I find the FDA to be highly irresponsible

[rumpel]

to not reveal the dry pet food companies affected by the contamination. It is shielding the company(s) from financial damage, while continuing to risk the lives of many additional animals, and now us.

AND

Blitzer just mentioned that the contaminated wheat gluten may also have been used in food for human consumption.


CNN
FDA finds new chemical in recalled pet food, sick animals

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- Recalled pet foods contained a chemical used to make plastics, but government tests failed to confirm the presence of rat poison, federal officials said Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration said it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food, as well as in wheat gluten used as an ingredient in the wet-style products.

The FDA was working to rule out the possibility that the contaminated wheat gluten could have made it into any human food, but was not aware of any risk to people.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/30/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html

[EFerrari]

1. BushCo has the foxes minding the hen house all over

this misAdministration. Bunch of criminals

:shrug:

[zanne]

4. Since this administration came to power...

I haven't taken any "new" medications. I think drug companies are experimenting on us. When a handful of us dies, they take these new drugs off the market.

[JuniperLea]

7. I agree

I think they pocket all the research money and use us as their guinea pigs.

And don't forget artificial sweetners... and their plans to unleash all the genetically altered foods on us. They are even trying to make it so we won't know which foods are altered!

Bastards.

[EFerrari]

22. It seems to be the same deal with all the regulatory agencies.

FCC, FDA, FEMA, and so on.

[DCKit]

5. Don't blame Bush for this

There was a revolving door in the FDA with all the major food and drug companies throughout the Clinton administration as well. Bushco just modernized the rest of the government along the same model.

[kimmerspixelated]

8. HUH??

Anyone who perpetuates the problem IS part of the problem! Period.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. As with every agency under THIS administration, corporations come before constituents...

:grr:

[Why Syzygy]

3. Of coure they are!

Since forever. ..."not aware of any risk to people" (or other animals)... pretty much says it all.

Another news site >

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/30/national/main2627710.shtml

[rumpel]

6. When you sift through their rulemaking

here is just one such example:

Guidance For Industry: GMP'S For Medicated Feed Manufacturers Not Required to Register and be Licensed with FDA

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION
CENTER FOR VETERINARY MEDICINE

GMP'S FOR MEDICATED FEED MANUFACTURERS NOT REQUIRED TO REGISTER AND BE LICENSED WITH FDA

This document is intended to help manufacturers of medicated feed, that are not required to register and be licensed with the FDA, comply with the Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations, 21 CFR 225.120-225.202.

snip

* 225.135 Work and storage areas.

Work areas and equipment used for the production or storage of medicated feeds or components thereof shall not be used for, and shall be physically separated from, work areas and equipment used for the manufacture and storage of fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides, and other pesticides unless such articles are approved for use in the manufacture of animal feeds.

Comment: Contamination of feed with potentially toxic non-feed substances is to be avoided. Keep all potential contaminants out of feed production areas to preclude accidental contamination of feed. The key element is to prevent contamination.


http://www.fda.gov/cvm/Guidance/1981.htm

[Why Syzygy]

15. I'm not sure what all that means.

In Texas there have been battles with 'laws' that demand small rancher and farmers tag and register all their stock, including an expensive computerized tracking system, and fines if an animal wanders out of the property, which requires reporting by both the owner of the animal and the owner of the trespassed land! Large 'manufacturers' are expempt. Go figure.

This snip was especially nauseating >
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it has received complaints from pet owners who claim their animals suffered kidney failure after eating dry pet food.

The FDA is attempting to determine if that company used any of the wheat gluten, imported from China, to make dry pet food, Sundlof said. ... <

Remember China? Where enforcement takes to the streets with bats to kill pet populations?
:scared:

[Warpy]

9. The dry food contained trace amounts of melamine

Remember that tacky melamine dinner ware back in the 60s? Everybody had it and used it daily, only pulled out the real dishes when they were putting on a front. I often wonder where that horrible stuff all went. I don't think it ever biodegrades.

Here's the scoop on the toxicity: www.inchem.org/documents/sids/sids/108781.pdf

It's relatively low and seems to be limited to renal stone formation over a long period of exposure.

[kestrel91316]

10. Word from the inside to us vets is that teh suspect wheat gluten

found its way to a dry food manufacturer but DID NOT GET PUT INTO ANY FOOD. They found it in time.

