Recall Update: Monday
By the time you read this, we hope that the problem of tainted pet food and the supply of toxic ingredients should be front-page news. Everywhere. If it’s not, it should be.
The New York Times (and the International Herald Tribune) is reporting that melamine spiking of ingredients in China has been “going on for years”. And that it’s such a widespread problem a few reporters have been able to get the participants to talk to them in the open. It’s what we’ve feared, but suspected all along.
The practice is widespread in China. For years animal feed sellers have been able to cheat buyers by blending the powder into feed with little regulatory supervision, according to interviews with melamine scrap traders and agricultural workers here.
No one knows how long we have been feeding our pets such tainted foods, and how long it has been in the human food supply. We hope someone — FDA or not — will find out everything we need to know.
Despite the apparent magnitude of the problem, the FDA and the USDA continues to wish us good eating.
To follow up on the recalls from last week:
American Nutrition says there was no deliberate deception. Says they were following customer requests. Full release after the jump.
In other recall news:
- Menu Foods got 80 tons of wheat gluten a month from another source.
- Report from Pets Need a Voice Too march.
(Thanks Jo)
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American Nutrition Responds to Criticism
American Nutrition Inc.‘s announcement yesterday of its voluntary recall of certain products that contain rice protein has prompted questions concerning the labeling of those products, and about whether or not American Nutrition engaged in deliberate wrong-doing. A complete list of the products subject to the voluntary recall can be found at www.americannutritioninc.com.
To set the record straight, American Nutrition did not engage in any deliberate or intentionally wrongful conduct relative to the inclusion of rice protein in certain products it manufactures.
Rice protein is an ingredient commonly used in pet products to fortify protein content and provide proper texture and consistency of canned pet products. It is not harmful to animals. To the contrary, it is believed to be a healthy additive that assists in providing appropriately high protein levels without creating unacceptable levels of fat associated with meat products.
Concern exists about rice protein not because of its inherent qualities, but rather because rice protein shipped from Wilbur-Ellis to American Nutrition was found to contain concentrations of melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers that may be harmful to animals if consumed. To be clear, the possible existence of melamine Å“ not the inclusion of rice protein in pet products Å“ is the root source of recall concerns. The melamine in this instance unfortunately happens to have been found in the rice protein used by American Nutrition and other manufacturers.
While rice protein was used to fortify products involved in the recall, many other pet foods manufactured by American Nutrition (including their own house brands and products manufactured for several other companies) were not affected. The unaffected products rely instead on soy, corn and wheat as their primary non-meat protein sources. Conversely, the products affected by the contaminated rice protein recall had customer-driven formula specifications for non-soy, non-corn, and non-wheat ingredients. Those customers specifically required rice-based formulations, which necessitated certain fortifications to meet label guarantees. As such, American Nutrition selected a fortification source from the same family of ingredients already incorporated into the formulation (in this instance, rice).
The products subject to the American Nutrition voluntary recall are contract manufactured for other companies. American Nutrition is investigating the circumstances surrounding labeling, formulation and related inter-company communications, but it is simply false to state that American Nutrition was engaged in any deliberately deceitful and/or unlawful conduct. Labeling responsibility is a cooperative effort between American Nutrition and its customers. American Nutrition believes, for their part, that they were compliant with all applicable label regulations. Additional information will be released as American Nutrition completes its own investigation and as they continue to cooperate fully with ongoing FDA and other governmental agency inquiries.
—We want to express our deep concern over this situation. American Nutrition places a tremendous emphasis on honesty and integrity in every aspect of our business. Our utmost concern is for the health of the pets that consume our products“, said Bill Behnken, CEO of American Nutrition, Inc.
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ABOUT AMERICAN NUTRITION, INC.
Ogden, Utah based American Nutrition, Inc. manufactures pet foods under its own name and for many other companies. American Nutrition has 150 employees.
###
April 30th, 2007 at 6:34 am
Well, I read the statement from American Nutrition on the inclusion of rice protein in non labeled products - and this is exactly the “wink wink, nudge nudge” mentality that prevailed at the private label manufacturer I worked for.
