It seems that the Chinese mis-labeled the wheat gluten as it left China to get around having it inspected...
From the International Herald Tribune:
Chinese firm dodged inspection of pet food, U.S. says
Chinese company accused of selling contaminated wheat gluten to pet food suppliers in the United States failed to disclose to China's export authorities that it was shipping food or feed to the United States, thereby avoiding having its goods inspected, according to U.S. regulators.
Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development, one of two Chinese companies at the center of the massive pet food recall after thousands of animals were killed and sickened, had shipped more than 700 tons of wheat gluten labeled as "nonfood" products earlier this year through a third party, a Chinese textile company.
The "nonfood" designation meant the company's shipments were not subject to mandatory inspection by the Chinese government.
The details of the case, some of which were disclosed Friday in a circular released by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, are just the latest clues that Chinese feed suppliers may have been intentionally disguising the contents of their goods.
FDA officials are now visiting China, seeking more information about how and why an industrial chemical used in plastics and as fertilizer got mixed into pet food ingredients.
The pet food recall is threatening to turn into a major trade issue because of mounting worries in the U.S. Congress about the safety of China's agricultural exports to the United States, the ability of American regulators to protect the country's food supply and the slow pace of efforts by the Chinese government to aid the investigation.
American regulators admit that six weeks after one of the biggest pet food recalls in U.S. history, they still do not know who in China manufactured the contaminated pet food ingredients or where in China the contamination took place.
Certainly, the crime happened in China but I would like to focus on Menu Foods and the other manufacturers. Surely they must have known something was less than above board when their materials came in from a textile company instead of a chemical or food manufacturing company... There is a good book in here for someone who wants to spend the time digging.
