3 companies indicted over contaminated pet food
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - February 6, 2008 Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co., Suzhou
Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products, Arts and Crafts I/E Co.,
and Las Vegas-based ChemNutra Inc. were charged in two separate but
related indictments. The U.S. attorney's office in Kansas City said
the tainted food led to the death and serious illness of pets in
the U.S. last year.
One of the indictments charges Xuzhou Anying Biologic, located
in China's Jiangsu Province, and Suzhou Textiles, in Suzhou, China,
with 13 counts of introduction of adulterated food into interstate
commerce and 13 counts of introduction of misbranded food into
interstate commerce.
ChemNutra and company owners Sally Quing Miller, a Chinese
national, and her husband, Stephen S. Miller were charged with 13
counts of introduction of adulterated food into interstate
commerce, 13 counts of introduction of misbranded food into
interstate commerce and one count of conspiracy to commit wire
fraud.
The indictments allege that Suzhou Textiles, an export broker,
mislabeled 800 metric tons of wheat gluten tainted with the toxic
chemical melamine to avoid inspection in China. Xuzhou then did not
properly declare the contaminated product it shipped to the U.S. as
a material to be used in food, the indictment says.
It also says the shipment was falsely declared to the Chinese
government in a way that would avoid a mandatory inspection of the
company's plants.
According to the indictment, ChemNutra picked up the
melamine-tainted product at a port of entry in Kansas City, then
sold it to makers of various brands of pet foods. The indictment
alleges that the melamine was added to make the gluten meet the
required standard for protein content specified in the contract
between Suzhou and ChemNutra.
"Millions of pet owners remember the anxiety of last year's pet
food recall. These indictments are the product of an investigation
that began in the wake of that recall," U.S. Attorney John Wood
said in a news release announcing the indictments.
ChemNutra did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The indictment also names Xuzhou Anying Biologic owner and
manager, Mao Linzhun, and Suzhou Textiles' President Chen Zhen Hao.