The Perils of Eating, PLUS, Is the Homeland Secure?

The world's number one exporter of fruits and vegetables, China, is finally coming under scrutiny as its customers get a hint that tainted pet food ingredients could well lead to iffy items aimed at humans.

According to a piece in today's Washington Post, "China has been especially poor at meeting international standards. The United States subjects only a small fraction of its food imports to close inspection, but each month rejects about 200 shipments from China, mostly because of concerns about pesticides and antibiotics and about misleading labeling. In February, border inspectors for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration blocked peas tainted by pesticides, dried white plums containing banned additives, pepper contaminated with salmonella and frozen crawfish that were filthy.

Since 2000, some countries have temporarily banned whole categories of Chinese imports. The European Union stopped shipments of shrimp because of banned antibiotics. Japan blocked tea and spinach, citing excessive antibiotic residue. And South Korea banned fermented cabbage after finding parasites in some shipments.

As globalization of the food supply progresses, "the food gets more anonymous and gradually you get into a situation where you don't know where exactly it came from and you get more vulnerable to poor quality," said Michiel Keyzer, director of the Centre for World Food Studies at Vrije University in Amsterdam, who researches China's exports to the European Union."

Meanwhile, back home, Congress held hearings about the American spinach and salmonella- afflicted peanut butter that caused sickness and, in the case of the E.coli-tainted spinach, death.

Seldom mentioned is that fact that the numerous US regulatory agencies involved in food safety are understaffed and lacking adequate lines of communication and cooperation with one another.  They often overlap on or duplicate some tasks, while leaving other areas of concern unexplored.

But worse---get a load of this April 22 report by Elizabeth Williamson in the Washington Post.

"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show.

Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, the documents show."

Before the hearings began panel chairman Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich said this:  "This administration does not like regulation, this administration does not like spending money, and it has a hostility toward government. The poisonous result is that a program like the FDA is going to suffer at every turn of the road."

Food safety is as much a national security issue as my audacious attempt to carry on an airplane a sealed bottle of water and 4.1 ounces of face cream. Please.

Comments

[wellness dog food]

This is not a surprise. It's all about low cost (at 50 cents per hour per staff cost) for mass production by the truckloads.

Homemade dog food is the best! With commercial producers looking to cut cost and ignoring quality, our pets are being harmed!

Check out this review on canned dog food -
http://www.squidoo.com/dogfoodsecretsreview/

Mason
http://www.wellness-dog-food.com

[Cloudzilla]

Thanks for the links, Kathy. My cats do indeed refuse raw (and cooked) meat and fish. And they are not exclusively carnivores either. Julius is extremely fond of greens (lettuce and spinach, but mostly wheatgrass, and whatever flowers I happen to have in a vase at the time).

My mother sent me a link to a Washington post article which explains the points I was trying to make about nutrition far better than I did:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050100470.html?referrer=emailarticle

[Foodie]

Tks to Rose for alerting me to Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles' entry on the pet food/people food thing:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html

[Foodie]

KSF--I often ponder the fact that our lives today are ruled by the opinions of "experts"--that we appear to crave advice and guidance on every theoretically common sensical aspect of life.
Even smart gals like Cloudzilla! ( You heard me..)
Now here's some more advice....

[Foodie]

Clouds---here's some info re cooking for cats---
http://www.ehow.com/how_12698_make-homemade-cat.html
And here's a book recommend---http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Cats-Recipes-Felix-Orlando/dp/3770170563

Frankly, I figure you feed cats dead critters period. They are utter carnivores, unlike dogs. ( I met a dog once called Happy Birthday who lived in a grapefruit grove and ate tons of citrus each year.)

Your cats refuse raw meat/fish??

And Rose, we see your white flag. It's OK!

[Cloudzilla]

But cats (and dogs) are whole a whole different species, with different nutritional needs, as far as I know, and of course I could be wrong. Maybe it is a giant plot by the pet food industry, in collusion with the vets, and I am falling for it. I am not prepared at this point to make food for my pets (I can barely get it together to cook for myself as it is) so I prefer to just go with the best pet food I can find.

Besides, my cats (surprisingly) refuse to eat human food.

[Rose]

I said " I give up." Pity there is no eye-rolling icon to go with this."

[KathyF]

I do often cook for my pet, using organic free range (real free range!) eggs and brown rice and veggies. I also feed her a quality pet food made here from organic produce and fresh salmon.

As for ignoring other tragedies to focus on this one, I for one can walk and chew gum at the same time. There are plenty of pet people who are following this story, putting pressure on the FDA, etc., in order to make our pets safer. Good for them. There are also plenty of people following the abuses in Iraq, etc. Good for them. I follow both stories and do what I can to disseminate information on both. I don't consider myself a slacker in either department.

