BREAKING NEWS: Melamine in Corn Gluten Linked to South African Pet Illnesses
April 19th, 2007
The 29 cases of renal failure in South Africa has been linked to melamine in corn gluten used in pet food. Corn gluten is used extensively in the US.

Tests have confirmed that Vets Choice and Royal Canin dog and cat dry pet-food products contained corn gluten contaminated with melamine, says the manufacturer.

The contaminated corn gluten was delivered to Royal Canin by a South African third-party supplier and appears to have originated from China.

We were tracking cases of the South African pet deaths before and have heard rumors of corn gluten contamination.

At this point, we believe that all corn gluten should be considered at risk for contamination and should be tested by every pet food manufacturer and the FDA.

Please help us track all pet food that contains corn gluten in this Forums thread.

Update: 30 pets die from contaminated food. A stunning quote:

An independent pathologist, Professor Fred Reyers said the outbreak may not be an isolated incident. He believed there was sufficient evidence to suggest a link between this outbreak and a similar one in Cape Town as well as one in the United States.

EDITOR’S NOTE: It was a difficult decision (and we know that some will accuse us of sparking panic) but based on patterns of development and expansion of recall in the US, Itchmo has issued an email Safety Alert to pet parents out of abundance of caution. We believe all pet parents should be given the information to make informed judgements to form their own reactions. We believe it is not up to us to decide what you should or shouldn’t know.

We stress that NO US OR CANADIAN CONNECTION HAS BEEN REPORTED.