  |
|||
|
|
|
||
|
Posted by Daniel Workman Feb 8, 2008 |
According to David Twiddy of the Associated Press, the U.S. Attorney's office is charging 2 Chinese companies and an American firm with distributing tainted pet food which led to the recall of 60 million cans and pouches of wet pet food at a cost of US$55 million last year.
Located in China's Jiangsu Province, Xuzhou Anying Biologic was charged with 13 felony counts each for introducing adulterated food - as well as misbranded food - into interstate commerce. Both the Chinese owner and president are named in the indictment.
A Chinese export broker, Suzhou Textiles, was also charged with mislabelling 800 tonnes of tainted wheat gluten that Xuzhou manufactured. Not only did Suzhou mislabel the gluten in an attempt to avoid inspection in China, the Chinese export broker did not declare the contaminated product when it was exported to the U.S.
The American company ChemNutra picked up the melamine-laced wheat gluten at a Kansas City port after it was shipped from China. Because ChemNutra distributed the tainted gluten to pet food makers in Canada as well as the U.S.
The criminal charges against the Chinese companies are punishable by up to 3 years in prison. If proven, the felony conspiracy charge will result in 5 years in prison. Charges against the American importer ChemNutra carry a lesser but still serious penalty of one year in prison.