Who the near-victim was is really nobody's business if this is true.

You want someone's name ruined over an ingredient that never made it into final product? Shame on you.

[rumpel]

13. What is more important health or someones reputation? n/t

[kestrel91316]

16. If the tainted ingredient did NOT get into the dry food at that plant,

there IS no health issue for that company. There IS, however, a legal issue for whoever sold the plant the tainted product, lol. But that's for the lawyers to work out.

FDA needs to know HOW THIS HAPPENED and did anybody violate the law. If FDA released the name of the company who got bad product sent to them, and this harmed their reputation needlessly, FDA would be legally liable for damages and with good reason.

Any lawyers care to weigh in on this aspect?

[rumpel]

19. As a precautionary statement the FDA should alert consumers

of the suspected contaminated shipment and which brands are being potentially affected.

For not doing so, any new incidents will open themselves to lawsuits for allowing the additional damage and lack of oversight.

[kestrel91316]

23. I think with a lack of evidence of tainted product they would be setting

themselves up for an unwinnable lawsuit.

Libel, IIRC. Or whatever.

[CountAllVotes]

11. I was just a KMART

myself and another lady were checking the bags of dried food. We saw the words wheat gluten on one of the bags we looked at.

[rumpel]

12. Ok here is where wheat gluten in human food is used

Wheat gluten - also called seitan (pronounced SAY-tahn), wheat meat, wheat-meat, wheatmeat, gluten meat, or simply gluten - is a foodstuff made from the gluten of wheat. It is made by washing dough made from wheat flour in water until the starch is rinsed away, leaving only the gluten, which can then be cooked and processed in various ways.

Wheat gluten, although not as well known, is an alternative to soy-based meat substitutes such as tofu; some types may taste even more like meat than tofu due to their chewy and/or stringy texture. It is often used in place of meat in Asian, vegetarian, Buddhist, and macrobiotic cuisines.

snip

Western

Since the mid-20th century, wheat gluten (generally known by its macrobiotic name, seitan) has been increasingly adopted by vegetarians in western nations as a realistic meat substitute, particularly by vegetarians who previously ate meat and miss its taste and/or texture.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food)

[CountAllVotes]

17. I'm into macrobiotics

I never liked seitan, therefore I've never eaten much of it. However, wheat gluten is found in many foods, especially "junk" types of foods because it is commonly used as a filler in many types of prepared foods.

While it is true that seitan is a macrobiotic food, it is processed and prepared a very specific way and must be organic. Macrobitiocs as a practice doesn't exactly prescribe seitan, it is one of few options for those that are in a fairly decent state of health.

However, the wheat gluten appearing in pet foods and perhaps human foods is likely being produced at some plant somewhere. Where we don't know.

That is because they will not tell us the name of the company that has been contaminating the pet food chain and causing deaths to occur.

How widespread is this I ask?

No one knows. :argh:

:kick:

[nosmokes]

14. the FDA & the USDA are hardly more than rubber stamps forBig AG and

all of the associated ills that go along with it, including but not limited to the stealth contamination of our food supply with GMOs, CAFOs that contribute to the creation of super bugs that render anti-biotics impotent before they even hit the market for human use, pollution in our waterways that causes hrmaphroditic fish and other mutations. not to mention the pollution of our air, water and soil with toxic petro chemicals and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that destroy healthy soil. and you just can't grow healthy food in unhealthy soil.

we have to change the way we eat and what we eat and where we get it from. the upside to that is that we can eat so much better by doing that. true, you'll eat a lot less meat, but the meat you do eat will be much more flavorful and healthy. and the animal won't have led a tortured life to end up on your plate. and you'll know what it ate because you'll know the people that produced it. you'll be able to trust that it's not full of e-coli or mad cow.

[CountAllVotes]

18. I find an odd comparison here

its like the FDA is the same as the AKC. They don't do * either! A rubber stamp INDEED and in fact, it could well be a very bad "rubber stamp" to have in the case of the AKC.

How are these two related exactly? I am seeing a pattern ...

:think:

:kick:

[rumpel]

20. agree totally

the worst chemical ground contamination can be found at and around golf courses...
which trickles towards the ocean

humankind has to seriously ponder each of our every day actions

[CountAllVotes]

21. yikes

you got me scared now - I live about 1/2 mile from a golf course! :scared:

Maybe I'm next?