As soon as I'd finished reading Barry Lynn's article at Alternet about how the monopolization of consumer products puts us all at risk, I found out that while the pet food melamine scandal may be behind us (and I think about that every time I pay a buck-twenty-five a can for Merrick's at Pet Goods), adulterated foods and medicines are not:

The reported death of five cats prompted Teva Animal Health to widen its recall to include all vials of ketamine hydrochloride injection last week, yet the company’s technical services department insists that the action was caused merely by “increased medical events that were kind of unfounded.”

That statement, offered by a Teva technical services representative who did not give her name, has confused some veterinarians. On Dec. 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a recall alert, instructing practitioners to stop using all 27 lots of Teva’s ketamine hydrochloride injection, USP CIII 100 mg/ml in 10 ml vials due to “serious adverse events.”

The expiration dates of the lots range from September 2009 to February 2012, the FDA says. Additionally, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) warns practitioners not to rely on the Teva brand name to determine whether their ketamine falls under the recall. Rather, the following signs offer a better indication:

    * If the lot number is six numeric digits, the product is not part of the recall.
    * If the lot number is seven numeric digits, the product should be returned.
    * If the lot number starts with 5401, regardless of the number of digits or the presence of letters in the lot code, the product should be returned.

According to the FDA, reported problems with Teva’s ketamine include lack of effect, prolonged effect and death.

In response, practitioners have contacted the VIN News Service (VNS) looking for insight into the recall, which originated last summer and, at the time, took effect only at the wholesale level.

Troubles within Teva Animal Health surfaced in late July, when the FDA shut down the company via a permanent injunction and filed a lawsuit, alleging that regulatory inspectors had uncovered adulterated animal drugs at Teva’s main facilities in St. Joseph, Mo. The generics manufacturer agreed to cease production of its drugs and its DVM Pharmaceuticals line of products following a much-publicized crackdown by the FDA on the company’s quality control practices.

At the time, Michael Chappell, the FDA’s acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, stated: “The FDA will not tolerate the manufacture and distribution of adulterated animal drugs. Veterinarians and pet owners can be assured that the FDA will investigate and take regulatory actions against companies that produce animal drugs under conditions and controls that are inadequate to assure their safety and quality.”

But Laura Alvey, deputy director of communications with the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), notes in a recent interview with the VNS that, “FDA’s evaluation was that use or exposure to these products was not likely to cause adverse health consequences.” 

To some, that assessment now appears flawed, considering veterinarians have been ordered to stop using Teva ketamine and to return it to their distributors because of the reported feline deaths.

It's time we realized that thanks to decades of Republican and corporatist Democratic governance, federal agencies that we think are supposed to protect the public, don't. There is always a balancing act with these agencies between protection of the public and the profits of industry. This is why the NTSB and the FAA are not about aviation safety, and the FDA is not about food and drug safety. Because when public safety butts heads with profit, profit always wins.

Even if your pet is not scheduled for surgery, print out the article at the above link and take it to your vet next time you go.

(BIG hat tip)

Labels: corporatism, pets, tainted pet food scandal

I've been trying to wrap my mind around the nightmare video clips of downer cattle at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Company of Chino, California, the release of which resulted in the largest beef recall in US history, this past weekend. This recall involves meat that was processed dating back to February 2006, most of which was used by schools and government programs...Oh yeah, and fast food joints too. The videos of the terrible treatment of these animals are shocking, but not all that different than the horror of factory farming done right...its all too much anyway. This is the stuff that makes high schoolers become vegetarians, for a while at least; the stuff that comes from Americans being so removed from their food sources as to think that there is some easy way to kill....But this isn't a story about those poor cows getting kicked by underpaid, under managed, and frustrated workers. Its a story about the basic inequities in our society and who is getting rich off of Americans and illegal workers without a voice. This is a story about the helplessness that is permeating our society, and how we have managed to allow the ill-informed past decisions of the electorate to turn on the crazy Reaganesque "less government" message, which was supposed to enable the individual and to put more money in each pocket, but actually crippled a system that was designed to give everyone a fair chance. Who were enabled were an elite few... and the elected government has been happy to keep America on red alert, scared, while handing power over to a dwindling number of large corporations who have managed their business as if this is a monarchy, and they are the god chosen heirs in control of all resources.

