Melamine Fed Hogs Enter Human Food Supply

April 2007

Hundreds of hogs that consumed melamine, the industrial chemical responsible for the recent massive pet food recall, have most likely entered the human food supply. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a joint report stating that about 6,000 hogs were fed with food containing the dangerous chemical, and nearly 350 of them were sent to slaughterhouses across the nation.

Seven states are believed to have received hog feed made from the remnants of pet food that contained melamine. California, Kansas, New York, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Utah are currently under investigation by the FDA and USDA to determine the severity posed by the tainted hog feed.

Currently, the government agencies consider the risk to human health to be very low. The melamine caused nausea, vomiting, lack of appetite, and eventually some kidney failure in pets that consumed the chemical in their food. But there is no evidence to suggest that people would have similar reactions if the melamine were to travel into the human food supply.