Recall Update: Thursday
Preview of next week’s FDA report on China?
The Chinese government says that two suppliers who shipped tainted food to the US were “special individual cases.”
They also say that the “FDA inspectors … expressed satisfaction with the quality controls and tracing measures in place at another exporter of vegetable protein, Sinoglory, saying those met U.S. production standards for similar products.”
It is unclear how many facilities the FDA visited, or whether they were allowed to make unnaounced visits. We do know that the two accused companies were allowed to raze entire buildings and dismantle equipment, preventing the investigators from being able to conduct their work properly.
Other news:
- Tainted US rice protein concentrate supplier also supplied tainted corn gluten to South Africa.
- Pet food industry seeking self-testing to “stave off tough congressional action.”
- Menu Foods provides reimbursement forms almost 2 months after first recall.
- Fish that ate contaminated feed in Hawaii cleared for sale.
Pet food sales have fallen 4 percent and have not recovered since the recalls began, according to the Pet Food Institute. There are no numbers on how many people have transitioned to home cooking for pets.
Be sure to read our non-recall news for other important news and laughs.
Go to our Forums for discussion on what to feed, what to do, and meet great pet parents.
(Thanks Peggy and mike)
May 17th, 2007 at 8:37 am
After clicking on a couple of the links to read the articles for myself; I can see which way this wind is blowing. Comments like “a mildly toxic melamine” and the much touted 16 cat and dog deaths tell me that the spin doctors are weaving their webs of lies very effecitvely. While a four percent reduction tells me that we got THEIR attention, I wonder what it is going to take to get PET people’s attention.
May 17th, 2007 at 8:38 am
‘The Chinese government says that two suppliers who shipped tainted food to the US were “special individual cases.‒
Liars.
I am transitioning my cats to home cooked. It’s not easy since they are so used to Hills Science Diet dry. They are on organic dry and slowly but surely getting used to new, real food tastes. Once I get them fully on the home cooked, we are never going back.
Thanks to everyone here for being so nice and helpful! It has been a real blessing!
May 17th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Zoe, Me Too. My 3 dogs are on home cooked and have never looked better. I’m never going back, either.
May 17th, 2007 at 8:47 am
I think they probably believe they can pay people a few hundred dollars for their dead or maimed pets, and eventually it will all blow over and be forgotten. Then, it will be business as usual.
I wonder how many people are still feeding their animals recalled food without even realizing it?
May 17th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Did anyone see that CNN report where the man from the Chinese company manufacturing corn gluten complained about losing sales to manufacturers of bogus gluten. Sounds like a widespread problem to me, not “special individual cases.”
I’d like to see which companies lost how much sales, rather than an across the board decrease. I’m sure some companies gained sales after the recalls, and some lost huge amounts.
Does anybody know where I can get non-Chinese taurine for my cat food? Every recipe I find says if you freeze the food, you need to add taurine, because it breaks down in the organ meats.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:14 am
here is sorta an answer to how many people stilluse dangerous products to feed their pet:
Okay my husband came home from work yesterday and said that his co-worker was getting kitten this weekend, he told her to be careful what she bought to feed it and she looked at him like he was crazy…………………….
May 17th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Pet food sales down 4%…….. that’s a lot! Yes, many folks are homecooking. But all those precious dead pets aren’t eating pet food any longer either. Perhaps it is even more thousands of dead than we had feared, to make this large a dent in the pet food sales.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Anyone catch the News Observer article this morning by Suzanne Havala Hobbs?
GLUTEN SCANDAL PROVES DANGER IN FOOD SYSTEM
Something I hadn’t read before stuck out like a sore thumb:
“At the very same time federal government officials offered their assurances that the food is safe, they asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to put special emphasis on monitoring the nation for an increase in human kidney failures.â€
Anyone else feel all better now? The guberment requests the CDC to put special emphasis on human kidney failure monitoring?!!!
