Is Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) the distributor of the tainted wheat gluten?

[mhatrw]

This would explain why the FDA hasn't released any information about which US distributor brokered the tainted wheat gluten that has killed so many pets.

Read this article and decide for yourself: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a4ERxbra5CY8&refer=us

"Our product is not associated with this sad and unfortunate situation," MGP Ingredients President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Newkirk said in the statement.

Manildra, a privately held Australian food company, isn't "involved at all," General Manager Peter Simpson said in a telephone interview. "We're not supplying that company."

The FDA said March 17 that nine cats at Menu Foods died during "routine taste trials" and that four cats and a dog in the consuming public died after eating food made by Menu Foods, of Streetsville, Ontario. The Canadian company supplies pet food to retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Safeway Inc., according to the FDA.

The only other major U.S. producer of gluten is Archer- Daniels-Midland Co., Steve Pickman, MGP Ingredients vice president for corporate relations, said in a telephone interview. The ingredients may have come from outside the U.S. because about half of the U.S. supply is now imported, he said. A receptionist at Archer-Daniels Midland, of Decatur, Illinois, said no one was available to comment.

Oh, and this just in. ADM suddenly unloaded its entire bakery group (you know, the one that distributes wheat gluten for human consumption) to Dutch bakery ingredients firm CSM right about the time that pets started keeling over:

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=73784-adm-csm-bakery-ingredients

Here is a link showing that ADM-Arkady (the division ADM just unloaded to CSM) got into the "vital wheat gluten" business in 1994:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3289/is_n9_v163/ai_16062995/pg_3

ADM/OGILVIE HAS JOINED ADM ARKADY. ADM/Ogilvie has brought its vital wheat gluten, wheat starch, dry specialty sweetener, and specialized enrichment product lines to ADM Arkady, whose line already consisted of over 300 products. This move solidifies the concept of "one-stop shopping" in every facet of the food industry, the company says.