Humans at Risk from Tainted Pet Food?

[~flower~]

Humans at Risk from Tainted Pet Food?

By Karen Roebuck
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, April 20, 2007

Federal officials confirmed Thursday they are investigating whether pork products intended for humans are contaminated with the same industrial chemical that prompted a massive pet food recall and sickened cats and dogs nationwide.

Researchers also have identified three other contaminants in the urine and kidneys of animals sickened or killed after eating the recalled foods, including cyanuric acid, a chemical commonly used in pool chlorination, three researchers told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Cyanuric acid is what most likely sickened pets, one researcher said.

Melamine previously was found in the recalled pet food and two ingredients -- wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate -- as well as in the urine, blood, kidneys and tissues of infected animals.

Researchers and U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said since it was discovered in the pet food, wheat gluten and in animals' urine and kidneys, they did not believe it was what sickened the animals.

The Trib learned yesterday that melamine-contaminated feed was fed to hogs.The FDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture are investigating.

Some animals that are believed to have eaten the contaminated food were slaughtered and sold as food before authorities learned their feed had been contaminated, said Nancy Lungren, spokeswoman for the California agriculture department.

The state quarantined the farm Wednesday, she said.

Yesterday, the urine of some pigs at the 1,500-animal American Hog Farm in Ceres, Calif., tested positive for melamine, although all appeared healthy, Lungren said. About half a dozen pigs were put down and researchers at the University of California-Davis are testing their kidneys, tissues, blood and other body parts for melamine contamination, she said.

The contaminated feed was bought April 3 and 13 as salvage pet food from Diamond Pet Foods Inc., which received contaminated rice protein concentrate used in some recalled Natural Balance pet food, Lungren said.

Diamond Pet Foods made the dog and cat foods recalled this week by Natural Balance after melamine was found in an ingredient, rice protein concentrate.

Researchers isolated a spoke-like crystal in pet food, wheat gluten and in the urine, kidneys and tissues of infected animals. That crystal serves as a marker for determining what animals were sickened in the outbreak. About 30 percent of those crystals are made up of melamine, one investigator said, and researchers spent several weeks trying to identify what is in the remainder.

Researchers in at least three labs found cyanuric acid, amilorine and amiloride -- all by-products of melamine -- in the crystals of animals' urine, tissues and kidneys, according to Dr. Brent Hoff, a veterinarian and clinical toxicologist and pathologist, at the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada; Richard Goldstein, associate professor of medicine at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine and a kidney specialist, and Dr. Thomas Mullaney, acting director of Michigan State University's Center for Population and Animal Health.

Michigan State's lab so far has found only the amilorine and amiloride, but Mullaney said he was aware of at least three other labs finding the cyanuric acid in the animals. The FDA asked labs involved in the pet food recall to test for the three chemicals.

All three are by-products of melamine, which researchers said they believe were formed as the animals metabolized the melamine.

Finding cyanuric acid is the more significant finding, Hoff, Goldstein and Mullaney said, although they are not yet certain how toxic it is to animals.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web site said, "When ingested (by humans) in large amounts, the substance may have effects on the kidneys, resulting in tissue lesions."

Because cyanuric acid was used in pool chlorination, more scientific studies have been done on that chemical than on melamine, amilorine and amiloride, Goldstein said. However, tests in dogs and rats found it is safe, he said.

Hoff, Goldstein and Mullaney said amilorine and amiloride were found earlier this week in low concentrations.

The findings have not been announced yet, because officials overseeing the research are seeking confirmation from as many labs as possible, they said.

Researchers ruled out aminopterin -- used as rat poison in other countries -- which New York state officials previously announced was in the pet food.

The FDA said the contaminated wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate used in pet food in the United States and Canada and melamine-tainted corn gluten used in recalled pet food in South Africa have been traced to companies in China.

The Chinese government told the Trib and the FDA yesterday that the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd., which the FDA said supplied the tainted wheat gluten, did not export any wheat gluten intended to be used in food.

The FDA has received more than 15,000 calls reporting sick or dead cats and dogs since the pet food recall began last month, but the agency has not confirmed those yet.

Karen Roebuck can be reached at kroebuck@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7939.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_503671.html

[~flower~]

Chemical found in state hogs
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg - Bee Staff Writer

Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, April 20, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1

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.

He said the 1,500-animal American Hog Farm was quarantined "out of an
abundance of caution."

Melamine has caused tumors in rats and shouldn't be used in animal
feed, according to toxicologists.

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.

So far, "evidence suggests a minimal health risk" to people who have
consumed it, Dr. Mark Horton, the state's public health officer, said
in the same press release.

The theory that Chinese suppliers put melamine in starches to boost
their protein content, and thus command higher prices, becomes
increasingly credible as melamine is found in more ingredients, said
Stephen Sundlof, head of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for
Veterinary Medicine.

The FDA wants to probe that and other theories by inspecting Chinese
factories, but Chinese officials have not allowed their entry, Michael
Rogers, FDA's field investigations director, said Thursday.

"A number of letters" have been sent to China, Rogers said, adding
that he expects Chinese officials will cooperate.