I realize it is a sample size of n=2, but I think that is how all of these relationships probably work to some extent. “Can you make me a Cadilac for the price of a Honda? - but please, although in reality I know this is absolutely impossible to accomplish, don’t tell me what you have done in order to make my wonder holistic diet. Here, pass me that blindfold”
Just as it is possible to get whatever protein content you want in an ingredient, but impossible to quickly and easily measure melamine, without DNA testing, it is easy to get the guaranteed analysis you want on a pet food bag, impossible to determine if the venison is not beef, or the organic quinoa is not corn. Or if the formula actually contains 1 mg/Ton of powdered quail eggs.
If you buy a brand that is not made by the company that owns it, where is the accountability? Menu has HUGE HUGE uacceptable issues, but at least they appear to have labeled their wheat gluten correctly, which is more than we can say for holistic brands involved in recall.
April 30th, 2007 at 7:01 am
After reading the NYT article upon wakening, I’m so glad the “agriculture people” in China do not think the melamine causes problems in animals—I’ve got to get their addresses to invite them to my house when I force feed my cat Smudge—and hope she has the strength to groom herself–and let them watch her all day as she just lays in my dog Harry’s bed—something she used to be afraid of—at least her food was “low in protein”- something animals don’t need according to another one of the idiots–if it weren’t for their toxins, she wouldn’t need low protein now!.
April 30th, 2007 at 7:07 am
I have great concern about other protien products after reading the article. I know China produces alot of Fish Meal and other protien sources in powder form, so I imagine that since they think Melamine is safe, I would imagine that it is in alot of the foods we feed our pets!
April 30th, 2007 at 7:44 am
Another “great ” article in today”s Toronto Star by AP reporter Christopher Bodeen–I’m so glad my pet food is “safe”–if I knew how to show the link, I would, Sorry.
April 30th, 2007 at 7:55 am
Carol, the link for the story :)
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/208793
April 30th, 2007 at 8:00 am
Is the “American Nutrition Responds to Criticism” an email reply? Can’t find it on search engines.
April 30th, 2007 at 8:02 am
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/208793
April 30th, 2007 at 8:16 am
The joint FDA/USDA statement says “we are not aware of any human illness that has occurred from exposure to melamine or its by-products.”
The FDA has also repeatedly stated that they have not found any aminopterin (rat poison).
So how do they explain Elaine Larabie, the Canadian woman who became “violently ill” and was hospitalized after eating bits of Iams?
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2ch5t3
Or is it that she’s not recognized because she’s Canadian?
April 30th, 2007 at 8:18 am
Attorney BS
Marc Ullman, a New York attorney for ChemNutra, described his client as a victim rather than an intentional violator of the law.
“As the facts exist today, I would be extremely hopeful that there were be no charges against any individual associated with ChemNutra,” Ullman said.
April 30th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I think the term “we are not aware” really means “we chose to ignore” by the F-Dee-lAy as I now call them. It was their emergency phone operator that told me on 3/17 that 2 sick cats on recalled food was not a FDA issue!!!
April 30th, 2007 at 8:21 am
The best thing about the NYT article is that it is THE page 1 headline story today (Monday April 30).
Headline: “In China, Additive to Animals’ Food Is an Open Secret”
Two subheads: “Link to Major U.S. Recall” and “Use of Chemical is Noted as Americans Arrive for Inspections”
The NYT’s placement of this story (most of which ran yesterday in their Int’l. Herald Tribune) is very important and should help push this story both with TV and radio and politically. There’s enough in there that should scare people that it’s getting into the human food chain, and it’s not being inspected.
Great news.
April 30th, 2007 at 8:27 am
Teric,
When do you expect to have the test results back on the Canidae, Felidae, Kumpi and KumpiKat…if you don’t mind me asking?
April 30th, 2007 at 8:29 am
the 15 year timeline for adulterated pet food mentioned in the star article is of interest to me. i have had siberians for 36 years and it is in the last l5 years that health problems have become increasingly evident…thyroid, diabetes, ibd, urinary tract infections and food allergies in a breed that up to that point had been without disease.
April 30th, 2007 at 8:45 am
I find it amazing that the FDA themselves are sabatoging the pork industry, here’s why. People will NOT put thier families at risk from ingesting a known ingredient that is killing pets. Had they recalled it, Amercians would have had a little more confidence to buy pork.
The mere fact that they have not isolated the properties of the contaminant is great cause for concern, as well as it has not been tested in humans. So i can they say it’s safe?!?
