Canada-based company Menu Foods begins to use the tainted wheat gluten at its plants in the U.S. states of Kansas and New Jersey.
The company begins to investigate a possible problem when as many as 1 in 6 pets began to die after consuming products containing wheat gluten.
[6] Aminopterin is widely described in news reports as a "rat poison" though that assertion may be based upon a hypothetical use listed in the 1951 patent application and not upon the actual use of the chemical.
"[16] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announces a possible source of the sicknesses, indicated by the presence of melamine, an industrial chemical, in wheat gluten imported from China.
"[21] The contaminated wheat gluten is determined to have come directly from China or through the Netherlands to the U.S. through ChemNutra, a Las Vegas-based supply company for pet food manufacturers.
The Xinhua News Agency states that "sampling and examination" of wheat gluten was underway across China, centering on the presence of melamine.
[13] The FDA acknowledges receiving more than 15,000 complaints from consumers related to the recall, but will not comment on the possible number of pet sicknesses or deaths.
[31] Also on the 12th, Menu Foods admits that a "clerical error" allowed more tainted product to be released to the public after the recall had begun.
[34] Wilbur-Ellis notifies the FDA that it had found a bag labelled melamine mixed in with a shipment of rice protein concentrate.
Natural Balance Pet Foods has found melamine in two products containing rice protein from a then-unnamed supplier (Wilbur-Ellis).
[39] Also on April 19, U.S. federal officials said that they were investigating reports that Binzhou Futian rice protein had been used in hog feed, but declined to specify where.
This call is followed a few days later by a second caller who, when told it was illegal for the plaintiffs to be contacted directly by representatives of the defendant, allegedly responded "So you don't want a settlement package?
"[45] FDA Officials traced the melamine responsible for pet deaths to two Chinese plants, which have been supplying American distributors since last summer.
[46] On that same day, Chinese authorities shut down Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd., and detained the manager, Tian Feng.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that the meat of 345 hogs that had eaten contaminated feed had entered the U.S. food supply, possibly via slaughterhouses in Kansas and Utah.
The final Wilbur-Ellis-related recall was issued by Chenango Valley Pet Foods, nine days after Wilbur-Ellis had announced its rice protein was contaminated with melamine.
This adds a new potential source of contamination and distrust, namely non-compliant contract manufacturers, beyond the original problematic Chinese ingredient suppliers.
Chinese authorities detained Mao Lijun, general manager of the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development, on unspecified charges.
[66] United States food safety officials issue joint risk assessment of very low risk to humans from eating pork or poultry from animals known to have consumed feed tainted with contaminated pet food scraps based on criteria predating current research on toxicity of melamine and cyanuric acid in combination.
[72] Researchers at the USDA Bee Research Laboratory and the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine begin investigating bee feed for the presence of melamine-related compounds as a possible cause of Colony Collapse Disorder – the unprecedented die-off of a quarter of the honeybees in the United States during 2006 that endangers the human food supply.
[78] Zheng Xiaoyu, the head of the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration from its founding in 1998 until 2005 receives the death sentence for corruption.
[79] Dozens of Chinese died due to the approval of untested medicines and falsely labeled food during Zheng's tenure.
Tembec BTLSR Inc. of Toledo, Ohio, manufactures feed ingredients AquaBond and Aqua-Tec II, adding melamine to improve the binding properties of pelleted food.
[83] The FDA launches and investigation after acetaminophen, best known under the brand-name Tylenol, is identified by ExperTox Inc., a laboratory in Texas, as a fifth contaminant present in many varieties of pet food.
[86] The FDA does not identify which brands might be affected, however on June 13 website ConsumerAffairs.com reports that two of the samples were Pet Pride "Turkey and Giblets Dinner" and "Mixed Grill", both manufactured by Menu Foods.
[84][87] The FDA announces that melamine-contaminated shrimp feed and feed ingredients made in the United States may have been exported by Zeigler Bros. Inc. to thirteen countries – Panama, Venezuela, Belize, Suriname, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Gambia, Lebanon and Canada.
[89] Menu Foods announces that a "significant customer" – later identified as Procter & Gamble – has decided to end its contract for cuts-and-gravy products.
[92] On the same day, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announces that "fears of widespread contamination of pet food with acetaminophen are unfounded," confirming the results of FDA investigators.
[93] Official feed controllers of the Swiss research institute Agroscope Liebefeld in Posieux (ALP) stated that corn gluten contaminated with melamine, cyanuric acid and urea had been imported into Switzerland from China.
[94][95] Owners and executives of Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products, Arts and Crafts, and ChemNutra were indicted on charges of intentionally defrauding and misleading American manufacturers about poisonous ingredients used in pet food.