Posted on 05/01/2007 9:52:09 AM PDT by Milwaukee_Guy
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 have recalled product, 17 Class I and 1 class II, covering over 5,300 product lines. As of April 26, 2007, FDA had received over 17,000 consumer complaints relating to this outbreak, and those complaints included reports of approximately 1950 deaths of cats and 2200 deaths of dogs. The Agency is working with federal, state, and local governments, academia, and industry to assess the extent of the outbreak, better understand how melamine and melamine related compounds contributed to the pet deaths and illnesses, and to determine the underlying cause of the contamination.
(Excerpt) Read more at fda.gov ...
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=2B10D1F6-E7F2-99DF-34DAAAC1622FE3CE
Per this Scientific American article, cyanuric acid can be caused by bacterial degradation of melamine, but may have been added separately to the foods which turned out to be toxic. I tend to think it must have been added separately, because all the reports I’ve read have said that addition of melamine has been widespread for around 15 years. If the only cyanuric acid in these pet foods was that which results from degradation of melamine, we’d have seen a big rash of kidney failure and death years ago. And the melamine addition would have stopped a long time ago, because there would have been a big rash of deaths of food animals in China, who’ve been getting melamine-laced feed for many years.
As awful as this has been for thousands of pet owners, and for pet food manufacturers who are taking a huge financial hit, I think we should recognize that there’s no evidence the Chinese protein processors had any idea that anything they were doing could cause serious harm to animals eating the food that the protein went into. They’d had years of experience both within China and with exports confirming that melamine didn’t cause any detectable health problems. And as the Scientific American article points out, Americans have been swallowing cyanuric acid in pool water for a long time, with no ill effects, so presumably the managers of any Chinese factories that started using it to clean equipment or for some other purpose that resulting in its getting into the protein, had no reason to think it was dangerous either.
It’s no doubt been a hard lesson for them too, with big financial hits to their business and who knows what sort of response from government officials. Your average Chinese industrial worker already has a standard of living that would qualify as well below the poverty line in the US, and many of the affected workers are certainly getting their standard of living knocked down even lower as a result of this, at least temporarily.
Thanks for that. Being retired, I have to get back to work, before the boss starts complaining, but I’ll read the liked article next break.
Note: It was easier when I only had a boss for 40 hours a week, instead of 168.LOL
“Tired, retired, still tired.”
Could it be true? That’s just scary...
What in the ****ing world is anybody bringing ANY food products in here from China for in the first place?? The US produces every sort of grain VASTLY more efficiently than China does.
Once again Charlton Heston is ahead of his time.
I remember a R. U. Sirius. He used to write for a magazine called “Reality Hackers.”
They have a number of gluten-free products. I just emailed them asking about their various flours. If you like I will let you know their reply when I get one.
"On April 11, 1951, President Harry Truman shocked the nation by firing General Douglas MacArthur from his post as Supreme Commander of U.N. forces in Korea. MacArthur had sought to expand the Korean War into China and Truman was forced to fire him for insubordination."
Imagine if this happened to GWB today.
My understanding is that the problem with the recent pet deaths has to do with improper mixing of melamine in gluten — i.e., in concentrations much higher than they typically used in the past. That is to say, it may very well have been in the food suppy and in our pet food for some time, but not in such quantities so as to be noticeable and killing large numbers of cats and dogs. But even if you are right, also note that both melamine and cyanuric acid can have harmful effects (other than kidney failure and death).
I'll check my exhaust this afternoon.
It's just going to get worse. I read just recently that the popular Chilean Sea Bass available in restaurants now could be 85 years old. Yes, an 85 year old fish!
If/when you get a reply would you mind posting it to this thread? Thanks.
More foody goodness...
Lets hear it for NAFTA, CAFTA, NAU and all the rest of the NWO/Globalist wet dreams...
Although I have no special links to this cause, I have often wondered about food additives along with the possibility of vaccines being responsible for this phenomena. I waited till our daughter was much older and heavier to have her vaccinated while an infant. My doctor didn’t mind at all after her fever spiked to 105 degrees on her first round at 12 weeks.
No, I’m not crazy. Just a little cautious.
Why not try to destroy a county from the inside out?
That's sort of like Clinton inventing his own terminology. Most folks are going to consider beef, fish, and chicken to be different products. Or are you saying the three all have the same ingredients? And that there is no difference between the kitten version and the old cat version?
Ummm, I think they're slaughtered well before they can develop a chronic condition. A year, maybe two at most.
OTOH Fluffy has been eating contaminated pet food for 10-15 years...
Warning, you’ll lose your good looks...
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