Free Republic

Arlington Heights resident Julie Furer said she bought vinyl-backed bibs for 3-month-old son Jensen because they stopped the drool from leaking through. Previously, Jensen, who turns 1 today, had been using cloth bibs, but they had proved ineffective. “I called him Waterfall. That was my nickname for him,” said Julie Furer’s mother, Mount Prospect resident Marilyn Furer. “He would be soaking wet, because he was just constantly drooling.” Jensen would also put the bib in his mouth when he was hungry, something that came to Marilyn Furer’s attention when he started using the vinyl-backed bibs. It caused Marilyn to think...

ederal officials on Friday placed a hold on 20 million chickens raised for market in several states because their feed was mixed with pet food containing an industrial chemical.

"... China's animal-feed production industry, which has little to no regulation."

SOMETHING was wrong with the babies. The villagers noticed their heads were growing abnormally large while the rest of their bodies were skin and bones. By the time Chinese authorities discovered the culprit — severe malnutrition from fake milk powder — 13 had died. The scandal, which unfolded three years ago after hundreds of babies fell ill in an eastern Chinese province, became the defining symbol of a broad problem in China's economy. Quality control and product-safety regulation are so poor that people cannot trust the goods on sale. Until now, the problem has not received much attention outside China...

Hogs that ate tainted pet food to be destroyed By Mary Ann Fergus Tribune staff reporter Published April 26, 2007, 8:38 PM CDT Federal officials alerted authorities in seven states Thursday that swine fed tainted pet food will not be approved to enter the human food supply. Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration expect that approximately 6,000 hogs, now under quarantine, will be euthanized even as they announced that the likelihood of illness after eating pork from the animals is very low. The affected hogs are in California, North Carolina, South Carolina, New...

WASHINGTON, April 26: U.S. officials Thursday announced that swine fed adulterated products will not be permitted to enter the food supply. Capt. David Elder of the Food and Drug Administration told reporters in Washington the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture had notified states such swine would not be approved to enter the food supply. "Based on information currently available, FDA and USDA believe the likelihood of illness after eating such pork is extremely low," Elder said. "However, the agencies also believe it's prudent to take this measure." Officials have determined that a shipment of rice protein from China...

BEIJING: President Hu Jintao of China on Wednesday urged farms to improve food safety and develop the organic sector, a day after the U.S. food safety authorities said that thousands of hogs had eaten salvaged pet food from China that had contained the industrial chemical melamine. Smithfield Foods, the biggest U.S. hog producer, said Wednesday it was unlikely that it had fed contaminated feed to its hogs but that it was checking all of its feed suppliers. Urine from hogs in California, North Carolina and South Carolina tested positive for melamine, a chemical contained in rice-protein concentrate imported from China,...

<p>GILROY, Calif. - Don Christopher's garlic fields have survived droughts and El Nino, gophers and beetles, white mold and roundworm.</p> <p>But the founder of Christopher Ranch, the nation's largest garlic producer, says low-priced exports from China could doom U.S. commercial production of the pungent bulb.</p>