On Wednesday, April 25, 2007, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) announced it had quarantined a western North Carolina hog farm after melamine, the chemical found in the wheat gluten of recalled pet food manufactured by Menu Foods Income Company, was found in its animals and feed. All 1400 hogs at the farm are under quarantine, and none of the animals have entered the food supply.

“It is important to note that all animals that may have consumed the infected feed have been accounted for,” said Mary Ann McBride, assistant state veterinarian for NCDA&CS. At this time, there does not seem to be any risk to humans from the contaminated pet feed or from pork produced in North Carolina.

The department was notified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 20 that the farm had been shipped potentially contaminated pet food. NCDA&CS sent a team to the farm to collect feed samples of the feed, which were found to have melamine, a chemical additive used in plastics. Tests on the urine of hogs confirmed the presence of melamine in the hogs.

On Tuesday, April 24, Paul Henderson of Menu Foods Income Fund Company testified before a U.S. Congressional subcommittee on food safety that the melamine found in wheat gluten used in the company’s recalled cat food and dog food products was put in the additive deliberately by the Chinese supplier used by the company. Melamine is high in nitrogen and could artificially boost the protein level of gluten during tests, perhaps enabling the Chinese company supplying the product to charge more for the gluten.

In a statement released on its website, NCDA&CS said, “It is believed the melamine originated with rice protein concentrate shipped from China. Through an importer, the concentrate was distributed to the Diamond Pet Foods plant in Gaston, S.C. Diamond sold pet food to the farm for pig feed. Pet food with cosmetic blemishes is often sold to farms as a protein source to be custom-blended into a balanced hog feed.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service believes fewer than 10 hog farms in six states received contaminated pig feed from Diamond Pet Foods. North Carolina is the second-largest pork produced in the U.S., with 2300 operating hog farms, most in the eastern part of North Carolina.

Sources: Scott Mason, “N.C. Hog Farm Quarantined,” WRAL.com, April 26, 2007; North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, “NCDA&CS responds to FDA notification of potential contaminated pet food to hog farm,” April 25, 2007.