May 1, 2007

Tainted gluten wheat may have been used in chicken feed in Indiana

Byproducts from pet food contaminated with wheat gluten imported from China were used in chicken feed on some farms in Indiana, according to US investigators.

Current investgation is now focusing on imported rice protein concentrate and wheat gluten from China that have been found to contain melamine and melamine-related compounds. Pet food contaminated with melamine has killed at least 16 cats and dogs while a quarantine has been imposed on several hog farms suspected of feeding the tainted feed to pigs.

Now, The Agriculture Department and the FDA said that about 30 broiler poultry farms and eight breeder poultry farms in Indiana had received contaminated feed in early February and fed it to chickens.

The potentially affected chickens have since been processed.

The two agencies said they believed the likelihood of illness to people eating contaminated chicken was low as the chemical was most likely to be very diluted.

Since there have been no reports of humans getting sick from these chickens, the agencies said they were not issuing recalls of any of the processed chicken products.

The Agriculture Department and the FDA revealed last week that eight pork producers in seven states had bought the tainted feed, resulting in the quarantine of  some 6,000 hogs in six states. A feed mill in Missouri is also suspected of having distributed the contaminated feed.