Chemical found in third pet food ingredient

[CountAllVotes]

Source: Sun Reporter

WASHINGTON // An industrial chemical linked to the deaths of 16 pets and recall of more than 100 pet foods in the United States has been found in a third ingredient shipped from China, federal health officials said today.

<snip>

The discovery deepens American investigators' suspicion that Chinese manufacturers purposely laced pet food ingredients with melamine to raise the value of their shipments, federal health officials said. Melamine, a plastic derivative not approved for use in food, raises the level of protein in an ingredient so it can be sold as gluten.

"It would certainly lend credibility to the theory that is intentional," said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the Food and Drug Administration. To pursue the theory, investigators want to inspect Chinese suppliers, but they have so far failed to get visas.

<snip>
A second pet food maker that adds rice protein concentrate to its products issued a recall yesterday. Blue Buffalo Company recalled one production run of Spa Select Kitten dry food after test results confirmed the presence of melamine, according to its Web site.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-pet0419,0,312696.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

---

:scared: :nuke:

[Warpy]

1. So they're using it to fudge the protein content? Nice

China has no FDA, but it looks like they're going to have to develop one very quickly if they want to keep their processed foods exports going.

[CountAllVotes]

3. not only that, but the weight of the product

how much does this crap weigh anyway? This causes the "food" to weigh more. I cannot believe they would do this!

I wonder if this is in fact far more than it appears to be? Has the human food chain been affected yet? :tinfoilhat:

:kick:

[mike_c]

4. the weight increase would be negligible....

Each melamine molecule has six nitrogens, however, so it ups the nitrogen content of food it's added to. Protein concentration tests look for nitrogen, since protein is the usual source of N in organic macromolecules.

[rfranklin]

5. The Chinese have real capitalizm...it's caveat emptor, baby!

This is what the Bush junta has us headed for. Meanwhile, Bush is fed beef from a herd that is guarded and tested and spoon fed with the finest organic grains. Because the wealthy and powerful are more deserving in the eyes of Republican Jesus than we, the slave class.

[PaulaFarrell]

13. Real capitalism = caveat emptor

What the Chinese don't have is (apparently) product regulations - the anathema of free-market capitalism.

[Shallah Kali]

8. Suspect wheat gluten was sold to human food companies according to Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/04/03/was_human_food_tainted_too

I haven't been able to find more as of yet whether testing has shown the gluten was clean or not - or even if any of the gluten (or things made of the gluten) are left for them to test. wheat gluten is used for bread making so if this was sold for bread I wonder if it hadn't already been used, sold, and consumed.

[NYC]

12. Melamine in pig feed, pork perhaps eaten in California.

Chemical found in state hogs (california)
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/158442.html


The chemical linked to cat and dog deaths on two continents has made it into pig feed and perhaps onto California tables, with state agricultural officials announcing late Thursday they've quarantined a Ceres hog farm where lab tests showed melamine in pig urine.

"The farm is cooperating with us to determine the disposition of all animals that have left the premises since April 3," Richard Breitmeyer, the state veterinarian, said in a prepared statement. That's the first time melamine-tainted food is known to have been shipped to the farm.

{snip}

The farm sells to both private individuals and others whom the state declined to identify, saying it is still investigating what happened to the pork. The state Health Services Department is urging people who bought pigs from the farm not to eat the meat until further notice.

Posted by Shallah here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x711017

[RebelOne]

14. This is one of the reasons why I am soooo glad I'm a vegetarian.

[NYC]

15. That doesn't mean you are safe.

Fruit also comes from China. Be as careful as you can about what you eat.

Fish, shrimp, and poultry come from China. We need better food safety standards, and we need them now.

[kestrel91316]

18. Pretty hard to sneak melamine into anything in the produce aisle......

[NYC]

21. Salmonella, E coli, etc.

If our food is uninspected and unlabeled, we are at risk.

[NYC]

20. More detail on hog feed contamination.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2815036&mesg_id=2815036

How do we know there isn't a lot more of this going on?

[NYC]

11. Yes, the human food chain has been affected.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x711017

Fed to hogs, may have made it to dinner tables in California.

Kick that thread. People need to read it.

[kestrel91316]

17. It doesn't raise the actual protein level, but only makes it look higher

on chemical analysis due to the nitrogen content of the melamine.

They are spiking it to increase profits.

Highly illegal.

[whistle]

2. Chinese company that supplied the ingredients made $5.0 million

....in total revenues last year. They certainly did not benefit financially by any material amount. I am speculating here, but the American based distributor of these products would be in the position to specify the ingredients and maximize their markups through deception like this.

[rfranklin]

6. $5 million is a lot of money to some people...

in fact, I would be happy to make that much.

[Shallah Kali]

7. ChineseCo "sought to buy large amounts of melamine through Internet trading sites"

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/156967.html

[nicknameless]

10. That is so completely outrageous that it deserves its own thread.

I hope you'll post it.

[NYC]

16. Did you post a separate thread regarding the melamine

purchase? If so, would you come back to paste a link? Thank you in advance.

We should all know what we are eating.

[suffragette]

19. Some stunning info in the Sacbee article

I accessed it by putting the quoted phrase in google news, then clicking on the article link.

Local veterinarians who've tracked kidney ailments nationwide have tentatively identified five more foods, not at this point under any recall, that they plan to have tested as soon as possible.

The Veterinary Information Network, used by about 16,000 of the estimated 35,000 U.S. veterinarians, noticed the five foods kept recurring in vet-described disease reports, said Paul Pion, the Davis vet who co-founded the service. Pion said it would be premature to name the foods.

He hopes to get suspect food samples to the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at UC Davis to start testing as early as today. As the recall expands, "my sense is it's time for every manufacturer to go testing for melamine," Pion said.

Later, the New York Times reported that the Chinese company that supplied tainted wheat gluten to Menu Foods sought to buy large amounts of melamine through Internet trading sites.

This is all absolutely appalling.

[barb162]

9. If true, it's outrageous

[peacebuzzard]

22. I have been purchasing every pet food on the contamination list.

first it was Nutro, then, Nutra, ( w/ California Naturals associated w/ Menufoods, ) then the DelMonte Natural Recipe, after that, Natural Balance products and after I returned all the above and bought Blue Buffalo...it is Blue Buffalo. This sucks so bad. And, I just replaced all my pet food for Blue Buffalo, and I am trying to reach my pet sitter since I am far, far from my home and pets.



I am so mad at the pet food industry right now. I am a veg too, and organic, it is not easy to be on this diet, but I am so glad I am.


:grr: