Pet Food Recall Widens Again on New Threat

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The 94-0 vote was on an amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., which called for a national pet version of the system that now tracks food contamination and outbreaks of illness and death in people.

In a prepared statement, the Humane Society applauded the Senate action.

"The Humane Society of the United States commends Senator Durbin for his fast action to protect the food supply for people and their pets," said Wayne Pacelle, its president and CEO. "The last six weeks have exposed that the safety standards for pet foods are not in place in any significant way and the constant drumbeat, day after day, of recalls has shaken consumers' confidence in the pet food industry's adherence to food safety standards."

Earlier this week, U.S. health officials had reported that up to 3 million broiler chickens were fed tainted pet food and then sold on the U.S. market beginning in early February.

The contaminated pet product made its way into poultry feed at 38 Indiana farms, 30 of which produced broiler chickens destined for restaurants and supermarkets, said FDA and USDA officials.

Approximately 2.5 million to 3 million chickens fed contaminated pet food have already been sold, Kenneth Peterson, assistant administrator for field operations at the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said during a Tuesday teleconference.

The announcement came on the heels of similar discoveries at hog farms across the United States. The USDA first announced last week that meat from 345 hogs suspected of eating the contaminated feed had entered the U.S. food supply. Some 6,000 hogs suspected of eating the contaminated product have since been quarantined and meat from these animals will be withheld from the food supply, both agencies said.

Last week, China banned melamine from its food products, but rejected the charge that the substance caused the U.S. pet deaths, the AP reported.

On Friday, the Times reported, Chinese officials detained the general manager of Xuzhou on unspecified charges. The move was viewed as a sign that the Chinese government was stepping up its own probe while trying to cooperate with U.S. health investigators who are now in the country.

U.S. regulators, meanwhile, were continuing to investigate how -- or even if -- melamine becomes fatal for pets, because it's not believed to be particularly toxic. U.S. law bans its presence in any form of food.

More information

For more information on pet food, visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.