Feds: Tainted wheat gluten found in Indiana chicken feed*

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chicken feed in some farms in Indiana contained
byproducts from pet food manufactured with contaminated wheat gluten
imported from China, two federal agencies said Monday.

The Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration said in
a joint statement that officials learned of the link between the chicken
feed and tainted pet food as part of the investigation into imported
rice protein concentrate and wheat gluten that have been found to
contain the industrial chemical melamine and related compounds.

An estimated 30 broiler poultry farms and eight breeder poultry farms in
Indiana received contaminated feed in early February and fed it to
poultry within days of receiving it, the agencies said. Other farms will
probably be identified as having received contaminated feed, they added.

All the broilers believed to have been fed contaminated products have
been processed, while the breeders are under voluntary hold by flock
owners, the agencies said.

The FDA and USDA said the likelihood of human illness from eating
chicken fed the contaminated product is very low. With no evidence of
harm to humans, no recall of poultry products processed from these
animals was being issued, the agencies said.

On Saturday, the FDA and USDA cited similar reasons for not issuing a
recall after determining that hogs in some states may have been fed the
tainted pet food.

More than 100 brands of pet food have been recalled since March 16
because they were contaminated with melamine. An unknown number of dogs
and cats have been sickened or died after eating chemical-laced pet food.