By David Spett
Pet food manufacturers were urged to test their ingredients after last month's melamine cyanurate poisonings but pet foods were safe - so says Barry Hundley, the executive director of South Africa's Pet Food Industry Association (PFI).
Asked about the chances of more pets falling ill, he said: "I would say absolutely no chance. The whole world is on edge at the moment. Everyone is looking out for what's coming in."
PFI is advising manufacturers not to purchase Chinese products for their pet foods.
Royal Canin, maker of Vets Choice, the pet food blamed for killing at least 25 dogs, pledged to heed the advice. The company says its products have been safe since April 25.
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"For reasons of food safety and high-quality standards upheld by Royal Canin," the company would no longer purchase gluten from China," a spokesperson wrote in an email.
The company would not say how many claims pet owners had filed for ill or dead pets, nor would it estimate how much money the product recall had cost it.
Royal Canin had purchased the corn gluten in its products from China. This was tainted with melamine and cyanuric acid, which combined to form the potentially lethal melamine cyanurate.
Gluten producers used the chemicals, considered non-toxic individually, to give pet food manufacturers the impression that they were getting a more protein-rich product.
Studies by Brent Hoff, of the University of Guelph in Canada, showed that a mixture of melamine and cyanuric acid could have caused the pets to fall ill and die.
Hundley is also advising manufacturers to test their gluten for melamine, by either shipping a small amount to Europe (since no testing facilities are available in South Africa) or by using a simple water test.
Melamine and cyanuric acid are water soluble, so manufacturers can test for the chemicals by determining how much of the gluten dissolves in water.
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