Posted on 03/30/2007 6:23:02 AM PDT by Milwaukee_Guy
"Testing by the FDA and at least one lab independent of the agency found melamine, a chemical used in plastics and household textiles, in samples of the recalled pet food and in one of its ingredients -- wheat gluten -- said an FDA official and another source close to the investigation. Neither wanted to be identified prior to the FDA's formal announcement this morning."
"The FDA has not determined how melamine got into the pet food. Melamine is used as a fertilizer in Asia and has several commercial and industrial uses."
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
The poison and other such harmful substances that have been discovered in these pet foods sounds like sabotage. If, in fact, it is sabotage, the next questions are why and by who?
Some of the possibilities include - sabotage a competitor, short a stock, experiment with a food supply to see how you could use the food supply chain as an instrument of terror?
A big question is, how are consumers supposed to know which "ingredients" in foods come from third world countries? I try to buy organic. More expensive but at least I have an idea of the origin of the food. But if buy, say, a tv dinner, how would I have any idea where the ingredients (like wheat gluten) came from? Maybe the manufacturers should be required to tell us.
It's not just the wheat. They use euthanized animals for dog food. That means if the animal was sick and being treated with drugs, that is all in the food. It has been going on for years and is finally catching up with these slimeball companies.
Slimeball companies do slimy things with human food too, it's not just petfood companies. The lack of inspections in the meat industry are appalling, not to mention GMO's (genetically modified organisms), cloned food (coming soon), etc.
Yes, I agree, tip of the iceberg.
It's a real eye opener to look at packaging.
Take a look at StarKist and other tunas in the can and the new packages...........I think it's Thailand or some other place. I don't buy anything these days without inspecting the packaging, where it comes from etc.....read the small print.
Someone gave me this info the other day.
This is simply the best dry manufactured. - shipped direct from mfg.
You must keep unused pouches frozen - no preservatives.
For the best diet period - BARF your animal. http://www.barfworld.com/
Rocket fuel ... http://www.greentripe.com/
I find most "pet" owners too cheap to take total responsibility for their animals well being - this stuff is pricy compared to the junk most animals are fed.
Do you really love your animal or is it just a fashion statement?
Here is a link to a pic of my 10 1/2 year old GSD who had been on these 3 items most of his life. http://www.mysafetyofprincipal.com/ according to his vet @ 116 lbs he was the equivalent of a 110 year old human at this time.
Also I looked up Dick Van Patten's food and lucky enough one of the vets here in my small town stocks it. Google that for info.
This is a response to the CEO of Menu Foods posted at http://dogblog.dogster.com/
As you read through this piece you’ll notice that Henderson takes absolutely NO BLAME for the injuries to and deaths of what now appear to be thousands of pets. Instead, he keeps falling back on that old corporate tactic of claiming to have run the business by current industry standards.
Maybe Menu did keep to the letter of the law. But how is routinely buying food materials from a country with sub par storage and shipment processes of those processes keeping with the spirit of the law? It is no secret that Chinese food production and storage safety is not in line with North American expectations. I’m not being racist or judgemental here. I’m being factual. We’re talking food here, human and pet. Food. Not plastic geegaws, clothes or anything else that stays outside of the body. FOOD.
Maybe different toxins are showing up because there ARE different toxins in the wheat. Could it be that there are more than one or two poisons in the Chinese wheat and gluten Menu imported?
And yes, I understand that Menu and other similar companies are not required to test for melamine or other dangerous but relatively rare contaminants. Why not? Because the North American public expectation is that these kinds of companies will take reasonable care in where they get their products. Did Menu take reasonable care? I am not a food professional but it sure doesn’t look that way to me.
It looks to me that Menu Foods went to the cheapest source possible and went right past local and regional suppliers which had more expensive and safer food stocks. That’s like your local restaurant looking for the cheapest suppliers of meat and fish to keep their costs down. They might be cheaper but do you really want to eat there?
And Dogsters have barked in reminding us this issue is not and should not be about cost. Just because one person feeds a less expensive food is no reason for them to expect that all they can get is questionable food. When you walk into a less expensive restaurant, do you expect to put your life in danger with unsafe food? I’d hope not. You expect you won’t be eating expensive cuts of meat or caviar but you don’t expect your $6 meal to put you in the hospital or kill you. The same should be said for pet food. Cheaper may not be the absolutely tastiest but it should not be dangerous!
Thanks for the information. I'm currently feeding my dog Wysong dry, but apparently even Wysong used Menu Foods for two of their canned products which makes me wonder how much I can trust their dry food.
No matter how long I cook them they come out tough.
And even the fattest cat doesn't dress out to all that much meat.
It's just personally disgusting to me that we can't even trust what we buy anymore. I always bought what I thought was the best dog food. Friends of mine have even said I take better care of my dog than myself. Although I have never bought canned dog food.
I used to have a dog that did love those Little Caesar packages, but the vet told me they were too rich.
I have been reading and re-reading a package of Iams dog biscuits that I have bought for years because they don't preserve with BHA or BHT. I don't even trust those anymore.
I do have recipes somewhere for dog biscuits, guess I better get busy. :)
I don't know if anyone shops at Trader Joe's, I used to when I lived in California and I MISS them here in Texas.......but their food seems to be on the ok list.
Bench and Field whose holistic foods are sold at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.
http://theportnoygroup.typepad.com/my_weblog/ This guy is going to try and find out who the dry food company is that may be affected.
Also on this list is which products contain wehat gluten period!
I used a recipe and made a bunch of dog biscuits not too long ago. They are easy to make, they keep well in a storage container, they are much CHEAPER than store bought and best of all, you know exactly what the ingredients are.
Update 3/30: More than 2,400 pets have been reported as deceased to our PetConnection database.
I have a problem with this type of unqualified reporting.
Guaranteed to raise everyone's anxiety level, specially the ignorant.
Over what period of time was this figure generated?
What is the "normal" rate of pet deaths when there is no "pet food" crisis?
Without those answers, things are reduced to mindless emotionalism.
Yes, I own both a dog and a cat. Both rescues and unremarkable, but quite healthy and happy so far.
Way under reporting the number that have died.
This site http://www.gothamist.com/2007/03/17/pet_food_recall.php is talking about people having pets sick from Iams dry food which is what I'm currently using. I guess you have to take all this which is unconfirmed with a grain of salt............but I would rather be safe than sorry, so out it goes.
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