The FDA wants to learn how widely melamine has spread and which other
products it might have contaminated.

That question became more urgent Thursday with reports from South
Africa that corn gluten in Royal Canin pet foods there was
contaminated with melamine, killing about 30 pets. The Web site for
Royal Canin U.S. announced an eight-product recall late Thursday.

The South Africa report brings to three the number of Chinese products
with melamine contamination -- wheat gluten, rice protein concentrate
and corn gluten.

Veterinarians and nutritionists said that other potential targets for
tampering could include whey protein isolate, soy protein isolate, soy
protein concentrate, soy grits and soy lecithin.

All are pet food ingredients valued for the protein punch that they pack.

The melamine at the quarantined hog farm apparently came from salvage
pet food sold as pig feed by Diamond Pet Food's Lathrop plant, the
state said. Diamond had gotten rice protein imported from China by a
San Francisco distributor who recalled it on Wednesday because of
melamine content.

A man who answered the phone for the American Hog Farm late Thursday
declined to comment, the Associated Press reported.

What little is known about melamine suggests its cancer-causing
effects are limited. In studies, melamine caused bladder tumors in
male rats but not in female rats and not in mice of either gender,
said Dr. Stephen McCurdy, a UC Davis Medical School professor of
public health sciences.

"I wouldn't argue that it's safe or that people should take a
lackadaisical attitude toward their exposure," McCurdy said, but
there's insufficient evidence whether it may cause cancer in humans.

Since the first U.S. recall more than a month ago, thousands of
products from 100 brands have been yanked from the market. Thousands
of dog and cat deaths are suspected.

The FDA has gotten about 15,000 consumer calls.

In the latest pet food recall Thursday, Blue Buffalo company pulled
back its Spa Select Kitten dry food, in bags stamped "Best Used By
Mar. 07 08 B."

The FDA confirmed Blue Buffalo was one of five companies that received
rice protein concentrate from Wilbur-Ellis, a San Francisco
distributor that recalled the ingredient late Wednesday night.

The company has shipped 155 metric tons of the suspect rice protein to
five pet food makers since July. Neither Wilbur-Ellis nor the FDA
would name them.

The FDA is checking which companies put the rice protein into pet
foods. It expects those companies to issue their own recalls, Rogers said.

As the melamine investigations widen, a question haunting pet owners
and regulators is how early the first tainted foods reached consumers,
and whether previous episodes of contamination passed unnoticed.

"I am not so sure that this phenomenon is new," said Yorba Linda
veterinarian Elizabeth Hodgkins.

"I honestly think pet foods have been making dogs and cats sick for a
long time," she said.

Hodgkins, who testified at a congressional hearing last week, said
it's less complicated to cook at home for dogs than pet food companies
want people to believe. Home cooking for cats is a little more
complex, she said, and people should seek advice.

Some vets recommend home cooking -- with professional nutritional
guidance -- or specialty brands that avoid additives, at least until
sources of contamination are tracked and eliminated.

Alternative pet food companies report being swamped.

In Elk Grove, Sheryl Gunter had about 35 people turn out for a free
course on cooking for pets at her store, Corner Pet.

The Honest Kitchen, a San Diego pet food company, stepped up
production and hired a person just to handle calls.

"We've seen about a fourfold increase in sales in the last four
weeks," said Lucy Postins, who helped found the firm.

[benchmstr]

my balls hurt

bench

[Oldschool Flip]

This was probably a terrorist act gone bad by PETA or some other animals rights group. Poison some meat, get people sick to quit eating meat thereby saving more animals.

[~flower~]

 I have a third option*     



  *besides leaving it where it is so the "General" population can be aware that they may be eating contaminated pork products. 

[~flower~]

 FDA examines if pet food contaminant in human food

By Susan HeaveyWed Apr 25, 8:13 AM ET

Health officials are now looking at whether humans may have consumed food containing a chemical linked to a recall of pet foods and livestock feed, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday.

FDA officials said they would inspect imports of six grain products used in foods ranging from bread to baby formula for traces of melamine, a chemical thought to have killed and sickened cats and dogs.

The California Agriculture Department said separately it was trying to contact 50 people who bought pork that may have come from pigs fed food containing melamine. The state's health department recommended humans not consume the meat, but said any health risk was minimal.

Melamine, a chemical used in plastics and fertilizer, has already been found in wheat gluten and rice protein imported from China for use in some pet foods, triggering a recall of more than 100 brands.

The FDA named the six grain products to be inspected as wheat gluten, corn gluten, corn meal, soy protein, rice bran and rice protein.

"We're going to target firms that we know are receiving imported products," said David Acheson, chief medical officer of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in a conference call with reporters. "The goal is obviously to sample as much as we can."

There is little research on melamine's effect on humans, according to World Health Organization, but the chemical has been studied in animals for its risk of kidney problems and cancer. The WHO does not classify the chemical as a carcinogen for people.

Some tainted material was used for hog feed before the contamination was found, and officials said on Tuesday thousands of pigs might be affected on farms in North and South Carolina, California, New York, Utah and possibly Ohio.