For anyone who ever wondered why the neocon power base would want to maintain a permanent underclass, here it is; This wasn't the beef that the upper and middle classes were buying at the supermarket, or that would ever be offered to anyone with a choice. This wasn't meat that a discerning adult was preparing for children or at a soup kitchen. This was the cheap-o garbage meat that is mass produced for foods that are heavily salted, frozen, and recooked numerous times for those who have no choice but to eat what is put in front of them. This is our Soylent Green. Weather or not it can be proved that anyone died from this particular batch is beside the point. These are the chips of protein that are parceled out to the helpless in order to keep them in line. Do I have to point out that many school children get their main meal at school lunch, or that "government programs" are likely prisons or social service providers? School children are often lucky to see a vegetable or a cup of high fructose fruit cocktail, and when offered a piece of steak or a fresh hamburger, they don't like it because they are conditioned to like the flat, brown, previously frozen, "beef" of the fast food and school lunch world.



Its not just the flat little frozen patties that are sent to schools that are suspect. CT has seen many recalls, and recently, after a barbecue at the local firehouse (during which I didn't eat, luckily,) every fireman got deathly ill for 24 hours with the worst of stomach complaints. The culprit was frozen beef patties from Costco. Besides that we are already short staffed here in our volunteer fire department, I cant imagine what would have happened if there had been a big emergency during that time.

We can't say that the beef in question in this recall definitely didn't kill anyone. Its just that it wasn't caught. Stomach virus' run through schools, and most of that stuff is cooked to death...but still...Once the meat is traced, I'm sure that illness will surround the areas where it was consumed. But, if any responsibility can be proved, its likely that the company will have already gone belly up. This is not the kind of a scandal that a food company lives through; its just too big.

There is no excuse for any human being to mistreat a helpless animal, much less another human being, but the victims at the source are virtually cattle themselves. Its been shown over and over that the meat packing industry is a catch-all for illegal immigrants in this country, and that the corporate structure of that industry is so strong that it is seldom that our dwindling FDA is even able to check out what goes on. Again, I can see, in my mind's eye, a failing Ronald Reagan speaking about corporate responsibility and the need for government to step back and let large corporations police themselves. He was saying how there was no need for the country to have regulations in place because large corporations surely would do the right thing, Uh-huh. As Hillary Clinton says, large corporations and their lobbyists are people too, deserving of full protection and care...right? But what kind of people are they? Are they rich people who are above the law until something really bad happens, or are they the poor folks of color who are stopped fir driving in the wrong neighborhood? Thats how the law works, right?

If the video of the abuse of these cattle had not been released, this would still be going on, as it is probably still happening all over the place. Downer cattle are regularly picked up from the floor of the slaughter house and dragged along, because they represent profit, and regardless of whatever sickness they might have, or the e. coli that they've fallen in, the corporation's first responsibility is the it's stockholders, and those stockholders are looking at the bottom line, not the ramifications of the details...until they get caught, that is. A corporation like this has to weigh the legalities of producing poisoned foods, with the legalities of their responsibility to the stockholders. The two often are in conflict, as with health insurance, and that is why they need to be regulated. The fine line that is walked every day in trying to turn a profit in the face of globalism and China feeding plastic to it's animals to cut costs and offer it cheaper...well, maybe its less that American corporations need regulation and more that they need protection from globalism!



