BEIJING, April 6 (AP) -- China is investigating U.S. claims that a Chinese company exported contaminated wheat gluten implicated in a slew of pet deaths in the United States, a government official said Friday.

"We are investigating this," said Zeng Xing, an official with the press office of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The administration monitors the export of food, animals and farm products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has identified a Chinese company in the eastern city of Xuzhou as the supplier of tainted gluten. The FDA last week blocked wheat gluten imports from the company, saying they contained melamine, a chemical found in plastics and pesticides.

Zeng said a report posted to the administration's official newspaper earlier this week led some to believe China denied exporting any wheat gluten to the United States. She said that the administration meant that it had never exported any wheat gluten containing a rat poison, aminopterin.

Claims that it exported wheat gluten with melamine were being looked into, she said.