Great way to start the new day, innit? =:-O
Here’s the link again for those interested:
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/574776.html
I also like the Glittering Eye’s take on the above where he asks:
“I think that’s prudent but I’m honestly astounded that this isn’t something they’ve been doing on an ongoing basis all along. What will they use as a baseline? I certainly hope they go back at least prior to 2000.â€
What will they use as a baseline indeed. Maybe I’ve missed any mention of this monitoring but if not, why hasn’t this been addressed before? Oh that’s right…….all the tainted mela-food is SAFE so nothing to worry about! Nothing to see here says the FDA…….move right along peoples!
Glittering Eye:
http://theglitteringeye.com/?p=2903
May 17th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Elizabeth,
I think there are many more dead pets, even from earlier than this recall, than will ever be counted.
We were all told that kidney failure is just one of those things that happens to animals especially cats. Now we know better and that it is probably food related. I think it is also due to over vaccination and too many medications, but it looks like this food contamination has been going on for a number of years.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:47 am
This has all been so horrible but at least we are aware now and can take steps to protect ourselves and our pets.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Even though he’s out of business, there’s a sell offer for the company on Alibaba dated May 14 for:
http://chinafeed.en.alibaba.co....._Meal.html
Corn Gluten Meal
http://chinafeed.en.alibaba.co....._Meal.html
See the most recent posting for this Granule Corn Gluten Meal (May 14, 2007)
Detailed Product Description
We can supply corn gluten meal, rice protein, soya protein, pea protein, and wheat protein, which are animal feed/poultry feed.
And here you see them offering to supply other proteins, such as rice & wheat, etc.
The website for the company is gone:
http://www.sdjinhaiwan.com/
Not Found
The requested URL was not found on this server.
These are no more isolated incidents than the tainted glycerin is–these are the ones who happened to get caught at it. When we get some REAL food enforcement and laws in the US or a ban on Chinese food imports, we can hope to stop this.
May 17th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Ally: When the recall was still fairly new, I heard about the CDC being warned to watch for an increase in human renal failure……this was months ago…..so I knew then that this wasn’t just a story about contaminated pet food.
I think this has been going on for a very long time but the melamine (& whatever else) levels were very low. I hate to sound cynical (this whole thing has made me this way) but I believe our poor little pets already had plenty of toxic chemicals in their system so when these lovely exporters decided to get more greedy & up the melamine, that’s all it took to either kill or sicken our pets. I think the levels of melamine were increased but I also think it was the accumulation factor (forget that BS dilution factor, I’m more worried about accumulation for both us & our pets) that was really what caused most of the problem. I also think we already have plenty in our system & this is no more than a giant coverup for something that has been going on for years.
One of the things that cemented my theory is how much I read about finding melamine in pet food was almost impossible……unless they knew what they were testing for. I think they knew about the melamine but turned a blind eye which is how they found it fairly quickly. Call me silly but I’ll always believe that.
I think the commercial pet food companies better come up with a damn good plan & then tell pet parents what they plan to do to ensure their food is safe & HEALTHY FOR OUR PETS…..otherwise, hasta la vista, baby. I’ll use Natura products because they are doing extra testing. Have yet to see anyone else step up & prove their food is safe. I think the regular pet food grocery brands will find that they’re in deep poo-poo & the PF companies that truly care & will do extra testing will see their business triple.
May 17th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Where’s Kim with the tequila? Yo, Kim…..we need tequila for breakfast now…..
May 17th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Whatcha wanna bet that most people switched to Purina, since most of it ‘wasn’t on the list’ instead of doing actual research.
May 17th, 2007 at 10:38 am
A headline from the Toronto Star: “FDA downplays melamine risk”
“Dr. David Acheson, assistant FDA commissioner for food protection, also downplayed the risk to humans from eating tainted chicken, pork or other foods for a longer period of time. Low levels of melamine are excreted in the urine of animals that eat it and as a result would not harm hogs, pigs and humans, he said.”
Christopher Doering, Reuters: http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/214151
Note to Dr. Acheson: So if eating melamine tainted pork and chicken is not harmful, why monitor human kidney failure? BTW, I have a family member who was recently diagnosed with severe kidney failure. She used to eat lots of pork. Now she is on the kidney transplant list.