April 30th, 2007 at 9:33 am
Eric, are you using the KUMPIKAT yet? Mine isa rriving on May second according to the email I recieved today. With everything going on mine are off all pet food since the relapse on Friday. So nervous about it all at the moment but they need viamins. Geez
April 30th, 2007 at 9:35 am
“By the time you read this, we hope that the problem of tainted pet food and the supply of toxic ingredients should be front-page news.”
Sadly, the only thing I see, way on the bottom of MSNBC’s webpage, is a link to an article stating FDA feels no pig recall necessary. This is like a bad John Grisham novel.
April 30th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Lorie,
I’ve been using KumpiKat for a few days now. The five kitties are starting to come around to it, but they’re so used to junk food that they aren’t quite sure about something that’s better for them.
I also ordered some Honest Kitchen Prowl to try as a wet supplement, but I haven’t received it yet.
I just wait very (im)patiently for Teric’s test results, hoping and praying that all his foods check out, since so many of us are using them.
April 30th, 2007 at 9:50 am
RE: KatieKat on FDA Sabataging Pork Industry?
Just the opposite actually — They are trying to put out fires to eliminate a consumer panic and protect U.S. trade with other countries (Japan) that import our pork (and other meats). Japan has already named an additional 500 agricultural chemicals, vet drugs, etc. that they will not accept in U.S. foods that are intended for Japanese consumption. As a result, U.S. pork farmers (other industries) have had to stop giving their ranch animals these chemicals/drugs well before market time so that the chemical/drug residue levels diminish in the tissues to levels low enough for Japan to accept our products. (I guess we’re still eating the meats with the high levels in…).
Other countries are refusing OUR foods unless we meet THEIR standards. I think I recall that S. Africa (or was in S. America?) even refused U.S. food aid a few years back. Now, that tells you something. The European Union also has more stringent food importation standards than we do. Where are we in the hierarchy of world powers? Because other countries refuse our food, we have no choice but to eat it ourselves.
My local news last night underplayed the risk of contaminated pork that has entered the human food supply — low risk to humans, according to the FDA. Nice local network. Roll over. Good boy! (Pat on the head and given a treat.)
I’m not buying it. Bans on our meat exports (maybe poultry, too, since we heard a Missouri Poultry farm bought some possibly contaminated feed?) by trade partners can greatly affect our economy and cause a ripple effect, which I think we are already seeing by more people avoiding grains, breads, processed foods and turning to locally produced and more unprocessed foods. Yes, there will be economic fallout from this, but those in power will do all they can to lessen the effect from those who challenge the risks.
We protect big business in the U.S., so any harm will definitely be minimized. Why are news networks not saying much, the print media, radio talk shows? Why are news articles (International Herald Tribune article taken down & revised within hours) being removed from a site and then revised to downplay the potential harm and extent of the problem? I think we know.
KatieKat Says:
April 30th, 2007 at 8:45 am
I find it amazing that the FDA themselves are sabatoging the pork industry, here’s why. People will NOT put thier families at risk from ingesting a known ingredient that is killing pets. Had they recalled it, Amercians would have had a little more confidence to buy pork.
April 30th, 2007 at 10:04 am
FYI, below is Rosa DeLauro’s statement re: the pet food recall. Thank God someone is paying attention.
***********************************
“Mr. Chairman, I want to commend you for calling this hearing and thank you very much for the opportunity to present testimony.
“The recent pet food recall has raised very serious questions about the safety, not only of our food, but of our pets as well. It is very unfortunate that not even the family pet is immune from the food safety problems that are plaguing our country. In response to the letter that you and I sent to the FDA, Mr. Chairman, the agency claims that it is not ignoring its responsibility in the pet food area. However, to the many Americans who have lost their pets to contaminated foods, the initial evidence would suggest that the FDA is failing its responsibilities to protect pets from unsafe food as much as it is failing to protect American consumers.
“As you have stated, Mr. Chairman, the FDA’s response to this situation has been tragically slow, and pet owners deserve answers. The uncertainty about which foods have been recalled and what is safe to feed their pets has gone on far too long. Like you, I want to know how often pet food manufacturing plants are being inspected, and whether we need to force the FDA to modernize its regulations to protect our pets.
“Early in the process, I also was troubled by FDA’s underreporting the number of pets affected by the contaminated foods. At one point, the agency reported that only 16 pets had died when in fact, the number was significantly higher than that.
