Cross-contamination widens pet food recall

Ontario pet food maker Menu Foods has expanded its recall of wet cat and dog food because of the chance of cross-contamination.

TheMississauga-based company said in a news release on Wednesdayit was now recallingproducts that were manufactured at one of its plants during the time when tainted ingredientswere used, even if they weren't made with those ingredients.

In March, Menu Foods recalled about 60 million cans and pouches of pet food that had been produced with adulterated wheat gluten.

The pet food was marketed under a variety of brand names.

The company said it has received a customer report and study results that indicate cross-contamination had occurred.

The additional items on its recall list include products sold in Canada, the United States and Europe.

An updated list of its products can be found on the company website.

The contaminated gluten originated in China and was suppliedto Menu Foods by ChemNutraof Las Vegas.

The recall dates of those products previously recalled have been modified to include all dates during the period that ChemNutra wheat gluten was used in the applicable Menu plant, the company said.

"All of these products, including the expanded dates, have previously been withdrawn from the market and should already be off the retailer shelves," the company said in a release.

Menu Foods said the additional recall represents less than five per cent of the products that have already been recalled. It said it has also revised its estimate of the out-of-pocket costs for the total recall to be$40 million to $45 million.

Wheat gluten shipments improperly labelled: FDA

The tainted pet food has been linked to the deaths of 16 pets, mostly cats. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said tests show that the food was contaminated with melamine, a chemical used in the making of plastics. The agency has fielded about 17,000 calls from consumers about the pet food recall.

Several other pet food companies also have voluntarily withdrawn their products from the market to prevent further pet deaths.

Meanwhile, American regulators say wheat gluten shipments went unchecked by Chinese export authorities because the goods were falsely labelled as non-food items, according to an FDA report obtained by the New York Times.

On Tuesday, FDA officials said that while melamine had been used in feed for hogs and chickens, the threat to humans was minimal.

The FDA confirmed that as many as three million chickens out of nine billion slaughtered may have consumed the tainted feed but the agency noted that there was no data to justify a recall on poultry and pork products.