Human Food Tainted By Pet Food

[lvpets2002]

I just read on MSN that FDA is investigating Chicken Feed now & say its all tainted.. I am beginning to wonder if this was intended by someone on purpose poisioning all the foods..

[Jadapit]

I got this in my email today, I get alerts almost daily on the recalled pet food. Its a mess that's for sure.










By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.Com

May 1, 2007


Entrepreneurs in China have -- for years -- secretly added the chemical at the heart of the nationwide pet food recall into animal feed in that country.

It’s been done to artificially inflate the protein levels in the feed. That’s the startling discovery made by reporters for The New York Times.

The Times reported that powdery scraps of melamine -- a chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers -- were secretly mixed into animal feed in China.

“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 nutritional value,” The Times reported.

The newspaper also said the practice is widespread in China, which has little regulatory supervision.

Now the question is: Did the Chinese companies that supplied the wheat gluten and rice protein used in pet foods in America follow this same practice?

Did those companies intentionally spike these ingredients with melamine to dupe U.S. importers that the products had higher protein contents?

U.S. food inspectors heading to China this week will try to answer those questions when they examine the facilities that manufactured these tainted ingredients, which are linked to the illnesses and deaths of scores of pets in the Unites States, Puerto Rico, and South Africa.

The president of Menu Foods -- the first of several companies to recall pet foods -- is convinced that’s what happened.

“What this appears to be is a case of deliberate contamination of wheat gluten in order to pass off substandard products,” the company’s Paul Henderson told a U.S. House committee last week. Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of pet in March after learning dogs and cats suffered kidney problems or died after eating the foods.

“For a seller who knows how industry testing methods work, this would allow them to cheat the buyers,” Henderson said.

The Chinese government disputes reports that melamine-tainted products from its country caused pets to die. But on Friday, that country banned the use of melamine in wheat gluten, rice protein, and other vegetable proteins exported from China or used in domestic food supplies.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says the California company that imported tainted rice gluten from China has done business with that overseas supplier since August 2006. Wilber-Ellis, however, says it did not learn the products were tainted until this month.

Swimming Pool Chemical
FDA officials confirmed the rice protein is contaminated with melamine and a second chemical — cyanuric acid.

That second contaminant -- detected in the rice protein and wheat gluten in some pet foods -- is used to boost the protein content of foods, FDA officials said. It’s also a stabilizer in outdoor swimming pools and hot tubs.

"The combination of melamine and cyanuric acid is of concern to human and animal health," said Captain David Elder, director of the FDA's Office of Enforcement Office of Regulatory Affairs. "Melamine, at detected levels, is not a human health concern.”

Meanwhile, the FDA is tracing all the pet food and animal feed made with the rice protein Wilbur-Ellis has imported since August 2006.

More Recalls
As the investigation continues, so do the recalls. Two more pet food companies have recalled their products because they may contain adulterated rice protein imported from China.

And that tainted ingredient, the companies say, was added without their consent.

Sierra Pet Products recalled its Harmony Farms canned dog and cat foods and Health Bar biscuits.

“The manufacturer of all Harmony Farms cans and biscuits informed (us) that they had been adding rice protein concentrate to Harmony Farms canned dog and cat foods without (our) approval,” Sierra Pet Products said on its Web site.

The company added: “It appears that American Nutrition, Inc. (ANI) had been adding the unauthorized rice protein concentrate to Harmony Farms products for some time and only told (us) when the FDA was about to conclude that some of ANI’s rice protein concentrate (supplied by Wilber-Ellis) was contaminated with melamine.”

Sierra Pet Products said it has stopped doing business with ANI. The company also said none of its products have tested positive for melamine and it has not received any reports of illnesses linked to its foods.

“We intend to re-introduce our canned products and dog biscuits as soon as we can obtain a manufacturing partner who shares our values of honesty and integrity,” the company said.

Natural Balance Pet Foods also recalled more of its food after learning ANI added potentially-tainted rice protein to four of its canned products—without the company’s knowledge or consent.

Those recalled products are:
• Chicken Formula Canned Dog Food 13 oz;
• Lamb Formula Canned Dog Food 13 oz;
• Beef Formula Canned Dog Food 13 oz;
• Ocean Fish Formula Canned Cat Food 3 oz & 6 oz

Natural Balance says there are no reports of illnesses linked to these foods.

“To make sure that this does not happen in the future, we are demanding from each of our co-manufacturers daily production record of all of our formulas before they are shipped to us and written certification of NO rice protein or any deviation of our formulas,” the company wrote on its Web site.

“We have reviewed all of our other products and determined that they are free of rice protein concentrate and that all of our other product labels are accurate.”

Here is the link to the whole article:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0..._recall39.html

[Prairie Purrs]

So if I'm reading that article correctly, what appears to have happened is that melamine has been added to gluten products in China for years. And it's gone unnoticed because melamine alone didn't produce sudden death (although who knows whether it has contributed to chronic kidney problems).

But someone apparently got extra greedy and decided to also add cyanuric acid as well. And the combination of melamine and cyanuric acid is lethal.

And now everyone's passing the buck like mad. But the U.S. manufacturers have no excuse for failing to test their ingredients. All they cared about was that they could buy the ingredients cheaply and turn a fat profit.

[gini]

This is the response that I have received from Trader Joes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Virgina,

Thank you for contacting Trader Joe's regarding products from China. We
appreciate your concern and feed back. Our buyers have strong
relationships with our vendors. Trader Joe's is committed to bringing in
great products from around the world for over forty years.We require FDA
regulated GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and HACCP (Hazard Analysis
and Critical Control Point) program of our vendors regardless of
country. HACCP is a systematic approach to identifying, evaluating and
controlling food safety hazards. In addition, our Quality Assurance Team
audits our vendors to monitor their facilities and practices. We believe
that quality, along with price, is essential to the value of our
products, and we go to extreme measures to make sure we are bringing you
the best of both.

Thank you,

Amy B.

Trader Joe's

Customer Relations

[smokey the elder]

If Trader Joe's insists on the vendors following GMP that is a very high standard to meet.

Pet food prices will probably go up, because the FDA will probably insist on 100% inspection of all foreign origin lots of food ingredients for some time. I am willing to pay for this testing, rather than risk my cats' lives.

[Paul]

   From CNN, Officials order 20 million chickens held from market

      Paul

[momoffuzzyfaces]

***From CNN, Officials order 20 million chickens held from market

******Paul

Thanks for the link Paul. I caught just the tale end of this on the news. They should hold the turkeys too, I should think.