Companies in U.S. Increase Testing of Chinese Goods

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
Published: July 1, 2007

General Mills, Kellogg, Toys “R” Us and other big American companies are increasing their scrutiny of thousands of everyday products they receive from Chinese suppliers, as widening recalls of items like toys and toothpaste force them to focus on potential hazards that were overlooked in the past.

These corporations are stepping up their analysis of imported goods that they sell, making more unannounced visits to Chinese factories for inspections and, in one case, pulling merchandise from American shelves at the first hint of a problem.

General Mills, which makes food products like Pillsbury dough and Chex cereals, is testing for potential contaminants that it did not look for previously, although it would not name the substances. Kellogg has increased its use of outside services that scrutinize Chinese suppliers and has identified alternative suppliers if vital ingredients become unavailable.(…)

“We’re thinking in new ways about this,” said Tom Forsythe, a spokesman for General Mills. “We’re looking for things we didn’t look for in the past.”

A Kellogg spokeswoman, Kris Charles, confirmed that retailers had asked whether the company used ingredients from China that were banned by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, including wheat gluten and soy protein.

The company had not, Ms. Charles said, but Kellogg took the extra step of scrutinizing the ingredients that it does import from China, like vitamins, honey, cinnamon, water chestnuts and freeze-dried strawberries. It also screened its Chinese suppliers for links to the recent pet food recall.(…)

Fusing fear of China’s growing economic power with worries about food safety, politicians like Mr. Brown and Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, have made it clear that food safety is an issue that resonates with voters.

“We’re saying to business, ‘You better protect yourself because right now neither the Chinese government nor the American government is doing a very good job of protecting you,’ ” Mr. Schumer said.(…)

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07.....ts.html?hp

My Mercy started leaking urine and with high liver enzymes until I was told she had liver disease - she’s three years old and was otherwise healthy - I was feeding her Hills SD Lamb and Rice…..go figure.

Trudy, I get a “website can’t be found” message when I click on this. Could you copy and paste?

Linda, its my understanding that UC Davis was the lab that tested Nutro food at the request of the vet and pet owner in California. This wet canned food had not been recalled, Nutro kept saying that food was fine and then her cat fell ill. The vet sent the food to UC Davis and they found melamine in it. One day later, I think on 4-10, the food was recalled, almost a month after the first recalls of 3-16.