Canada imposes new rules on petfood industry

The Canadian government has imposed new rules to prevent a rerun of the 2007 petfood recalls, according to a news report.
The new rules require import permits for all petfood and individual ingredients entering the country. Also, petfood containing ingredients from US cattle requires FDA inspection. The consequences of violations of any law now include plant closings or criminal prosecution.
CFIA inspectors have also been given the authority to run surprise checks at any Canadian petfood manufacturing unit. They also now need to inspect, at least once every year, plants that manufacture petfood items for export.
In 2007, tainted petfood led to the deaths of hundreds of cats and dogs in North America. The event led Mississauga-based Menu Foods to recall 60 million cans and pouches of US-made premixes that were found to contain wheat gluten from China contaminated with melamine.