You FDA guys are SO INCREDIBLY STUPID!
May 17th, 2007 at 10:56 am
“We hope the American side will accurately and objectively deal with problems among individual companies and not take stringent measures against other Chinese companies producing the same type of products.”
My government may be stupid enpough to ignore all the red flags waving in the wind, but I certainly am not. Learn from this, China: Wy should I take pity on your suppliers, what with your exceedingly sloppy safety regulations and your exporters beating the system at every turn. No chance.
May 17th, 2007 at 10:58 am
JanC I agree with you. Since it seems to affect cats to a higher degree that might explain whey CRF is so prevelant in cats, especially older ones. Not to mention they way we accept the fact that cats are natural born pukers. Any cat owner talking to another cat owner has that understanding non-cat owners don’t get….barf in the shoes, between your toes, wherever….maybe this is why they are known pukers (as long as it isn’t excessive).
I also think maybe it would explain for an array of other disorders in humans. Every day the news has some comment on obesity in America. We’ve always had junk food but now it’s reportedly “epidemic proportions” here. Maybe…just maybe…it’s from all the nifty additives added to our food. Sure we can burn off calories, but can we really burn off melamine (plastic)? Maybe they should do a study on that.
May 17th, 2007 at 11:03 am
The cyanuric acid is probably being added in this country, that is why they knew to look for melamine. Now they are covering the industry’s butts by ignoring the cyanuric acid! (It is on the list of substances allowed to be added, as we have seen in past weeks)
May 17th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Zoe– We are now aware, but there are still many people who are not. People just now getting a pet for the first time, probably never paid much attention to just sixteen animals dying from some contamination in a pet food. That was isolated and it was found and it was fixed and it’s over. The media is downplaying the whole affair, so it was nothing to worry about. When my sister’s cat died suddenly of kidney failure in early December, that was no big deal to the vet–’ very common’. How many more like her who are so sad, that she did’nt even tell me until February. She now has me watching her dog’s food. Word of mouth goes a long way and people like those here on Itchmo keeping on top of everything will be the only way to bring change. Then it will be safe for the general public.
May 17th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Outrageous. How soon they forget…
Even after the L.A. Times published an article May 9th saying that the two Chinese chemical companies were RAZED days before the U.S. inspectors got there, someone had the nerve to write this pro-Chinese biz wire report. And the L.A. Times printed it today.
* IN BRIEF / PET FOOD
China finds no contamination
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
May 17, 2007
China says checks on food exporters have turned up no sign of a chemical blamed for the deaths of cats and dogs in North America and urged U.S. authorities to refrain from further action against Chinese producers.
The government body that oversees food safety said it accompanied U.S. inspectors on visits to two companies blamed for the contamination.
http://www.latimes.com/busines…..0639.story
If you want to write a letter to the editor, here’s where to send it:
letters@latimes.com
If you want to read the May 9th article about the razed factories, here’s the link:
http://www.latimes.com/busines.....4365.story
May 17th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I just had my coworker come down here to pick up some cables and we started talking about her dog who was having Pee pee issues, she was using IAMS dry, she switched to INNOVA and finished some vet meds and everything was fine. INNOVA was a little expensive and her vet assured her IAMS was fine. So she went back to it. After our chat today she realized all PIPPY’s probably started over when she went back to IAMS. (Also constant drinking) Spoke to husband he agreed it must be connected to the re starting of IAMS. They are off to buy Canidae after work. We really believe we were meant to have this talk today.