“And of course, I do not have to remind you Mr. Chairman that the FDA has no authority to mandate recalls and instead relies on information submitted by companies. We saw yesterday how problematic this arrangement can be when Menu Foods admitted that a “clerical error†caused the company to overlook a shipment of potentially contaminated wheat gluten from one of its plants in the U.S. to one in Canada . This gap delayed a recall of some cat food made in Canada .
“We are all aware of the disturbing statistics related to imported foods. The U.S. now imports far more foods than it exports, but there are fewer inspectors for imported foods. Currently, FDA inspects less than one percent of the food imported into this country that it is responsible for regulating. Also, the FDA does not require that exporting countries to have food safety regulatory structures that are equivalent to the U.S. standards. Given that the contaminated pet food appears to be connected to wheat gluten imported from China only heightens my concern about the agency’s ability to inspect imported products. It is this aspect of the pet food recall crisis that I am particularly troubled about and intend to examine further in a follow-up hearing before the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.
“It very well may be that FDA lacks the resources to adequately inspect pet food facilities and imported products. And this is an area, Mr. Chairman, where we could work together to make a direct impact.
“However, we also should examine whether this is a management issue. In its response letter to us, Mr. Chairman, the FDA says it has not determined whether changes in current law or resources are necessary based on the pet food recall. I find it mind-boggling that this agency always refuses to even consider requesting additional authorities or resources to help it do its job. As we all know, that is unheard of in Washington .
“The FDA likes to demonstrate its commitment to food safety by pointing out that ‘food’ is the first word in its name. However, its actions suggest otherwise, highlighting the need for legislation that would create a single food safety agency – a bill that you and I have worked on for quite a long time now, Mr. Chairman.
“I look forward to FDA’s analysis of their oversight of pet food manufacturing facilities and the final report on the actions that the agency took once the crisis finally ends. I think it will play a key role as we determine the best steps to take in moving forward.
“Thank you again, Mr. Chairman for allowing me to present testimony at this hearing and I look forward to continuing to work with you on this issue.â€
www.house.gov/delauro
***********************************
I hate to admit that I’m a registered republican, truth is I’m not a real ‘political’ person to begin with…but this incident has made me want to switch parties. I’ve been observing that only the dems have been expressing any concern whatsoever. I’m disgusted and scared.
April 30th, 2007 at 10:14 am
RE: Donna’s post above:
Get the jumbo sized mail bags ready. Some of our “My Pet Counts!” postcards should start to arrive today.
…………………………………..
“Early in the process, I also was troubled by FDA’s underreporting the number of pets affected by the contaminated foods. At one point, the agency reported that only 16 pets had died when in fact, the number was significantly higher than that.
April 30th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Any bets that under the radar it’s once again business as usual for the Pet Food Cabal?
April 30th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Eric,
Keep me updated on the KIMPIKAT I have been burned twice now with this poison crap, I have 2 poisoned cats and noneof the foods I have every in my life fed them appear on the so called list. This is nutz.
Geisha foods:
FF Elegant Medley Chicken Florentine
FF Savory Salmon
Hill Science Diet RX C/D wet and dry both
Eukanuba sensitive stomach
Topaz foods;
FF Elegant Medley Chicken Florentine
FF Savory Salmon
Eukanuba sensitive stomach
Topaz will not touch the HIlls RX food but Geisha gets into all Topaz food. So as you can see I have 2 poisoned cats and none of those are recalled.
Since recall they have had:
Merrick canned been staple since March 24th
Solid Gold Mixed Tuna few can here and there made me nervous from Thailand
Samples of Felidae dry, Fromm Dry, never more than a handful or 2 this past week
Friday morning would not eat any of the Merrick so I put out old Eukanuba Dry
and FF Savory Salmon which supposedly has none of the suspect ingredients. Friday night I am back at the ER so at this point I trust nothing was it the we bit of FF Friday or the build up of the Merrick not going to find out.
ONCE AGAIN NONE OF THESE FOODS ARE ON ANY LIST. YET MY CATS ARE SICK. I am so livid. Keep in touch..
April 30th, 2007 at 10:40 am
What has really changed? Nothing. Only the spin changes from the Pet Food Cabal.
LET THE BUYER BEWARE.
April 30th, 2007 at 10:43 am
So the mystery is solved — it looks like the NYT editors had the reporters rewrite the story. A1. Top of the page. Since LAST NIGHT! Woohoo!
I am in touch with Senate aides, pushing for emergency authorization for the FDA’s Food Safety plan — that plan that was described in the LA Times on Friday. It would take just a few million to help the FDA put the plan in place. Next comes the Food Safety Act.
