Even More Pet Food Woes
So I was reading in the paper this morning that there's yet more recalling going on, this time for rice that's been used in pet foods. A quick search on Google news will also show you that corn gluten has been put on the list for containing melamine. (Here's a big list of all the recalls, though not guaranteed to be complete.)
The article I was reading made the vague suggestion that the addition of small amounts of melamine can psyche out laboratory tests done on various glutens so that they appear to be higher in protein than is nutritionally factual. (Motive, anyone?) It's also mentioned that melamine is an illegal fertilizer in the US, but a perfectly legal one in China.
I think the grandest news of all is that there's an investigation going on now as to whether or not they've taken the contaminated stuff and dumped it onto hog farmers, who (of course!) feed it to their pigs. To wit, "It's also possible that melamine has landed onto California tables, with state agricultural officials announcing late Thursday that they've quarantined a pig farm where lab tests showed melamine in hog urine."
Um...does anyone but me find this totally insane?
The following article is one of the tinfoil-hat-wearing, Dale Gribble Society variety, but is interesting.
Pets, Food Safety, China, the FDA, and Your Health
Choice tidbits:
"The FDA just announced that it wants the word “pasteurization” to replace “irradiation” so that food can be treated with radiation and consumers won’t know."
(Food and Water Watch backs up that claim)
"As Wal-Mart enters the organic marketplace, it plans to grow its “organic” food in China."
Well, they've obviously done such a stellar job with the wheat gluten for our pet food, I think it's high time that they be put in charge of the coveted "organic" label, which has (until now) at least meant MINIMAL tinkering with the human food supply.
I assume you all know by now, too, that they want to put cloned meat and milk on the market, too? Obviously without labeling it...putting a small cloning insignia on the label would take all the fun out of it, I suppose. What would those irradiated, cloned hamburger packages look like, anyway?
The article I was reading made the vague suggestion that the addition of small amounts of melamine can psyche out laboratory tests done on various glutens so that they appear to be higher in protein than is nutritionally factual. (Motive, anyone?) It's also mentioned that melamine is an illegal fertilizer in the US, but a perfectly legal one in China.
I think the grandest news of all is that there's an investigation going on now as to whether or not they've taken the contaminated stuff and dumped it onto hog farmers, who (of course!) feed it to their pigs. To wit, "It's also possible that melamine has landed onto California tables, with state agricultural officials announcing late Thursday that they've quarantined a pig farm where lab tests showed melamine in hog urine."
Um...does anyone but me find this totally insane?
The following article is one of the tinfoil-hat-wearing, Dale Gribble Society variety, but is interesting.
Pets, Food Safety, China, the FDA, and Your Health
Choice tidbits:
"The FDA just announced that it wants the word “pasteurization” to replace “irradiation” so that food can be treated with radiation and consumers won’t know."
(Food and Water Watch backs up that claim)
"As Wal-Mart enters the organic marketplace, it plans to grow its “organic” food in China."
Well, they've obviously done such a stellar job with the wheat gluten for our pet food, I think it's high time that they be put in charge of the coveted "organic" label, which has (until now) at least meant MINIMAL tinkering with the human food supply.
I assume you all know by now, too, that they want to put cloned meat and milk on the market, too? Obviously without labeling it...putting a small cloning insignia on the label would take all the fun out of it, I suppose. What would those irradiated, cloned hamburger packages look like, anyway?
posted by Kelly at
2:44 AM
1 Comments:
Your list of pet food was great - included all sorts of stuff that the various media lists I was looking at left out. I saw in the paper that Blue Buffalo, the food that I feed the dogs and cats, was having a recall. When I checked their website (http://www.bluebuff.com) they had a very nice apology from the president of the company to all "pet parents," who also said that contrary to what was reported in the media, they were recalling only one type of kitten food. He hastened to add that one can of tainted food is too much.
This whole food thing is appalling - the only safe thing to do may end up being what we grow ourselves and/or buy locally from a trusted source.
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