Posted on 04/04/2007 5:42:29 AM PDT by girlangler
ChemNutra Announces Nationwide Wheat Gluten Recall
Contact: Devon Blaine/Lisa Baker 310-360-1499
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --Las Vegas, NV -- April 3, 2007 -- ChemNutra Inc., of Las Vegas, Nevada, yesterday recalled all wheat gluten it had imported from one of its three Chinese wheat gluten suppliers – Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd.
The wheat gluten ChemNutra recalled was all shipped from China in 25 kg. paper bags, and distributed to customers in the same unopened bags. The bags were all labeled "Wheat Gluten Batch No.: _______ Net Weight: 25 kg Gross Weight: 25.1 kg Made in China". The batch numbers included in the recall are 20061006, 20061027, 20061101, 20061108, 20061122, 20061126, 20061201, 20061202, 20061203, 20061204, 20061205, 20061206, 20061208, 20061221, 20070106, 20070111, 20070116, and 20070126. Each ChemNutra shipment had the certificate of analysis information from the supplier, including batch number and the supplier's content analysis and test results. ChemNutra shipped from its Kansas City warehouse to three pet food manufacturers and one distributor who supplies wheat gluten only to the pet food industry. ChemNutra's shipments commenced November 9, 2006 and ended March 8, 2007. ChemNutra did not ship to facilities that manufacture food for human consumption, and the distributor ChemNutra shipped to supplies wheat gluten only to pet food manufacturers. The total quantity of Xuzhou Anying wheat gluten shipped was 792 metric tons.
ChemNutra learned on March 8 from one pet food manufacturer that the wheat gluten it had sold them – all from the Xuzhou Anying - was among ingredients suspected as a potential cause of pet food problems. ChemNutra immediately quarantined its entire wheat gluten inventory and assisted this customer's investigation.
After that manufacturer issued a pet food recall, the FDA immediately commenced a thorough investigation of ChemNutra's wheat gluten, including documentation analysis, inspection, and laboratory testing. ChemNutra cooperated fully with the FDA and immediately notified its other three wheat gluten customers about the FDA's investigation. Those customers had all purchased smaller amounts of the Xuzhou Anying wheat gluten commencing in January, 2007.
On Friday, March 30, the FDA announced they had found melamine in samples of the wheat gluten ChemNutra had imported from Xuzhou Anying. The FDA did not inform ChemNutra of any other impurities in the Xuzhou Anying wheat gluten, nor of any impurities in the wheat gluten from ChemNutra's other two Chinese suppliers.
The toxicity of melamine is not clear. However, since melamine is not approved by the FDA for pet food, it should absolutely not have been in wheat gluten. ChemNutra is extremely concerned about the purity of all of its products. The company is particularly troubled that the certificates of analysis provided by the above-named supplier did not report the presence of melamine.
ChemNutra wants to ensure its products are safe. Consequently, in addition to its ongoing cooperation with the FDA, ChemNutra will be conducting its own independent, analytical tests of wheat gluten from all of its suppliers.
Yesterday ChemNutra sent recall notices to all four of its direct customers. If any other company received bags of recalled wheat gluten from the lot numbers referenced above, please call ChemNutra at 702.818.5019.
Consumers who have questions about the pet food they should go to the FDA's website at www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01590.html. This website lists all brands of petfood involved, with links to the manufacturer who should be contacted with questions.
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FDA's Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts Page: http://www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html
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I don’t have a ping list for this topic, and have to run. Can you two ping your lists?
The question now is who bought wheat gluten from ChemNutra?
And how hard is it to come by wheat gluten in THIS country? Sounds like an ultra cheap product to begin with. I mean, is there a “wheat gluten Union” that makes it too expensive to buy over here???
We only have glutton unions, not gluten unions.
Any word on whether or not this wheat gluten is used in human food, too? I find it hard to believe that it’s not a possibility.
“Yesterday (4/2) ChemNutra sent recall notices to all four of its direct customers.”
They’re really on the ball there...
I can’t eat the stuff anyway.
Thanks for posting. Life/Health BUMP!
Notice how the media and the government are hush hush about all this in that no one as far as I have seen has even asked that question in the news.
By almost any prepackaged, preprocessed, canned, wrapped, frozen, freeze dried food off any grocer's shelf from products like dog food, cat food, wheat crackers, peanut butter crackers, frozen waffles, frozen dough, bread, frozen, 'instant meals', 'dinner helpers' of all kinds, etc., etc. and wherever artificial beef or turkey or chicken flavors, gravies, sauces, etc., and the like where wheat gluten is an additive, then you'll have a huge possibility of just how far reaching this problem really could be.
Don't think for one minute that this is on the horizon and the government, Wall Street, the CDC, etc. are seriously wondering.
The big question is, how come each production lot isn't thoroughly testing for contamination by poisons, petroleum by products, cleaning agents, bacteria, insecticides, herbicides, especially when these products come from foreign countries? Why? Because it takes time and money. Companies always have to run "Just in Time and lean....otherwise they think they loose too much in profits, positive cash flow, inability to supply customer demand; well, AT LEAST THEY THINK.
I am not paranoid, just read the labels of any prepared snacks or prepared 'regular' food that is heat and serve. I bet you there is not hardly any prepackaged foods that do not contain wheat gluten.
Gluten
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wheat - a prime source of gluten
Gluten is an amorphous mixture of ergastic (i.e., non-living) proteins found combined with starch in the endosperm of some cereals, notably wheat, rye, and barley. It constitutes about 80% of the proteins contained in wheat, and is composed of the proteins gliadin and glutenin. Gluten is responsible for the elasticity of kneaded dough, which allows it to be leavened, as well as the “chewiness” of baked products like bagels. It is the glutenins (specifically, low molecular weight glutenins) that are especially critical to gluten quality.[1]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Extraction
* 2 Usage
* 3 Occurrence
* 4 Health
* 5 See also
* 6 References
[edit] Extraction
It is possible to extract gluten from the flour of wheat and other grains by washing out the starch. To do this, a simple dough of flour and water is rinsed with plain water and kneaded until the rinsing water remains clear and free from starch and bran. For chemical, non-food purposes, a saline solution provides better results. The remaining lump of gluten should have a stringy, sticky texture reminiscent of chewing gum.
[edit] Usage
Cooked gluten becomes firm to the bite and soaks up a certain amount of the surrounding broth and its taste. It is therefore commonly used in vegetarian cuisine, notably Buddhist cuisine and vegan cuisine, where one variety is called seitan, from Japanese. Some consider it a convincing imitation meat (particularly duck) when the broth is flavored accordingly.
In the process of baking with yeast, gluten is responsible for keeping the fermentation gases in the dough, allowing it to rise. After baking, the coagulated gluten ensures that the final product keeps its shape (although starch is also essential for structural integrity). Recently, gluten has also been implicated as being at least partially responsible for bread staling.[citation needed]
The development of gluten in baked goods affects the texture of the resulting product. More gluten development leads to chewier baked goods such as pizza dough and bagels, while less gluten development is desirable in more tender baked goods such as pie. There are several main factors that affect the development of gluten in baked goods:
* the amount of gluten-forming proteins in the wheat flour used (for instance, bread flour is high in these substances, while cake flour is low in them).
* The amount of fat (shortening) in the product inhibits the formation of long gluten strands, so more shortening yields a more tender product.
* Mixing is necessary to develop the gluten strands, so more mixing creates a chewier product.
* Liquid is necessary to the development of the gluten, and more liquid generally is used in products where a chewier texture is desired. (see http://www.bakersassist.nl/processing5-2.htm).
As an example of a practical application, pie crust should be very tender, so a good pie crust uses low-gluten flour, lots of shortening, very little liquid, and is mixed only until combined.
Just checked a few labels on bread stuffs, one of the main ingredients was, Wheat Gluten. The people who bought this crap from china should be shot. Looks like I am off store bought bread for a while now.
ChemNutra imports quality ingredients from China to the U.S. for the feed, food and pharma industries. We are a professionally managed, American owned company experienced in negotiating, securing and delivering ultra-competitive pricing on high-quality chemicals and ingredients from quality-assured manufacturers in China.
We bridge the business and cultural gaps…including all regulatory, compliance, import and transportation requirements.
We specialize in Taurine, L-Cysteine, Glycine, Vital Wheat Gluten, and Glucuronolactone, and we also handle many other ingredients.
ChemNutra imports over 4,000 tons per year, and our customers include several Fortune 500 companies.
I have yet to have heard one word of apology from the Chinese for this abomination. I suggest refusing to buy any of their products, which are produced in ways that are not hororable in my moral lexicon in many instances anyhow, for the foreseeable future.
Ugh. I have been cooking from scratch due to being on the Weightwatcher’s diet, and it looks like I may be doing so for a long time.
Good luck sueing the CHINESE.
Yet ANOTHER benefit of OUTSOURCING to the CHEAPEST FOREIGN MARKET!
That said, foreign food products that do not have to comply with US food standards should be strictly scrutinized upon arrival and quarantined until approved.
It would be interesting to have FReepers list products they have around their home that contain WG.
sw
his is the link to "ChemNutra" which says:
"ChemNutra imports quality ingredients from China to the U.S. for the feed, food and pharma industries. We are a professionally managed, American owned company experienced in negotiating, securing and delivering ultra-competitive pricing on high-quality chemicals and ingredients from quality-assured manufacturers in China."............" ChemNutra imports over 4,000 tons per year, and our customers include several Fortune 500 companies."
The company is actually base in China: Chemnutra Llc USA (China office)
from the above website:
Notice it is a LLC company. (Limited Liability Corporation)
Principal Products/Services: Food additives
Main Market: North America
That's right folks: pharmaceuticals too!
From what I've gathered in 2 days on this subject because of my own dog, the press and the government and ChemNutra are all scrambling on this one.......Right now, the line they are giving is 'our records show that we were only seriously negligent in killing your pets and we ain't liable for that and neither are the pet chow companies! Currently, our select loyal employees are changing and destroying all pertinent records indicating any possible connection to the human food product customers and drug companies."
.Think I'm crazy? You own a plasma or LCD HDTV? Had it go bad after 6 months (quit working)? How long have you had to wait on the replacement part from Asia? 3 months on average.
What I want to know is why is China exporting ANY food?
I buy only fresh produce from the USA. I will buy some fruit from Chile but that’s about it.
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