Please everyone, write your Senators and Reps., and ask them to 1) support emergency funding, and 2) support the Food Safety Act: The Safe Food Act — Senate bill 654 and House bill 1148
(We can bitch about the FDA until the end of time, but what it needs is funding and staffing, not to mention a president who backs its regulatory functions. But the last can’t happen until January ‘09, so in the meantime, Congress can do its oversight job — and see that the FDA gets the emergency money it needs.)
April 30th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Corporations are out of control. As much as I hate to say it, my advise is Be prepared for the worst. The Pet Food industry is so screwed up, so corrupted, the only thing they can produce is mistakes at this point.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:04 am
RE: SusanUnPC idea:
I am in touch with Senate aides, pushing for emergency authorization for the FDA’s Food Safety plan — that plan that was described in the LA Times on Friday. It would take just a few million to help the FDA put the plan in place. Next comes the Food Safety Act.
Please everyone, write your Senators and Reps., and ask them to 1) support emergency funding, and 2) support the Food Safety Act: The Safe Food Act — Senate bill 654 and House bill 1148
…………………………………………….
Should this be our next concerted blogs & top recall sites’ push?
Could a special “Action” thread be started at itchmo?
April 30th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Check this out before it disapears.
Tainted-gluten-fed-pork
Poisoned pet food now on the human dinner table
By Judi McLeod
Monday, April 30, 2007
“Tainted-gluten-fed-pork has hit the dinner plates of humans, according to www.denverpost.com.
“California officials have revealed that the contamination got into the food chain. About 45 residents ate pork from hogs that consumed animal feed laced with melamine from China. Melamine is used to make plastics, but it also artificially boosts the protein levelÑand thus the priceÑof the glutens that go into food.” (denverpost.com, April 29, 2007).
Even after Captain David Elder of the FDA said, “The combination of melamine and cyanuric acid is of concern to human and animal health,” the FDA is saying that the recall of thousands of hogs was not warranted. (Italics, canadafreepress.com).
Given the way authorities have handled the contaminated pet food outbreak to date, we should be worried, very worried.
As Ann Hahn, of Atlanta wrote to Canada Free Press (CFP), “Pet owners believe we should all be very, very concerned. Why? Because cyanuric acid is a hydrolysis product of melamine. Melamine in and of itself is all right as long as you don’t eat it and your body metabolizes it. And notwithstanding the fact that the wheat gluten imported by ChemNutra in the Menu Foods pet food recalled was “human grade”.”
And the scary chain of events that got its start months ago doesn’t even end there.
We know where the tainted-gluten-fed pork is. Ergo, we know too where the wheat gluten-tainted pet food went. It went into the pigs. The pigs went into the human food supply.
“In a joint statement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) stressed, “We are not aware of any human illness that has occurred from the exposure to melamine or by its by-products.” They added that they have identified no illnesses in swine fed the contaminated feed.” (Forbes.com, April 29, 2007).
No statement from either party about why salvaged pet food known to be contaminated was fed to farm animals.
Somewhere out there Ãdestination unknown–are 440,000 pounds or 201 tones of the Las Vegas-based ChemNutra’s rice protein concentrate, imported from the same Chinese trading agent that handled exports of the tainted wheat gluten.
According to ChemNutra PR spokesman Steve Stern, 10 of the 11 containers of rice protein concentrated imported by ChemNutra over the last year went to undisclosed pet food companies. The 11th is under quarantine and being tested. But just one of the other 10 is known to have been tested; results from those tests, conducted last week, showed it was not contaminated, Stern said.
Now we have a deadly cycle where ChemNutra’s wheat gluten was making the rounds until pets became ill or died, its end product going to feed hogs and 201 tons of ChemNutra’s rice protein concentrate still out there.
If that’s not enough to have people throwing their dinner forks and knives away, check out the latest news from Zhangqiu, China, where operatives openly admit the practice of leftover melamine scrapÑsmall acorn-shaped chunks of white rockÑis being sold to local entrepreneursÑand has been for years. Our Chinese friends readily admit that they “secretly mix a powdered form of the scrap into animal feed to artificially enhance the protein level.”
“The melamine powder has been dubbed “fake protein” and is used to deceive those who raise animals into thinking they are buying feed that provides higher nutrition value.” (International Herald Tribune, April 29, 2007.) “It just saves money,” says a manager at an animal feed factory here. “Melamine scrap is added to animal feed to boost the protein level.”