Although my dog is wishing I'd give her more treats.

Cloudzilla, there is no need to analyze your home-made pet food. We feed babies, don't we, with no problems? The pet food industry has put out a lot of caveats geared toward increasing their profits, not your dog's well being.

[Rose]

I GIVE UP!!!!!

[Cloudzilla]

Unfortunately, cooking for you pet can be a recipe for disaster (or if you are Rose (Hello Mater!), a recipe for minor inconvenience) given that the nutritional needs of our pets are something of a mystery to most of us. Taurine? I know they need it, but what foods would I find that in? I wouldn't know. There are companies who will analyze your home-made pet food for any nutritional deficiencies, but I think it costs beaucoup bucks. I for one prefer to entrust the making of my cats' food to the professionals (famous last words. Look where that has gotten us so far).

[Rose]

Important cover-ups are the messes in Iraq, the Gonzales and Bush affairs, et al. Petfood impurities should be looked at- they are again in todays NYT-but they are not the most important matter in the world. 4000+ dead pets out of a country with a population of 300m people+ is still little and probably not all pets died because of the food impurities. There are natural causes too. But 3000 + Americans did die in Iraq and hundred of thousands Iraqi civilians. That is a tragedy.

End of speech. I am taking my soap box and go away.

[Rose]

Why don't you cook for your pets- seriously, no tongue in cheek. Claudia's dragon-aunt Lisette cooked vats of soupy concoctions ( meat ,veg, pasta ) for local stray cats in Rome which came to her house. Lisette insisted it was the healthiest food she could give. When she died, her husband, a political leader and retired high ranking executive, continued. The last cat moved with him to Lake Garda.

[KathyF]

The Pet Connection blog is covering this story, and it appears the FDA is covering up the facts. There have been thousands (last I saw it was 4000+) who've reported their pets died of kidney failure after eating the recalled food. And yes, treatment for kidney failure will often cost thousands. One vet chain is trying to help out by donating services, but it's still a very very costly undertaking.

I personally would be devastated if, after coaxing my ailing dog to eat, it turned out that the very food I was giving her was poison. And now it's being reported in some of the premium brands. I urge you all to check out the Pet Connection to find the latest list of recalled foods.

http://petconnection.com/blog/

[Foodie]

Pet insurance is starting to be in vogue here in the costly USA to cover huge expenses one may not be able to afford or feel appropriate to afford for a critter, however dear.
And one can debate the weight of the word "tragedy," yes indeedy. Against the murder of those in Iraq, the starving in the Sudan, etc etc

[Rose]

Who would pay "thousands" for the care of a pet and DID "thousands" die? Maybe vets in the USA are charging 500 a visit? I paid 22 Euros a visit from the local vet and 200 Euros for kidney dialysis for Cloudzillas cat- she left in my care when she moved to the States. And I still think "tragedy" is something else than the demise of a pet. Sorry Claudia- and Kathy

[Foodie]

As the "Mom" of a recently adopted Jack Russell ( Lillian J. Russell) , I concur--nothing but the best for this smart, lively, amusing and endearing critter.

[Cloudzilla]

Thank you, Kathy. I happen to disagree with Rose (my mother. At least I think it's my mother) on that one. You can blame it on the fact that she is European, and Europeans by and large don't think of their pets in the same way as Americans do. I only started feeding my cats top of the line (or so I thought) food when I moved to the United States. Prior to that, I didn't really know any better. And after this recall, I am seriously considering switching to organic food for my cats.

[KathyF]

For the thousands of people who've lost a pet, after paying thousands of dollars for their care, it is indeed a tragedy, no quote marks needed.

[Rose]

Tainted pet food tragedy? Please!!!! Iraq is a tragedy. Pet food???? Have I been missing earth shaking events and the demise of millions of pets while without newspapers and only low speed internet during vacation? Granted, I skipped the pet food stories.
As long as we want to have cheap and anonymous food without regard to quality these “tragedies “ will happen. Back to locally grown food at higher cost seems the answer. And not only discount supermarket wares!! Harrrump.

[Foodie]

Ouch--another reminder to eat foods as unprocessed as possible!

[Eater]

Add to all this the AP reports on how the tainted pet food tragedy spotlights how imported ingredients that end up in thousands of processed foods for humans are not being inspected.

These include guar gum from acacia gives texture to whipped cream; maltodextrin from starchy foods that lets spices stick to chips; caseins, proteins from milk that give consistency to cheese substitutes; locust beans and guar seeds that work as thickening agents etc.

All those ingredients listed on our food labels...many imported and not inspected.