Chinese pet feed firm manager held for 2 weeks-CNN

HONG KONG, May 9 (Reuters) The manager of a Chinese company suspected of selling to the United States tainted wheat flour used in animal feed has been detained for nearly two weeks outside Beijing, CNN reported today.

Tian Feng is the manager of Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co Ltd which the U S Food and Drug Administration has named as one of two companies that allegedly exported wheat gluten and rice protein containing melamine scrap, a chemical product that artificially inflates protein levels.

It was mixed into pet food along with another compound, causing some animal deaths in the United States.

''I didn't do anything wrong,'' Tian told CNN from a detention centre in Binzhou in China's eastern province of Shandong.

Dressed in a white T-shirt and orange prison vest, Tian said: ''I don't know about melamine. I don't even know what this melamine is. I have never heard of anyone using it.'' Tian's company was shut by Chinese police on April 25, the day he was detained, CNN reported.

About 4,000 complaints of related pet deaths have been reported to the FDA, but only 16 deaths of cats and dogs have been confirmed. The agency said there was little danger for people.

China had denied FDA assertions that melamine, a chemical used in plastics and fertiliser, was added to wheat gluten and rice protein exported from China for pet foods. But its Xinhua state news agency reversed the official position late yesterday.

''The two companies illegally added melamine ... in a bid to meet the contractual demand for the amount of protein in the products,'' Xinhua said, quoting the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

The administration said the two companies evaded quality checks by labelling their products as exports not subject to inspection. FDA has identified the other company as Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd.

REUTERS SG HT1540