This episode is not likely to send a chill through the industry, because fines are relatively small, and the span of time in this case is such that liability for illness or death will be hard to prove. But again, we are faced with what happens when we allow the corporate world to regulate itself. Its not just that we are facing a problem in feeding our own citizens because the bottom line is ruling the quality of food that is available to the underprivileged in the richest country in the world, but we have removed social responsibility from the producers and replaced it with complete and total loyalty to the stockholders and business. How can that be? Whole portions of society are less able to function and learn because of the poison that a corporation like this feeds them; and then scientists note that the poor have more incidence of disease, are more obese, are more anxious...which they cant treat preventively because existing health insurance is unlikely to provide for care before the fact, and even if it does, there are no markets with fresh food near to the areas where they live, so the suggestion to get more exercise and eat better falls into a category of impossibility. Just like physical therapy 3 times per week and trying to relax more, those are options available to the rich. Even the middle class has trouble carving out time to even take a walk, much less make a salad.

I am disgusted as hell by the mistreatment of animals, and I cant imagine introducing something with the potential to kill children into the food chain. This case is evidently a purposeful case of the bottom line overwhelming common sense, and its criminal. I can guess that the CEO of this company is not hurting, and I wonder how many corners are cut to show enough profit in order to pay what have become overwhelming salaries to top management in these corporations. I know that the pressure is not due to worker's salaries or compensation packages. All of that is a thing of the past, along with job security, home owenrship, and comfortable retirement.

In the end of Fast Food Nation, a movie that is as timely now as it was, in 2006, when it originally came out and was nominated for 2 Academy Awards, the camera follows along the conveyor of the slaughterhouse where some struggling illegal immigrants work. It is very hard to watch, but it is also a truth that we would be foolish to put totally out of our minds, while trusting the government to protect us somehow. The Bush administration has done us the favor of laying some stark realities out for all to see. The government doesn't care about you or me. They certainly don't want an educated, safe, and well fed population to carry us into the next century. They are only interested in the top echelon of power and how to make the rich richer, while appearing to care about the little people.

We have to regulate the food industry in this county, and we have to get some sort of control over the quality of what is coming down the pike to a supermarket near you. This is less a story about pathetic sick cows being mistreated, than it is a story about how, in the service of the bottom line, a corporation can shape the lives of entire segments of society...including children, who should have all the possibilities in the world open to them!!...and how, once again, one company will take the fall, and the underlying problem will continue unchecked because we have no FDA.

And of course, there are too many videos on YouTube showing the "best" and the worst of how our food is processed...but I just couldn't bring myself to post any here. Its just too sad. But follow the link and prepare to cry; its not pretty, folks...but no one ever said that life was going to be.

c/p RIPCoco

Labels: lies, nutrition, tainted pet food scandal

Although the melamine-in-pet-food scandal has died out in the news (presumably upon orders of the Bush administration and other recipients of wealth from increased globalization of the food supply), recalls are ongoing. Here is a complete master list of recalled pet foods. Unfortunately, we don't have a list of pork and chicken producers who fed tainted scrap pet food to their livestock on its way to YOUR plate.

Labels: tainted pet food scandal

Itchmo:

Itchmo has learned that the FDA has issued a surveillance order for Chinese vegetable proteins on May 1 — including corn gluten and wheat products — based on melamine contamination.

Despite repeated FDA statements saying that there is no risk to human health from contaminated pigs and chickens, the FDA surveillance order indicates otherwise. It states: Pregnant women should not perform this assignment. (Emphasis ours)

Melamine and additional related contaminants have been found in concentrations of up to 20% in analyzed samples. The MSDS for pure melamine is attached as Attachment B and includes warnings “to avoid breathing dust, avoid contact with eyes, skin and clothing”. Chronic exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage.

Clearly, the FDA is concerned with the safety of their own staff’s exposure to melamine-tainted foods. Despite this warning, the FDA told the press and us yesterday that animals that ate tainted foods were safe for human consumption.

This PDF document contains the basis for FDA’s warning to it’s staff.

In fact, the Chinese factory that produced melamine-tainted wheat products was long associated with toxic symptoms. (Reg. required)

Labels: corruption, tainted pet food scandal

I've been kicking around the idea of starting a participatory food blog. Part of it is that I want to get my hands on a Drupal project, but part of it is that it becomes more clear every day that the meat-centered way I've been cooking most of my life just isn't viable anymore. This sucks royally, because I do like meat and I seem to have the sort of metabolism that remains satisfied longer from a meal with meat than without one.

