Lawmakers probe FDA response to harmful pet food

Launching a probe on behalf of dogs and cats -- and pet owners like himself -- House Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee Chairman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, is investigating the Food and Drug Administration's response to the massive recall of pet food that has killed or sickened pets.

Kucinich, whose panel has broad jurisdiction over domestic issues, has written to Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, requesting information on when the agency first discovered harmful toxins in Menu Foods Income Fund pet food.

Menu Foods issued a recall March 16 of dog and cat foods produced in two of their plants after discovering melamine in the wheat gluten used for wet food products. Tests also confirmed the presence of aminopterin, a rat poison. The Menu Foods announcement has led to the recall of 60 million pet food products and the FDA has confirmed at least 15 animal deaths from the incident so far.

Kucinich posed as many as 20 specific questions to Sundlof in a letter dated Tuesday, including a request for FDA plant inspection reports over the last two years.

"Millions of American families have a right to be assured that everything possible is being done to protect the health of their beloved family pets," Kucinich, owner of two beagles and a cocker spaniel, said this week. A Kucinich spokeswoman said the subcommittee might conduct a hearing on the issue.

Citing the additional recalls after the Menu Foods announcement, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., initiated their own inquiry into the FDA's oversight of pet food manufacturing facilities.

"Based on the evidence so far, it would appear that FDA is failing its responsibilities to protect animals from unsafe food as much as it is failing to protect American consumers," said DeLauro, whose subcommittee has jurisdiction over the FDA.

She and Durbin, a member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, wrote to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach seeking an analysis of FDA's oversight of pet food manufacturing facilities and a report of actions taken since the recalls began.

The Durbin-DeLauro probe of what they called "weak links" in the system follows recalls issued late last month from Del Monte Pet Products, Hill's Pet Nutrition and Nestle Purina PetCare Co., also in response to wheat gluten contamination.

Durbin and DeLauro introduced legislation in February that would create a single food safety agency. The measure would consolidate the food oversight responsibilities now spread throughout 15 government agencies.

"In light of recent events, it looks like we will need to broaden [our] effort to include pet foods" in the proposed agency, DeLauro said in a prepared statement.

Durbin released a statement saying his goal is to eliminate the "vulnerabilities" affecting food safety and American consumers. "Many cats, dogs and other pets, considered members of the family, are now suffering as a result of a flawed pet food inspection system," he said.