, which had purchased rice protein concentrate from China for use in its products. The melamine was traced back to that product, and federal officials are working to trace backward to the Chinese facility that produced and sold the concentrate.

 

They also said the hogs in question were likely exposed to the melamine for less than two weeks.

 

The state officials are tracking the paperwork to determine if other state-inspected plants were sold any of the rice protein concentrate.