The 2007 Menu Foods pet-food recall involved melamine contamination in many products.
Menu Foods, a Canadian manufacturer, recalled millions of cans and pouches in March 2007 after cats and dogs developed kidney failure. Investigators traced the problem to wheat gluten and rice protein imported from China. Those ingredients had been adulterated with melamine, an industrial chemical that can make protein tests show an artificially high protein level.
Melamine itself was not the only toxic factor. Scientists linked animal illness to crystals formed when melamine reacted with cyanuric acid in the animals’ kidneys. The recall affected foods sold under numerous supermarket and pet-store brands because Menu Foods manufactured products for many companies.
The incident is often confused with the separate 2008 Chinese milk scandal, which also involved melamine. Both cases concerned fraudulent protein enhancement, but the 2007 recall primarily involved imported pet-food ingredients and animal illnesses.