Tainted milk and the politics of pet food

[CHIMO]

In March 2007, Menu Foods, a Mississauga-based pet food manufacturer, issued a massive recall. The reason: Melamine, a polymer used to make countertops and glue, among other things, was causing so much trauma to the kidneys of cats and dogs that some had to be euthanized.

It's the same substance found in tainted milk formula that has sickened more than 50,000 babies in China and Hong Kong this month. Two days ago, H.J. Heinz Co., as a precautionary measure, recalled a small batch of vegetable cereal baby food in Hong Kong that showed trace levels of melamine.

Tracking how melamine ended up in the products of North America's largest pet food maker is the thrust of Pet Food Politics, the new book by Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health. What follows is an edited version of a phone interview she gave last week from New York.

http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/507656

We need a government that protects people.

[HeresyLives]

1. And now it's Salmonella

Public health agency investigates Salmonella outbreak
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - The Public Health Agency of Canada says it is working with provincial, local and U.S. health authorities to investigate a potential North American outbreak of Salmonella Poona.
The agency says in Canada there have been six cases spread across Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia and 14 other suspected cases in Ontario.
No one has been hospitalized so far.
It says there have been 48 cases reported in the United States.
The cause of the potential outbreak is not known.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/09/28/6914361-cp.html