FDA agents headed to the Orient should skip Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd., where all traces of wheat gluten would be long gone and head right over to Zhangqiu, the heavily polluted city in Shandong Province in the northern part of the country.
Better still they should be chasing down ChemNutra’s 201 tones of rice protein concentrate on American soil.
In their own words (ChemNutra website, Feb. 6, 2005): “ChemNutra imports high-quality nutritional and pharmaceutical chemicals from China to the U.SÉ. The types of chemicals we import are amino acids, vitamins, preservatives & antioxidants, nutritional minerals, proteins, flavors & flavor enhancers, thickeners & emulsifiers, acidifying agents and sweetners.”
“The principals of ChemNutra have exported over $100 million of feed, food and pharma ingredients from China to manufacturers in the US and elsewhere worldwide. Annually our volume exceeds 1,000 tons of Amino Acids, plus many other quality ingredients.”
A husband and wife team runs ChemNutra, and because no list of a board of directors seems to exist anywhere, no one knows its principals.
For reasons unknown, Sally Qing Miller, ChemNutra president, has maintained a low profile since the outbreak of the contaminated pet food.
As well as having earned an MBA, Sally Miller has earned an Engineering degree in Food Engineering. She has been a member of the Institute for Supply Management in the U.S. Sally Miller has also been certified as an IS0 9000 Chief Auditor.
The ISO (International organization for Standardization) 9000 family is primarily concerned with “quality management”, which includes “applicable regulatory requirements”.
The contaminated pet food which made ill and even killed off an untold number of cats and dogs and was then fed as “salvaged” food to hogs–which some 45 people have eaten–is a cautionary tale whose end could bring disaster for the human populations of North America, Puerto Rico and South Africa.
——————————————————————————–
Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Judi can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com.
Other articles by Judi McLeod
April 30th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Has anyone noticed any noteworthy changes between the original IHT article and today’s NYT one?
April 30th, 2007 at 11:28 am
WOW that acutally voices the seriouness of this!!!
April 30th, 2007 at 11:35 am
lorie,
Hills was on that recall list.. eukanuba was too.
neither are at all safe. i used to feed fancy feast, i quit as it has by-products
and wheat gluten , and grains galore? a bad food.
Tiki is ok.. it has medadione sodium bisulfate (artifical vitamin k).
and thats a questionable source of vitamin k. for a temporary food i’ve
fed it, as it is very apealing to most cats?
if your cat would eat a wet-meal type food, try natures variety , the canned is 95% meat , innova evo is another 95%meat food. the dry is very
good, has no grains, and i’ve not found a cat that refuses innova evo dry.
if you’v got junk food addicted kittys (like mine was) try Triumph wet pouches a cheapiee food , it does have a wheat gluten for the gravy
but no by-products ,the gluten is not from china i called the company
and made sure of that. mine gets an occashional pouch as im still weaning
her from kitty junk foods.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:44 am
To provide a bit of distraction, also take a look at another industry, composting - they had a thread recently about compositing the contaminated pet food & stuff.
Like, how are they getting it?
http://tinyurl.com/278bhv
Ann
April 30th, 2007 at 11:49 am
http://eng.gazeta.kz/art.asp?aid=50450
Melamine products ooze huge quantities of the formaldehyde tars. Their presence in the food then exceeds acceptable norms by tens or even hundreds of times. And depending on dyes the melamine excretes heavy metals - lead, cadmium, manganese.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:52 am
PS. RE: above about composting contaiminated pet food..
who is in Huron, Ohio?
see the entry for April 12th.
http://tinyurl.com/23ufn3
Ann
April 30th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Started home cooking for my boy (dog) but I want to add a single vitamin supplement. The only ones I could find in stores where only designed as a supplement to commercial food. The calcium was only 75mg, vitamin A was really low too etc. etc.
I was looking at Furoshnikov’s formula from cookforyourdog.com. Does anyone have any experience with this product? Or do you know of any other products like this that contain all the vitamins etc. I would like powdered form if possible.
Thanks for your help. I need to order this today!
April 30th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Chad,
I use the powdered supplements from: http://knowbetterdogfood.com but I’m sure there are others.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:57 am
The original full-length IHT article is reproduced here: http://www.spockosbrain.com/ just in case you missed it.
What I can’t quite wrap my mind around is, if this melamine ‘enhancement’ of animal feed has been going on for years, why did our pets only just recently become exposed? Is it that they (whoever ‘they’ are) have just now begun to also enhance the export protein compounds?
April 30th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
PurringFur:
“Because other countries refuse our food, we have no choice but to eat it ourselves.”
LOL - I guess that’s why we have such a brisk trade relationship with China - we are made from the same cloth, so to speak!!
April 30th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Chad check out the B-Naturals site. They sell a lot of supplements and have a very good reputation from what I have heard. I use the daily blend on ocassion with a raw diet. It doesn’t have calcium though. But they sell a lot of different supplements so there may be one that has the calcium. They have home cooked recipes that are easy to follow and adjust for different size dogs. I emailed this company and received a prompt response advising me that none of their ingredients originate from China. For whatever that is worth.
http://b-naturals.com/Apr2006.php
April 30th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
The Pet Food Institute (http://www.petfoodinstitute.org/) has established a National Pet Food Commission (http://www.petfoodreport.com/commission.htm) described “as an industry-government partnership composed of government officials, veterinarians, toxicologists and food scientists.”
“1)To investigate the cause of the current pet food recall, and 2) To recommend steps the industry and government should take to further build on safety and quality standards already in place.”
I feel that the National Pet Food Commission should also include some pet owners. After all, we are impacted by their decisions. Most of the BIG companies are members of PFI.
April 30th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Aqua:
“What I can’t quite wrap my mind around is, if this melamine ‘enhancement’ of animal feed has been going on for years, why did our pets only just recently become exposed? Is it that they (whoever ‘they’ are) have just now begun to also enhance the export protein compounds?”
Aqua - imagine if there were no websites or bloggers sharing this info - in fact badgering the media, the government, a,l this civil action etc… and all that you knew was the 16 reported deaths - nothing else? it would have been another benign recall and it would have been over.
It is likely that a number of pets have been dying from poisoning for years, but it has just gone un-noticed, peoples pets die locally, vets attribute it to some common dx and life goes on…
For some reason, the action of Menu Foods really riled people up - people were pissed/against them very early and it just swelled. Blogs and websites started tracking everything and as much as the industry tried to downplay events, the story continued unabated. Every lie was met with new information by people digging for information…the uncovering of this story, I think was directly attributed to pet owners and the Internet.
April 30th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
can someone with a good command of arithmetic explain this to me?
published often over the last few days: US Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials said that meat from 345 hogs that ate tainted feed have already entered the US food supply
also published widely in the last few days: … about 45 people in California are already believed to have eaten the tainted pork.
let’s see now… 345 hogs and 45 people. that’s between 7 and 8 whole hogs per person. that’s one heck of a barbecue!
and isn’t fda-usda saying at the same time that pork consumption isn’t large enough to make eating the tainted meat a huge health concern?
April 30th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
johnypaycut,
The wet version of Eukanuba was on the list not the dry I was using, also the Hills RX diet formulas have not been recalled. Should of been more specific sorry. Trust me none of thethose things have been recalled SD wet has and Eukanuba wet thats it.
April 30th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
HELLO, what about the fact that this was HUMAN GRADE
gluten!!!!
April 30th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Lorie,
I tried Merrick, and found it too rich for my kitties. Until your kitties are well, some of the fish based foods you are using may also be too rich.
Please don’t take this wrong, but suggest you stay away from products made by ANY COMPANY that has had ANY recalled products, i.e., Purina’s Fancy Feast, Eukanuba.
My cats are doing fine on KumpiKat and Innova (orange bag) and Innova canned. Some didn’t like the KumpiKat, but I believe it’s a good food.
They get kibble in the morning, chopped cooked chicken/meat & cooked veggies for lunch, Innova canned for supper. During the day, if I’m cooking any beef, I trim off a small piece, chop it up and offer it raw. Some will eat raw and some won’t. A few seconds in the microwave makes it more appealing for those who don’t eat raw.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
April 30th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Aqua Says:
What I can’t quite wrap my mind around is, if this melamine ‘enhancement’ of animal feed has been going on for years, why did our pets only just recently become exposed? Is it that they (whoever ‘they’ are) have just now begun to also enhance the export protein compounds?
—–
My guess with be that the levels have been low enough that acute renal failure did not occur. Maybe this time somebody either accidentally or deliberately added more than their normal level, causing the problem to show up on the radar screen.
