The owners of ChemNutra Inc. (Las Vegas) pleaded guilty in June to charges related to their roles in distributing melamine-tainted ingredients used to make pet food—which led to the nationwide pet food recall in 2007 and the widespread illness and deaths of cats and dogs throughout the United States.

Sally Qing Miller, 43, and her husband, Stephen S. Miller, 56, as well as their company were named as the three co-defendants in the case. Each pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Maughmer on June 16 to one count of selling adulterated food and one count of selling misbranded food, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.

By pleading guilty, ChemNutra and the Millers admitted that melamine was substituted wholly or in part for the protein requirement of wheat gluten to make it appear more valuable. They also admitted that the wheat gluten did not contain a minimum 75 percent protein level as indicated on the labeling. The labeling also failed to list melamine as an ingredient.

They pleaded guilty to two of the 13 felony counts included in the federal indictment handed up  Feb. 6, 2008. However, they agreed in their plea that the remaining counts could be weighed by the court when deciding their sentence.

Under federal statutes, the Millers each face up to two years in federal prison plus a $200,000 fine and an order of restitution. ChemNutra Inc. is subject to a $400,000 fine and an order of restitution. Sentencing had not been scheduled at press time, pending an investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.

The 2008 indictment alleged that more than 800 metric tons of wheat gluten was exported to the United States in at least 13 separate shipments between Nov. 6, 2006, and Feb. 21, 2007, with invoices totaling nearly $850,000. According to the indictment, those shipments of wheat gluten—falsely labeled to skirt inspection—were tainted with melamine. The indictment said the Millers received the melamine-tainted products at a port of entry in Kansas City, Mo., and sold it to companies that used it in various brands of pet food.

In related news,  payment of claims under the court-approved $24 million liability settlement related to melamine-tainted ingredients is being stalled by appeals, according to information at www.petfoodsettlement.com, a Web site run by the Pet Food Products Liability Litigation Claims Administrator (Philadelphia).

Two separate appeals have been filed contesting the final approval of the settlement, and no payments will be made on eligible claims until all appeals are resolved.

“It is uncertain how long these appeals will take to resolve, and the timing of resolving the appeals is not within the control of the parties or their counsel,” the Web site stated. “It is not uncommon for appeals to take several months or even years to resolve.”

The settlement was approved Nov . 18, 2008, by U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman. [August 2009 PET AGE]