So if I ever have a chance to breathe without water in the basement or bathroom floors that need replacing because when they took the old vanity out they found that there was no flooring underneath it, I'll be moving towards that as a side project.

But meanwhile, the melamine problem gets worse.

David Goldstein reports that melamine has now been found in farmed fish. Of course the FDA won't tell us which kinds of fish are affected (though it's a pretty safe bet that it's salmon). He also reports that the so-called "wheat gluten" that was tainted with melamine is actually just plain old wheat flour:

I just have to say that this is STUNNING. Two months after first determining a problem with “wheat gluten flour” they only now determine it was really plain old wheat FLOUR? Anybody who has ever baked bread would have been able to tell the difference… the two products have different color and texture. Mix in a little water and rub it between your fingers, and you can tell the difference with your eyes closed.

He's absolutely right. I have a box of vital wheat gluten that I often use when I make bread in the bread machine. And yes, you most certainly can tell the difference. But it's clear now that the so-called "wheat gluten" imported from China had such high levels of melamine because they were trying to pass off flour as gluten by artificially pumping up the protein readings using an industrial chemical used to make plastic.

Yesterday on the ghastly WWRL morning radio show, the idiotic Sam Greenfield posited the possibility that this was some sort of exercise in terrorism on the part of the Chinese. I think he's completely off-base here. I don't think it's terrorism, it's just plain old good old-fashioned corporate greed -- greed on the part of the Chinese companies that sold adulterated products as something else, greed on the part of ChemNutra, which sought to save a few bucks by buying cheaper Chinese product, and greed on the part of Menu Foods, which sought to save a few bucks by buying ChemNutra's cheaper products.

Labels: corporatism, corruption, greed, tainted pet food scandal

Of course there are no studies about the risks to humans of consuming melamine, but why should that stop Bush Administration officials from deciding to turn the American population into human guinea pigs in the name of corporate profits?

Consumers face little risk from eating pork, chicken and eggs from farm animals that ate feed mixed with pet food scraps contaminated by an industrial chemical, government scientists said Monday.

Mixing in material contaminated at low levels diluted it such that humans who eat the animals won’t be harmed, the scientists said.

“We literally found that the dilution is so minute, in fact in some cases you can’t even test and find melamine any more in that product,” Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said in Chicago, speaking to the Organic Trade Association.

The government also recommended lifting holds placed on some pigs and chickens after their feed tested negative for the chemical, melamine, and related compounds. Those animals may be slaughtered and enter the food supply, the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration said.

Other animals, including some that ate feed that has tested positive for contamination, are likely to be held for another week pending completion of an assessment of the overall risk of the chemicals to animal health.

Melamine, used to make plastics, and the related compounds contaminated pet food that either sickened or killed an unknown number of dogs and cats. Scraps left over from the manufacture of that dog and cat food was sold for use in animal feed before the pet food was known to be tainted and recalled from store shelves.

You used to have to complete an informed consent form and go through a screening process consisting of various medical tests before being accepted into a study. Now all you have to do is eat chicken and trust the Bush Administration.

Labels: corporatism, Cronyism, greed, tainted pet food scandal

The FDA finally admits that the food supply is compromised:

At least 2.5 million broiler chickens from an Indiana producer were fed pet food scraps contaminated with the chemical melamine and subsequently sold for human consumption, federal health officials reported yesterday.

Hundreds of other producers may have similarly sold an unknown amount of contaminated poultry in recent months, they added, painting a picture of much broader consumption of contaminated feed and food than had previously been acknowledged in the widening pet food scandal.

Officials emphasized that they do not believe the tainted chickens -- or the smaller number of contaminated pigs that were reported to have entered the human food supply -- pose risks to people who ate them.

"We do not believe there is any significant threat of human illness from this," said David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's chief medical officer. FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach named Acheson yesterday the agency's new "food czar" -- officially, assistant commissioner for food protection.

None of the farm animals is known to have become sick from the food, and very little of the contaminant is suspected of having accumulated in their tissue. Thus, no recall of any products that may still be on store shelves or in people's freezers is planned, officials said.

