Nature's Logic

SHANGHAI, May 8 — A second industrial chemical that American regulators have identified as a pet food contaminant may have been intentionally added to animal feed by producers seeking larger profits, according to interviews Tuesday with chemical industry officials.

Three chemical makers said Chinese animal feed producers often came to purchase cyanuric acid to blend into their feed because it was cheaper and helped increase protein content. In the United States, cyanuric acid is often used as a chemical stabilizer in swimming pools, though it is not thought to be highly toxic on its own.

Up until now, American regulators had focused on a chemical called melamine. Animal feed producers here have acknowledged recently that for years they added melamine to animal feed to gain bigger profit margins.

But American regulators and scientists have also been aware for several weeks that cyanuric acid may have played a role in causing sickness or death in pets.

The revelations from chemical producers help address uncertainties about the presence of cyanuric acid. For instance, it has not been clear whether it is a derivative or a byproduct when melamine is broken down in the animals, or whether the cyanuric acid was separately placed in the feed.

In China, chemical producers say it is common knowledge in the chemical and agriculture industry that for years feed producers in China have quietly and secretly used cyanuric acid to cheat buyers of animal feed.

“Cyanuric acid scrap can be added to animal feed,” said Yu Luwei, general manager of the Juancheng Ouya Chemical Company in Shandong Province. “I sell it to fish meal manufacturers and fish farmers. It can also be added to feed for other animals.”

Yang Fei, who works in the sales department of the Shouguang Weidong Chemical Company in Shandong Province, echoed that view: “I’ve heard that people add cyanuric acid and melamine to animal feed to boost the protein level.”

The FDA in the United States said Tuesday that farmed fish had been fed meal contaminated with melamine and other contaminants but that the level was probably too low to harm anyone who ate the fish. Moreover, the feed was mislabeled as wheat gluten, when in fact it was wheat flour spiked with melamine and other nitrogen-rich compounds to make it appear more protein-rich than it was, officials said.

Two of the Chinese chemical makers say that cyanuric acid is used because it is even cheaper than melamine and high in nitrogen, enabling feed producers to artificially increase protein readings which are often measured by nitrogen levels of the feed. The chemical makers say they also produce a chemical which is a combination of melamine and cyanuric acid, and that feed producers have often sought to purchase scrap material from this product.

Competition among animal feed producers here is intense. But the practice of using cyanuric acid may now provide clues as to why the pet food in the United States became poisonous.

Scientists had difficulty pinpointing the precise cause of the deaths, for neither melamine nor cyanuric acid are thought to be particularly toxic by themselves. But scientists studying the pet food deaths say the combination of the two chemicals, mixed together with perhaps some other related compounds, may have created a toxic punch that formed crystals in the kidneys of pets and led to kidney failure.

“I’m convinced melamine can’t do it by itself,” said Richard Goldstein, an assistant professor at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. “I think it’s this melamine with other compounds that is toxic.”

On May 1, scientists at the University of Guelph in Canada said they had made a chemical discovery that may explain the pet deaths.

In a laboratory, they found that melamine and cyanuric acid may react with one another to form crystals that could impair kidney function. The crystals they formed in the lab were similar to those discovered in afflicted pets, they said.

We just want to remind you, the entire line of Nature’s Logic pet food is in no way affected by any of these pet food recalls. Our food is 100% gluten free, uses no ingredients from China, and includes only 1 grain called Millet - which is grown in the United States. Millet is nearly 15% protein, contains high amounts of fiber, B-complex vitamins, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, and potassium.

Nature’s Logic is the only line of pet food that derives all nutrients naturally - from whole food sources (i.e. meat, poultry, fruits, and vegetables).