Beginning in March 2007, there was a widespread recall of many brands of cat and dog foods due to contamination with melamine and cyanuric acid. The recalls in North America, Europe, and South Africa came in response to reports of kidney failure in pets. Initially, the recalls were associated with the consumption of mostly wet pet foods made with wheat gluten from a single Chinese company.
After more than three weeks of complaints from consumers, the recall began voluntarily with the Canadian company Menu Foods on 16 March 2007, when a company test showed sickness and death in some of the test animals. In the following weeks, several other companies that had received the contaminated wheat gluten also voluntarily recalled dozens of pet food brands. One month after the initial recall, contaminated rice protein from a different source in China was also identified as being associated with kidney failure in pets in the United States, while contaminated corn gluten was associated with kidney failure with pets in South Africa. As a result of investigating the 2007 pet food recalls, a broader Chinese protein export contamination investigation unfolded, raising concerns about the safety of the human food supply.
By the end of March, veterinary organizations reported more than 100 pet deaths among nearly 500 cases of kidney failure.[1] However, many sources speculate that the actual number of affected pets may never be known, and experts think that the actual death toll could potentially reach into the thousands.[2][3] In the United States there was extensive media coverage of the recall, with calls for greater government regulation. Reports of widespread and possibly intentional adulteration of Chinese animal feed with melamine raised the issue of melamine contamination in the human food supply, both in China and abroad.
Research has focused on the combination of melamine and cyanuric acid in causing kidney failure. Reports that cyanuric acid may be an independently and potentially widely used adulterant in China have heightened concerns for both pet and human health.[4] In 2008 baby foods contaminated with melamine in China affected an estimated 300,000 children, with hospitalisations and deaths.