Many people in Tennessee and around the country were upset about the recent recall of pet food from China. The affected pet food contained wheat gluten contaminated with melamine, which is an industrial chemical used in plastics and fertilizer. The contaminated wheat gluten came has been blamed for the deaths of scores of beloved family pets across the United States. 

The Human and Pet Food Safety Act of 2007 would give the FDA the power to order mandatory recalls of tainted food products. It would also establish an early recall notification system and fine companies that don’t report contaminated foods fast enough.

Currently, the pet food industry is responsible for following good manufacturing practices. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducts risk-based inspections targeted toward products that pose the greatest risks to public health. The FDA is working quickly to develop a risk-based Animal Feed Safety System that describes how animal feed should be made, distributed and used. The goal of the new system is to minimize risks to humans and animals from unsafe animal feed.