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FRIDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Rat poison has been found in samples of the recalled pet food linked to at least 16 animal deaths nationwide, New York officials said Friday.
The officials said that testing at the New York State Food Laboratory identified the toxic chemical aminopterin in samples from Menu Foods, the Canadian manufacturer of the 60 million cans and pouches of moist dog and cat food that are currently part of a nationwide recall. But it's not clear how the toxin got into the food.
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Aminopterin is derived from folic acid and in the United States it is approved for use as a cancer drug, not as a rodent poison. But it is used to kill rodents in some other countries. The toxin is known to cause cancer and birth defects in humans and kidney damage in dogs and cats.
ABC News, citing an unidentified source, reported Friday that the poison was on wheat imported from China and used by Menu Foods in almost 100 brands of dog and cat food.
Paul K. Henderson, president and CEO of Menu Foods, said during a teleconference Friday afternoon that "we don't know how the substance got into our products." However, he confirmed that the company imports wheat gluten from China.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials reacted with caution to the news.
"While we are very interested in the discovery of this compound, we want to make sure that all possible causes have been ruled out before confirming any one particular cause," Dr. Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said during a late Friday teleconference.
Sundlof also announced that Menu Foods has now recalled all the brand-name moist dog and cat food on its list, regardless of the date produced, from all retail outlets.
Menu Foods announced the original recall last weekend only for packages of moist pet food made between Dec. 3, 2006, and March 6, 2007.
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