Isn't it just possible that none are "known to have become sick from the food" because they were slaughtered before they could show symptoms? As for "very little of the contaminant is suspected of having accumulated in their tissue", what does "suspected" mean? On what basis is the FDA making this claim? Did Jesus tell them so?

Nonetheless, 100,000 Indiana chickens that ate the melamine-laced food and are still alive have been quarantined and will be destroyed as a precautionary measure -- as will any other animals that turn up as the investigation continues to expand.

So let me see if I'm understanding correctly: The millions of melamine-tainted chickens currently in the food supply, the ones that post "no risk", are going to remain there, but any other chickens that ate it are going to be destroyed? Well, which one is it, guys? If there's no risk, then why not pump a few more plastic-filled chickens into the food supply? I mean, after all, if you're going to do what's necessary to not affect the profits of meat producer, why not go whole hog -- or whole chicken, in this case? Let them keep on feeding them scrap pet food and selling the meat to American families for parents to feed their kids. Let them eat melamine nuggests, right? After all, we won't know exactly what the effects of melamine are until we test it on your children.

Labels: food industry, melamine, tainted pet food scandal

That's about the sum-total of it, and Americans had better get their heads out of the sports pages and the gossip rags and realize that corporate greed and the Republican doctrine of corporate self-regulation has resulted in not just a compromised pet food supply, but the food supply for humans as well.

Press release from the office of Rep. John Dingell:

Contamination of Chinese Wheat Gluten Widespread

Dingell, Stupak Dispatch Investigators to West Coast Ports

Reps. John D. Dingell, the Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Bart Stupak, Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee today dispatched Committee investigators to the west coast to pursue reports of extensive melamine contamination of wheat gluten, rice protein, and other vegetable protein.

The Committee’s investigation of contaminated pet food and the discovery of melamine contamination of wheat gluten imported from China were examined in a hearing on food safety held by the committee last week. The hearing brought to light serious shortcomings in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) inspection and regulation of food imported from China.

Last week’s hearing brought immediate action from the FDA:

• On April 25th, the FDA determined that Chinese wheat gluten had been contaminated with cyanuric acid, in addition to melamine.

• On April 26th, the FDA opened a criminal investigation focusing on the contaminated Chinese wheat gluten and rice protein, and searched importers’ offices and warehouses.

• On April 27th, the FDA issued an import alert (IA #99-29) ordering the immediate embargo of all vegetable protein from China, whether intended for human or animal food.

“The FDA’s embargo of Chinese vegetable protein is a good first step toward forcing proper control of these food products at their source,” said Dingell. “We are dispatching investigators to the west coast immediately to examine the extent and depth of the FDA’s commitment to inspection of these products from China.”

Stupak emphasized that this is just the beginning of the Committee’s investigation. “The FDA should have taken this action weeks ago. Our Committee will continue to monitor this situation and will continue to pressure the FDA to properly address the food safety problems that have plagued our country in recent months.”

The Committee is holding a second hearing on food safety on May 17th, at which the FDA’s food safety activities will be examined.

Labels: corporatism, deregulation, food industry, greed, tainted pet food scandal

Every now and then I think that I really should make the effort to become a vegetarian. After all, isn't that what good progressives are supposed to do? The problem is that I like meat, I do far better in terms of keeping the noshies down if I have some animal protein with meals, and I hate tofu. Even my sister, who was a vegetarian for years, now eats chicken and fish.

I had already reluctantly resigned myself to the fact that pork was out of my life for the time being because pigs that had been fed melamine-tainted feed had entered the food supply, but now it seems chicken has been similarly tainted:

The U.S. government said on Monday 38 poultry farms in Indiana were given contaminated feed containing melamine in early February, with some of the animals likely to have entered the food supply.

The Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration said in a joint statement that officials learned of the link between the chicken feed and tainted pet food as part of the investigation into imported rice protein concentrate and wheat gluten that have been found to contain the industrial chemical melamine and related compounds.

