Quote Originally Posted by lord jackel View Post
This is simply a technicality. Wheat gluten is a grain product to say they don't import is misleading. This would be like someone saying Tropicanna isn't real Orange Juice cause they use juice concentrate.
No...it's not a "technicality." It has been said several times that Purina imported "tainted grains." The implication being that if they did it once, then they could do it again. However, the simple fact is that they didn't import "tainted grains." What happened is they bought (through a supplier) a processed food product (wheat gluten) from a company whose production facility is in China.

To compare wheat gluten to orange juice concentrate simply illustrates that you don't understand what wheat gluten is. Wheat gluten is a manufactured food product that is derived from wheat, much like tofu is derived from soy beans. The melamine that was in the wheat gluten was introduced during the manufacturing process as a filler, and as a means by which to artificially (falsely) elevate the protein level in the product (melamine is very high in nitrogen)...this was an underhanded attempt by the Chinese company to lower their production costs (i.e. more protein, and more volume for less production expense.)

The purpose of wheat gluten in canned dog food is to act as a high protein filler and texturizing agent that is cheaper than animal by-product (i.e. it lowers production costs).

So, the bottom line is this...Purina did not, in either situation, "import tainted grains."

Once again, I do not work for Purina, nor do I have any sort of affiliation with them. I simply hate to see disinformation, and ASSumptions being passed off as fact. It is a pet peeve.