So there you go vets area also list focused. SCARY
May 17th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
And now for Duane-o, who woke up and remembered to put his PFI hat on–the last advisory on the PFI site was 4/26/07, urging Federal officials to press the Chinese companies on the melamine.
http://www.petfoodinstitute.org/
http://www.bizjournals.com/was.....ocus7.html
Washington Business Journal 1998
“”The key element is: Is the purpose of the organization such that it will bring value to membership? It can’t be just a collegial organization. People don’t have time for that today,” says Duane Ekedahl, vice chairman of Smith Bucklin & Associates, a D.C. firm that manages 140 health care, technology and business associations.”
http://www.smithbucklin.com/
“SmithBucklin is the world’s largest association management company, providing flexible, tailored services to
235 trade associations, professional societies, technology user groups and government institutes/agencies.
“We help organizations best leverage their assets to drive growth and build sustained competitiveness. Our pledge is to deliver unparalleled value, guided by principles that place trust and client stewardship above all else.”
http://www.smithbucklin.com/about/clients.cfm
“SmithBucklin provides full-service management and function/project-specific services to 235 trade associations, professional societies, technology user groups and government institutes/agencies. Following is a list of SmithBucklin client organizations:
“Business Trade
“Full-Service Management
“Pet Food Institute”
http://www.petfoodinstitute.org/
Right up there with the Popcorn Board and Popcorn Institute.
Most, if not all, posting here know more about pet food than Duane does. To him it’s just another hat he’s gotta wear from time to time in the name of making a buck as VP of SmithBucklin. The industry needs a REAL, non-turnkey organization to begin to be credible.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Anybody finding that a lot of people you come in contact with just aren’t interested in the people food or pet food contamination?
I’ve come across people who just don’t care about it, including my mother.
I’m glad she no longer has pets. Her response is, “Oh, well, what can you do?” The people food problem doesn’t bother her at all.
My hairdresser is another one. She has a dog, a cat and a little boy. She just isn’t interested in it.
Maybe it’s because it isn’t being reported much on television. I don’t know.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
I have pets, children and grandchildren. My son and daughter-in-law are worried sick. They have 2 kids, 1 cat, 1 dog. Their neighbor (5 kids, 2 dogs) doesn’t give a s**t. “The FDA will take care of it.” Right.
I was looking on the Cornell Web site and they compared idiopathic feline lower urinary tract disease (IFLUTD) to human interstitial cystitis (IC).
“Unfortunately, in spite of extensive diagnostic tests, the cause of over half of the cases of feline lower urinary tract disease remains elusive; such disorders are called idiopathic feline lower urinary tract disease (IFLUTD). ”
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc.....inary.html
I wonder if this is related to our wonderful melameals. The animals didn’t go into kidney failure until someone completely counterfeited the gluten.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Menusux,
I looked on alibaba.com and found a Chinese plastic and leather company that exports “Pet Health Care Biscuits.”
May 17th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Susan
I agree.
I do think the widespread kidney failure in animals, cats particularly, is related to contamination in years past. The cause has been elusive because no one looked for melamine or cyanuric acid.
You know, my vet doesn’t seem too concerned about all this either. But then their office waiting area is filled with Hills products.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I’m reminded of what Steve said in earlier posts. We are on our own now.
We have to do our own digging for info. We also have to remain vigilant.
I think the FDA has pretty much let us know it is not going to change very much. We know they won’t stop importing food from China. They’ve said that.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
My co-workers check out ITCHMO daily. They are addicted and thank me for all the information I give them. One of my co-workers went from Science Diet to Innova. Of course there are a couple who care less. Then you have my Sisters who STILL feed their dogs Purina One. I feed mine Canidae & home cook. NO MORE WET!
Does anyone know if you need your cans/receipts to submit a claim? I want Menu to reimburse me for all the test that were done on my shep puppy. I do have al the vet bills.
Thanks!
May 17th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Here they are:
http://huaheng.en.alibaba.com/.....scuit.html
“Wenzhou Huaheng Leather & Plastic Co., Ltd
“Address: 14 Xinjie Road, Nanyan Town, Pingyang County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. China
“Detailed Product Description
“Pet health care biscuit is made of multi kinds of tracing elements to remain the nutrition balance for pets. The product contains rich nutrition ingredients, such as various vitamins. Feeding with this product, it is helpful to strengthen your dog’s body, clear vision, digest food and absorb useful nutrition ingredients, and improve orexis and immunization.
