There’s been a food supply scandal going around . Some wheat gluten supplied by a Chinese firm was incorporated into the wet and dry pet food produced by Menu Foods, a Canadian firm, under a number of different brand names. You can find the complete list here. WARNING: this is a 77 page .pdf file. The gluten is contaminated with melamine, which I remember as the brand name of the hard plastic dishes and cups used in summer camps during the 50s. It was also retro-trendy in hipster kitchens in the 80s. But as a food additive it’s poisonous and is linked to massive renal failure in some cats and dogs.

And then a second list was of pet food products was produced on Saturday.

Wheat gluten is an additive used as a thickener in food products. It is known the defective gluten was used in feed sold by Del Monte, Menu Foods, Nestle Purina, and Hills Nutritional. At least that many.

Here’s the best news:

Del Monte Foods has confirmed that the melamine-tainted wheat gluten used in several of its recalled pet food products was supplied as a “food grade” additive, raising the likelihood that contaminated wheat gluten might have entered the human food supply.

“Yes, it is food grade,” Del Monte spokesperson Melissa Murphy-Brown wrote in reply to an e-mail query. Del Monte issued a voluntary recall Saturday for several products under the Gravy Train, Jerky Treats, Pounce, Ol’ Roy, Dollar General and Happy Trails brands.

Wheat gluten is sold in both “food grade” and “feed grade” varieties. Either may be used in pet food, but only “food grade” gluten may be used in the manufacture of products meant for human consumption. Published reports have thus far focused on tainted pet food, but if the gluten in question entered the human food supply through a major food products supplier and processor, it could potentially contaminate thousands of products and hundreds of millions of units nationwide. [emph added]

Watch this scandal take off as soon as people realize the domestic human food supply has been further compromised.

The FDA is refusing to name the food broker who sold the poisoned wheat gluten in the US. A cynical man would think that’s because the FDA has been “Bu$hized” and is now more concerned with protecting business than protecting the consumer. There has been some sharp criticism of the FDA. Unsurprisingly, it comes from Democrats. There will probably be more adverse publicity this week as soon as the bobble head TV readers get out from under their hair dryers.

It’s certain the White House will welcome yet another scandal, although it will distract people from the attempted destruction of more of the Constitution by the Department of Justice

You can subscribe to the latest recall alerts here.

Just one further thought: the human food supply is too delicate and vulnerable to allow corporations to handle it without strict oversight.