The affected poultry farms and breeder poultry farms fed the contaminated feed to poultry within days of receiving it, the agencies said. Other farms will probably be identified as having received tainted feed, they added.

All the broilers believed to have been fed contaminated products have been processed, while the breeders are under voluntary hold by flock owners, the agencies said.

Birds that were given the contaminated feed will not be allowed to enter the U.S. food supply. Farmers will be compensated if they destroy the birds that consume the feed.

The agencies also said there was a “low-risk” to humans and no food recalls were expected at this time. They are uncertain how many chickens were involved, how many entered the food supply or where they went.

So let's see. We have a substance that isn't allowed in feed in the U.S. that is causing kidney failure in mammals, but the FDA is saying that while there have been no studies on melamine's effects in humans, you're supposed to be reassured by this:

At this time, we have no evidence of harm to humans associated with the processed pork product, and therefore no recall of meat products processed from these animals is being issued. Testing and the joint investigation continue. If any evidence surfaces to indicate there is harm to humans, the appropriate action will be taken.

In other words, we haven't a clue, folks, so you and your kids are going to be the guinea pigs on this one, 'kay? Because it's better that we sacrifice a few kids to potential kidney failure than do anything that might impact the profits of giant meat processors like Perdue and Hormel.

Sheesh. At least in drug trials you have to go through a screening process and sign an informed consent form. Now you don't even get that much information.

What's scary is how few people are paying attention to this. People I've talked to are aware of the initial pet food recall and checked their pets' foods to make sure they weren't feeding one of the affected brands. But no one I know has paid much attention since. And most people aren't even aware that melamine has entered the human food supply. But when people ARE aware, such as readers of the MSNBC article cited above, they are concerned. In the quick poll associated with the article, 53% have said that they are cutting out consumption of chicken and pork for now and only 11% say that they are not worried because the government has said there is a "low risk" to humans.

UPDATE: More in the New York Times:

“The public thinks the food supply is much more protected than it is,” said William Hubbard, a former associate commissioner who left in 2005 after 27 years at the agency. “If people really knew how weak the F.D.A. program is, they would be shocked.”

Globalization and new manufacturing capabilities have changed the makeup of the food that Americans put on their table. Food processors in the United States are buying a greater number of ingredients from other countries, becoming more of an assembler in the nation’s food supply chain.

“With globalization, American food processors are turning to less-developed countries to get food ingredients because they can get them so much more cheaply,” Mr. Hubbard said.

And while Republican candidates like Rudy Giuliani run around telling you that if you don't vote for them you'll die in a terrorist attack, not one of them is talking about reining in corporations who will happily slowly kill your family in the name of profits.

You want to know what Republican policies do? Here you go.

Labels: corporatism, greed, lies, tainted pet food scandal

Everyone has lost a pet to kidney failure at some point. In 2000, we lost both of our cats within three weeks of each other. Both were 15, both succumbed to kidney failure, though Oliver had been battling hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure for a year. Most of us have pretty much taken for granted that at some point the kidneys go.

But is that necessarily the case? Or have we been unwittingly feeding our cats poison for years?

The International Herald Tribume reports in its Asia and Europe editions today that melamine spiking has been going on for a long time. Interestingly, the article is not available in the online edition, but it's a front-page story in the Asia and Europe editions.

Itchmo snagged the text before IHT shitcanned the article from its online version:

Here at the Shandong Mingshui Great Chemical Group factory, huge boiler vats are turning coal into melamine, which is used to create plastics and fertilizer.

But the leftover melamine scrap, small acorn-sized chunks of white rock, is then being sold to local entrepreneurs, who say they secretly mix a powdered form of the scrap into animal feed to artificially enhance the protein level.

The melamine powder has been dubbed "fake protein" and is used to deceive those who raise animals into thinking they are buying feed that provides higher nutrition value.

"It just saves money," says a manager at an animal feed factory here. "Melamine scrap is added to animal feed to boost the protein level."

The practice is widespread in China. For years animal feed sellers have been able to cheat buyers by blending the powder into feed with little regulatory supervision, according to interviews with melamine scrap traders and agricultural workers here.