“This is an ideal environmentally friendly product. Keep feeding your dog with it for one week, it’s helpful to clean your dog’s mouth, protect the gum and remove peculiar smell from mouth, and will remove the odor from dog’s body and excretion.”
They’re showing other pet products–would-be Greenie types of chews and rawhide (which may or may not have salmonella)–there were quite a few recalls mixed in with the food recalls of salmonella in imported pet chews. They do NOT disclose the ingredients of the “Health Care Biscuit”, nor what’s in the Greenie-type chews. They also show something which looks much like a Dingo bone:
http://huaheng.en.alibaba.com/.....nside.html
http://huaheng.en.alibaba.com/.....Bones.html
Have seen these sold in dollar stores clearly marked as made in China.
http://huaheng.en.alibaba.com/group/0.html
There’s also various pressed & chopped compressed rawhide sticks and bones.
We haven’t a clue as to what’s really in those biscuits, or in the Greenie-type treats–not one thing on the Alibaba site tells us.
http://huaheng.en.alibaba.com/.....ofile.html
Here’s their trust pass profile at Alibaba–”Authenticated
and Verified by Huaxia Credit on Apr 16,2004″
Huaxia Credit:
” Shareholders-The company’s key shareholders are:
China Commercial Information Center (subsidiary of State Domestic Commerce Bureau)
China Industrial and Commercial Consulting Service Center (subsidiary of State Administration Bureau of Industry and Commerce)
China International Tax Consulting Co. (subsidiary of State Tax Bureau)
Zhong Yin Finance Consulting Co. (subsidiary of People’s Bank of China)”
Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. (melamine “RPC” & Corn Gluten) had the same background of having Huaxia’s seal of approval. And you see that the Chinese government’s various branches are the major shareholders of Huaxia Credit. So obviously they are most interested in telling the world that these were isolated incidents and everything’s fine there now.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Zoe,
My neighbor has 2 dogs and thinks I am totally nuts over this whole thing. She says my cats are almost 10 and are going to die soon anyway. And as far as her dogs go she uses Pedigree and they are both 10+ years and says they had a goodlife what happens, happens.
She also has 3 kids and doesn’t get me because my 2 cats are my kids. Totally cannot relate, to the bond I have with them. Whatever.
Bottom line people are sick of hearing me talk about it. But you know what I listen to all ther crap about kids and scholl and blah blah blah and i really could give a rats butt about taht too.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Zoe,
When I first studied as a vet tech (back in the ’70’s) normals for BUN and creatinine (those famous kidney function tests) for cats were BUN: 1-21, creatinine: 0.1 - 1.3. (I looked in my old textbook.) Now those tests are reported as normal up to 30 for BUN and 2.0 (or higher) for creatinine. How does that happen in 30 years, except that kidney disease is creeping into our cat population. (It has happened with dogs, too, but not as dramatically.) And then “they” tell us we’re not smart enough to give our cats a balanced homemade diet.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Zoe–DITTO!
May 17th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Susan,
When I mentioned to my vet that I was going to start moving my cats toward a homemade diet using Pitcairn’s book, she immediately tried to scare me away from that. She said, “People mean well when they try to make their pets’ food but they don’t understand how to get the right nutrients.” She mentioned selenium as an example. Also, she didn’t know who Dr. Pitcairn was. I like her, and I know she really has a good heart, but I realize now that it is up to me to take control of my pets’ health and not be so dependent upon the vet for info. Because, let’s face it, they don’t know everything.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Well…my vet’s office is filled with Royal Canin products, Hills & lovely posters all over the walls with Royal Canin advertisements.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Yeah, Zoe, Many vets’ nutrition classes were sponsored by Hills. I figured out a healthy diet for my human kids; I can do it for dog and cat kids. I have 2nd ed of the Pitcairn book. The 3rd is on sale at Amazon. I wonder what the differences are. Selenium, Taurine, Vitamin E - it’s complicated, but it can be done.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Barb,
Re: the vet’s office and advertisements
It’s a real- eye opener isn’t it? Makes you stop and think. Hmm could there be a conflict of interest here?
