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I am going to ask my local HFS to inquire where the main brands they sell are coming from and about their quality control.

Good luck with that. You'll probably be told to call the companies, who in turn will tell you that they keep "strict control" over their facilities and ingredients -- just like the pet food manufacturers. /sarc

Here's a good example involving Blue Buffalo:

From the Pet Food List, with information verified by Blue Buffalo before the rice protein recall:

Blue Buffalo (verified by company 3/27/07)

BLUE BUFFALO VOLUNTARILY RECALLS ONE FOOD. 4/19/07 See website for details
Brands include BLUE for dogs, and Spa Select for Cats
No products made by Menu Foods (have never used Menu)
Products do not contain wheat gluten, soy, or corn
All ingredients from US except lamb from New Zealand
They do not manufacture food in their own facility. Manufacturer is confidential but they have their own vets and staff on location at all times and ingredients are tested before and after each run.

Editors note: According to Blue Buffalo website, some products contain rice protein concentrate.

From Blue Buffalo, after the rice protein recall:

We have taken this action (voluntary recall of Spa Select Kitten dry food) because the rice protein concentrate used for this one production run was obtained from Wilbur-Ellis, the same company who supplied this ingredient to Natural Balance. Test results received late last evening (4/18) indicated that this rice protein concentrate tested positive for melamine. This is the first and only time our manufacturing partner sourced an ingredient from Wilbur-Ellis, and we had no knowledge that they had imported the ingredient from China.

So, on 3/27, they claimed all their ingredients (except NZ lamb) were from the US, and on 4/18, they admit that rice protein from China is in one of their formulas, and that they had "no knowledge" of it, despite their claim that "ingredients are tested before and after each run."

It makes you wonder a) how many degrees of separation there are between these companies and their manufacturing "partners," and b) if they care -- or will even care after this fiasco -- about anything other than the bottom line.