Free Republic

China said it had discovered many safety problems with products imported from the United States. "Inspection and quarantine units in various areas have discovered a large number of quality and safety problems with imports from the U.S.," said Chu En Lai, Quality Administrator of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Administration. "We have reported this to the U.S. side and demanded that it look into the causes and adopt effective measures to ensure that a situation like this does not repeat itself." Chu explained that products from the U.S. lacked what he called “precautionary additives.” “For example, American products typically do...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating a Texas laboratory's finding of acetaminophen in dog and cat food, an agency spokesman said Monday. "We're very interested in being able to test these samples ourselves to determine the levels of those contaminants," said FDA spokesman Doug Arbesfeld. "What's significant is these things are there. They don't belong there." ...The contaminants were found in foods that are not among the more than 150 brands recalled since March 16

THOUSANDS OF pet deaths from spiked wheat gluten, raising fears that humans could be next. Millions of shipments of imported foods from China, Vietnam, and other developing countries flooding into the country each year with no inspection by US authorities. Repeated foodborne outbreaks often resulting in deaths and severe illnesses -- from US-produced spinach, sprouts, peanut butter, and other common foods. A plummeting drop in public confidence in the government's ability to protect our food supply. The bad news about our food seems to keep on coming, and it all points to the inevitable conclusion that the Food and Drug...

So I was miffed today when I received an email back from a Whole Foods media relations person in response to my request for information on how the chain was dealing with the unfolding melamine contamination scandal—whether it has concerns that the stuff may have gotten into its meat or protein powders and whether it’s doing any investigation...

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

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2007 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have learned that byproducts from pet food manufactured with contaminated wheat gluten imported from China have been used in chicken feed on some farms in the state of Indiana. This information came to light as part of the continuing investigation into imported rice protein concentrate and wheat gluten that have been found to contain melamine and melamine-related compounds.

PROBLEM: Poisonous or Deleterious Substance Unfit For Food Unsafe Food Additive COUNTRY: China (CN) REASON FOR ALERT: In recent weeks, there has been an outbreak of cat and dog deaths and illness associated with pet food manufactured with vegetable proteins contaminated with melamine and melamine related compounds. In response to this outbreak, FDA has been conducting an aggressive and intensive investigation. Pet food manufacturers and others have recalled dog and cat food and other suspect products and ingredients. This has been one of the largest pet food recalls in history, a recall that continues to expand. Thus far, 18 firms...

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,...

The same food safety net that could not catch poisoned pet food ingredients from China has a much bigger hole. Billions of dollars worth of foreign ingredients that Americans eat in everything from salad dressing to ice cream get a pass from overwhelmed inspectors, despite a rising tide of imports from countries with spotty records, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal trade and food data. -snip- Over the past five years, the AP found, U.S. food makers prospecting for bargains more than doubled their business with low-cost countries such as Mexico, China and India. Those nations also have...

The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut-butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show. Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents. Congressional critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency is incapable of adequately protecting the...

Lost amid the anxiety surrounding the tainted U.S. pet food supply is this sobering reality: It's not just pet owners who should be worried. The uncontrolled distribution of low-quality imported food ingredients, mainly from China, poses a grave threat to public health worldwide.Essential ingredients, such as vitamins used in many packaged foods, arrive at U.S. ports from China and, as recent news reports have underscored, are shipped without inspection to food and beverage distributors and manufacturers. Although they are used in relatively small quantities, these ingredients carry enormous risks for American consumers. One pound of tainted wheat gluten could, if...

"...sources tell CBS News that the FDA had tracked at least one suspect batch of wheat gluten into the human food supply, quietly quarantined some products and notified the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention to watch for new patients admitted to hospitals with renal or kidney failure."

CBS 5 - San Francisco Bay Area's source for news, weather, traffic and sports: 2 Bags Of Tainted Spinach Traced To Calif. PlantSearch Sep 25, 2006 8:47 pm US/Pacific 2 Bags Of Tainted Spinach Traced To Calif. Plant (AP) SAN JUAN BAUTISTA Two bags of Dole baby spinach that tested positive for the E. coli strain that's sickened 175 people nationwide were packaged at the same plant on the same day, California health officials said Monday. That information has helped investigators tracing the source of the tainted greens narrow their search at nine farms in three California counties, said Dr....

See for example this thread first. At the ca-fe-ter-i-a There's panic, hysteria "I'm dead at the finish 'cause I ate the spinach!" E. Coli bacteria! "The recalled brands are: Bellissima, Cheney Brothers, Coastline, Compliments, Cross Valley, D'Arrigo Brothers, Dole, Earthbound Farm, Emeril, Fresh Point, Green Harvest, Jansal Valley, Mann, Mills Family Farm, Natural Selection Foods, Nature's Basket, O Organic, Premium Fresh, President's Choice, Pride of San Juan, Pro*Act, Pro-Mark, Rave Spinach, Ready Pac, River Ranch, Riverside Farms, Snoboy, Superior, Sysco, Tanimura & Antle, The Farmer's Market and Trader Joe's."

(KUTV) SALT LAKE CITY Its' something just about every woman carries with them. While we may know what's inside our purses, do you have any idea what's on the outside? Shauna Lake put purses to the test – for bacteria – with surprising results. You may think twice about where you put your purse. Women carry purses everywhere from the office to public restrooms to the floor of the car. Most women won't be caught without their purses, but did you ever stop to think about where your purse goes during the day? “I drive a school bus, so my...

Spooked by Bird Flu, Egyptians Hoard Water Residents of Cairo Fear Chickens Dumped in the Nile Could Infect Their Drinking Supply By Daniel Williams Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, February 26, 2006; A12 CAIRO, Feb. 25 -- Of all the panicky ways that people worldwide have sought protection from bird flu, perhaps the most striking took root among Egyptians last week. Via e-mail and through advice dispensed on crowded city streets, word went out: Don't drink the water. Farmers, including the rooftop poultry breeders that are a Cairo fixture, had begun to dump stricken, dead chickens into the Nile River,...

Seventh-Grader's Science Project Turns Up Some Disturbing Results NEW YORK - Jasmine Roberts never expected her award-winning middle school science project to get so much attention. But the project produced some disturbing results: 70 percent of the time, ice from fast food restaurants was dirtier than toilet water. The 12-year-old collected ice samples from five restaurants in South Florida -- from both self-serve machines inside the restaurant and from drive-thru windows. She then collected toilet water samples from the same restaurants and tested all of them for bacteria at the University of South Florida. In several cases, the ice tested...