But now, melamine is at the center of a massive, multinational pet food recall after it was linked earlier this month to the deaths and injuries of thousands of cats and dogs in the United States and South Africa.

No one knows exactly how melamine - which had not been believed to be particularly toxic - became so fatal in pet food, but its presence in any form of American food is illegal.

U.S. regulators are now headed to China to figure out why pet food ingredients imported from here, including wheat gluten, were contaminated with high levels of the chemical.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned imports of wheat gluten from China and ordered the recall of over 60 million packages of pet food. And last week, the agency opened a criminal investigation in the case and searched the offices of at least one pet food supplier.

[snip]

The huge pet food recall is raising questions in the United States about regulatory controls at a time when food supplies are increasingly being sourced globally. Some experts complain that the FDA is understaffed and underfunded, making it incapable of safeguarding America's food supply.

"They have fewer people inspecting product at the ports than ever before," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington. "Until China gets programs in place to verify the safety of their products, they need to be inspected by U.S. inspectors. This open-door policy on food ingredients is an open invitation for an attack on the food supply, either intentional or unintentional."

The pet food case is also putting China's agricultural exports under greater scrutiny because the country's dubious food safety record and history of excessive antibiotic and pesticide use.

In recent years, for instance, China's food safety scandals have involved everything from fake baby milk formulas and soy sauce made from human hair, to instances where cuttlefish were soaked in calligraphy ink to improve their color and eels were fed contraceptive pills to make them grow long and slim.

China's government disputes any suggestion that melamine from the country could have killed pets. But Friday, regulators here banned the use of melamine in vegetable proteins made for export or for use in domestic food supplies.

Yet it is clear from visiting this region of northern China is that for years melamine has been quietly mixed into Chinese animal feed and then sold to unsuspecting farmers as protein-rich pig, poultry and fish feed.

Many animal feed operators advertise on the Internet seeking to purchase melamine scrap. And melamine scrap producers and traders said in recent interviews that they often sell to animal feed makers.

"Many companies buy melamine scrap to make animal feed, such as fish feed," says Ji Denghui, general manager of the Fujian Sanming Dinghui Chemical Company. "I don't know if there's a regulation on it. Probably not. No law or regulation says 'don't do it,' so everyone's doing it. The laws in China are like that, aren't they? If there's no accident, there won't be any regulation."

[snip]

Most local feed companies do not admit that they use melamine. But last Friday here in Zhangqiu, a fast-growing industrial city southeast of Beijing, a pair of animal feed producers explained in great detail how they purchase low-grade wheat, corn, soybean or other proteins and then mix in small portions of nitrogen-rich melamine, whose chemical properties give a bag of animal feed an inflated protein level under standard tests.

Melamine is the new scam of choice, they say, because urea - another nitrogen-rich chemical that works similarly - is illegal for use in pig and poultry feed and can be easily tested for in China as well as the United States.

"If you add it in small quantities, it won't hurt the animals," said one animal feed entrepreneur whose name is being withheld to protect him from prosecution.

The man - who works in a small animal feed operation that consists of a handful of storage and mixing areas - said he has mixed melamine into animal feed for years.

He said he was not currently using melamine, which is actually made from urea. But he then pulled out a plastic bag containing what he said was melamine powder and said he could dye it any color.

Asked whether he could create an animal feed and melamine brew, he said yes, he has access to huge supplies of melamine. Using melamine-spiked pet food ingredient was not a problem, he said, even thought the product would be weak in protein.

"Pets are not like pigs or chickens," he said casually, explaining that cheating them on protein won't matter. "They don't need to grow fast."

The feed seller makes a heftier profit because the substitute melamine scrap is much cheaper than purchasing soy, wheat or corn protein.

Goldy at (I've always wanted to say this) HorsesAss.org has more including the horrific fact that livestock in the U.S. (that's OUR food supply) has probably been contaminated for as long as pet food has.

UPDATE: The New York Times has picked this up as its lead story today.

Labels: corporatism, greed, tainted pet food scandal