What I wonder is how much of the chronic renal failure in cats is a result of years of eating the melamine-laced food. I had a cat develop kidney disease at only eight years of age. Friends have also had cats develop kidney disease at relatively young ages in recent years.
Who knows if there’s really been a food-related increase, or if kidney disease is being diagnosed earlier because many of us are diligent about vet care and testing?
April 30th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
KIKI, that is exactly the point I have been trying to make. No one at all would know about this if not for the work done by itchmo , petconnection, howl911 and the others who blogged and dug and kept doing it day after day, night after night and they did while nursing their sick, facing the deaths that “somehow “did not count and spending a literal fortune in pet food that they dare not feed.
FDA reports got made, fat lot of good that did the pet owners, but they got made and that lit the fuse.
If this crap kills and sickens, and it does, do you think ANYONE wants to eat it? One of the breakdown products of melamine is cyanide, let me repeat that, cyanide, death capsule do in your neighbor and watch them flop and die CYANIDE. The permanent , forever kidney damage is kind of an added benefit, if you don’t die you get to be really sick for the rest of your life.
This is big news and you know, if BIG media does not cover it the way we like, who needs them? The whole thing only got going because of what was done here, right here. And it can be done without big media if that is how it has to be, their choice. I am sorry that the american consumer is going to miss out on the news so long that they might suffer permanent kidney damage but hey we tried and the people who are harmed by the refusal to get the news out can take it up with the media. Good luck with that.
They probably won’t count much with the FDA either.
Right now, today, I plan to work on getting this story out to bloggers who do not focus on pets, how many bloggers are there? Plenty. Even if they do not focus on pets they might like to know about the food, the heroes, and the fact that the cover up makes watergate look like something in junior high.
And every time I run across the good work done by so many here, that might get lost or buried, I am going to go place it in the itchmo forum where it can be found and used. That info only gets lost if we LET it get lost.
April 30th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Boston Globe/Reuters: Melamine in big demand in China as *food* additive
By Niu Shuping and Lucy Hornby, April 30, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/28b7wg
Excerpt:
Melamine is so popular as a protein lookalike feed additive that at least one Chinese manufacturer is believed to have torn down buildings to get to leftover scraps, industry officials said on Monday.
… Melamine scrap is believed to be commonly mixed in animal feed in China to artificially boost the protein level, especially in soymeal, tricking feedlots and farmers into paying more for feed for chickens and pigs.
April 30th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I posted this thought over at the PC, but thought I’d toss it out to the erudite crowd here as well:
I keep wondering who is going to be first to jump on the bandwagon to market an in-home testing kit for melamine and/or insert-tainted-food-poisoning-of-choice here? You know, along the lines of current in-home pregnancy test kits?
The mind runs amok wondering how low people are going to stoop trying to make a buck off of this recall debacle….
April 30th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
E. Hamilton
Thank you! you are so right. There are people who still say 16 dead - no big deal. People look at me like I’m crazy. I’ve been posting to a dog breed list since my dog got sick 2 1/2 months ago, and I lost a dog June 2006 for unknown reasons.
I’m hoping the unbelievers wake up today.
I found it quite interesting reading the composting site. Read the last enty about dog food being a good carbon source. Maybe there’s something there about chemistry in the body with cyanuric acid.
I posted the link to the article presented to the EPA re: Challenge Studies done for Cyanuric acid in rats,mice and rabbits. There were unusual symptoms but not in every test animal and since inconclusive and all animals didn’t die -not a problem! However there was increased water consumption by every species(they drank water with cyanuric acid added)and bladder lesions and liver lesions,but again not all animals. I believe the test was done because it is in swimming pools and hot tubs and they wanted to know what effect there would be if people got water on skin or drank some. I don’t know if there is any useful info. here?maybe someone is a chemist or has done studies…
http://www.epa.gov/HPV/pubs/su.....4659rr.pdf
Katie
April 30th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Louie,
No offense taken, open to any advice or pointers ate this point. Trust me FF made them sick in the first place but it is not recalled and I thought the ones without the glutens ws safe. i am expecting my first bag of Kumpi Kat on May 2 so hopefully they will like it that is going to be my vitamin source and i am going to cook there wet myself vet told me as long as I find a good dry for nutrition cooking the othr is fine. So you feel really comfortable with KUMPI? What happen to your kitties please share. if you do not mind