May 17th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
http://www.prweek.com/us/news/.....es-crisis/
PR Week-
Pet food industry unites in crisis
Michael Bush PR Week USA May 17 2007 09:38
Michael Bush spoke to three key players involved in the pet-food recall of earlier this year about their roles in the crisis, obstacles faced, and more
“Michael Bush: Have you faced a recall/crisis situation like this before?
“Duane Ekedahl (president of the Pet Food Institute [PFI]): “We called this the perfect storm because of the particular way this product recall unfolded. It was a co-manufacturer that makes products for a lot of companies, so instead of just one company and one product, it was one company and hundreds of products.
“A misidentification of the substance causing the problem compounded consumer confusion.
“The final component that made this unusual was that it wasn’t just a one-shot deal. As the product was tracked through the system, it affected other companies, and it continued for weeks. The magnitude of this was a real shock to us.”"
“Bush: What were the biggest challenges you encountered?
“Ekedahl: “Reassuring the public in light of the numerous recalls that 99% of the products on the shelves were still safe. “”
So, just how much is LEFT on the shelf???
LOVE this next part….
“Bush: What’s your opinion of the media’s handling of the situation?
“Ekedahl: “There were specific articles that were troublesome and bloggers who were off the charts. But in total, I came away with a respect for the probing nature and overall honesty of the questions.
“The media were very helpful in our getting the message out in terms of the nature and dimension of the problem and the fact that it’s being addressed. The questioning was impressively penetrating on technical subjects, but there were also erroneous reports that were misleading to consumers. “”
And that’s about all the admission you’re going to get that the honcho of Smith Bucklin, wearing his PFI hat, reads what’s written here and elsewhere.
You’ll also see in the article that Duane-o has hired a PR mouthpiece, Gene Grabowski (SVP at Levick Strategic Communications, which represents the PFI) and that he was also interviewed for this.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Barb, GSD MOM Says:
May 17th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Well…my vet’s office is filled with Royal Canin products, Hills & lovely posters all over the walls with Royal Canin advertisements.
So is mine. The RC my vet was feeding his dog was recalled. His dog was there to have his blood checked. Still posters and advertisments all over the place???? I would have ripped those suckers down and returned all the RC food I had.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
RC advertisements: Conflict of Interest? Yes, MONEY. My vet use to feed his dogs RC.
Martin: lol I would of loved to rip down his advertisements. The poor unknowning public.
Very sad.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
My vet is all Science Diet RX
May 17th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
LorieVA
I had the problem with Eukanuba dry food and my dogs kidney values are still not good. I would recommend your friend have their dog tested: Chems and Urinalysis to be on the safe side.
Katie
May 17th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Should we start calling it “Mad Science Diet”?
May 17th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Helen Says:
May 17th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Should we start calling it “Mad Science Diet�
LOL!
Another would be “Peukanuba”.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Katie,
She has had it all done once the first time and it was normal said it was incognience SP? She is going to have more tests AGAIN, sorta regrets listenign to her vet.
How is your doggie doing with PEPCID I wanted to tell you Geisha is only 9 lbs and seems to be doing well without it. Topaz is 16 lbs and still seems a little burpy. So maybe since your dog is heavier than my girls maybe the PEPCID with only be a month or 2 longer. Fingers crossed.
They were affected March 23rd so it took about 2 months
May 17th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
When my co-worker told me she was feeding her new puppies science diet I almost hit the roof of this law firm. I could not get her to change her miind. :o(
May 17th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
So FF should be Fatal Feast
May 17th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Yay! The comics are here.
Afternoon, ladies.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Fancy Feast = F—sup Felines
A cynical thought about vets using their Rx’d foods: Free vet service if their pets get sick. No shortage of replacement pets.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Unnatural Unbalance?
May 17th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
helen, make it Unnatural imbalance