The FDA is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several states to investigate the now-quarantined farms and whether hogs on those farms were slaughtered for human food.

"Some of the hog operations were fairly sizable," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. But USDA spokesman Steve Cohen said the feed was sold to smaller and independent hog farms.

A poultry farm in Missouri also may have received tainted feed, officials added.

Still, the FDA has no intention of banning imports of wheat gluten, rice protein or similar products from China.

"We believe the safety net is in place to make sure that no additional products are going to get into the commerce of the United States," said David Elder, director of FDA's enforcement office.

Melamine was first found in March in wheat gluten used for some pet foods. Menu Foods, Procter & Gamble Co., Colgate-Palmolive Co., Nestle SA and Del Monte Foods Co. have recalled pet products made with the gluten.

More recently, rice protein tainted with melamine was also shipped to at least five pet food manufacturers by a supplier that imported it from China, the FDA has said.

On Monday, two U.S. lawmakers said a second company likely imported rice protein from China that was contaminated with Melamine. FDA officials on Tuesday would not say whether there was a second importer.

(Additional reporting by Charles Abbott)

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FDA: Contaminated Pet Food Used in Chicken Feed

38 Indiana farms implicated; affected broiler chickens have already been consumed, officials say


TUESDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- The potential threat to human health from contaminated pet food has now widened to include chickens, with U.S. health officials announcing that melamine-tainted pet product made its way into poultry feed at 38 Indiana farms.

Much of the adulterated feed was eaten in early February by broiler chickens that have since been sold and consumed nationally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a joint statement issued late Monday.

The melamine-contaminated feed was used at 30 broiler poultry farms and eight breeder poultry farms across Indiana; all of the broiler chickens have since been sold to outlets nationwide. The breeder chicken have been quarantined and may be euthanized, the FDA and USDA said. The agencies also warned that "as the investigation continues, additional farms will likely be identified that received contaminated feed."

The announcement comes on the heels of similar discoveries at hog farms across the United States. The USDA first announced on Thursday that meat from 345 hogs suspected of eating the contaminated feed had entered the U.S. food supply. Some 6,000 hogs suspected of eating the contaminated product have since been quarantined and meat from these animals will be withheld from the food supply, both agencies said.

"As with exposure from hogs fed contaminated pet food and for similar reasons related to the dilution of the contamination, FDA and USDA believe the likelihood of illness after eating chicken fed the contaminated product is very low," the agencies said Monday night. "Because there is no evidence of harm to humans associated with consumption of chicken fed the contaminated product, no recall of poultry products processed from these animals is being issued."

In a similar vein, U.S. health officials have continued to reassure American consumers that pork products from hogs fed contaminated pet food were safe, even as reports surfaced that China has routinely added the contaminant melamine to its exported animal food supplements.

In a joint statement issued late Saturday, the FDA and USDA stressed that, "We are not aware of any human illness that has occurred from exposure to melamine or its byproducts." They added that they have also identified no illnesses in swine fed the salvage food tainted by melamine, which was imported from China as an additive to wheat gluten used in dog and cat food.

Melamine, a derivative of coal, is at the center of the United States' largest pet food recall, involving more than 60 million packages of 100 name-brand products. The chemical has been linked to the deaths of at least 16 pets and the illness of possibly thousands of animals.

In the Saturday statement, the FDA and the USDA said the possibility of human illness from eating swine exposed to melamine remains low for several reasons: "First, it is a partial ingredient in the pet food; second, it is only part of the total feed given to the hogs; third, it is not known to accumulate in the hogs, and the hogs excrete melamine in their urine; fourth, even if present in pork, pork is only a small part of the average American diet."

On Monday, The New York Times reported that Chinese producers routinely add melamine to wheat gluten and rice protein in animal feed products to falsely inflate levels of protein.

In interviews with agricultural workers and managers in China, the newspaper reported that animal feed producers have secretly added melamine to their feed for years because, during tests, it appears to be a protein, even though it doesn't add any nutritional benefits.

"Many companies buy melamine scrap to make animal feed, such as fish feed," Ji Denghui, general manager of the Fujian Sanming Dinghui Chemical Company, which sells melamine, told the Times. "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."

On Thursday, China banned melamine from its food products, but rejected the charge that the substance caused the U.S. pet deaths, the Associated Press reported.

It's not clear how -- or even if -- melamine became fatal in pet food, because it's not believed to be particularly toxic. But U.S. law bans its presence in any form of food, the newspaper said.

The rice protein was imported to the United States by Wilbur-Ellis, an agricultural product importer and distributor. The FDA said it is continuing its investigation of the source of the adulterated pet food, including "tracing products distributed since August 2006 by Wilbur-Ellis throughout the distribution chain."

In their latest statement, the FDA and the USDA said that, as of April 26, they had identified sites in six states where contaminated pet food was received and used in feed given to hogs: California, Kansas, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Utah.

On Friday, FDA officials searched the facilities of a pet food manufacturer and one of its suppliers in the continuing probe of the contamination, the Associated Press reported.

The officials searched an Emporia, Kan., pet food plant operated by Menu Foods and the Las Vegas offices of ChemNutra Inc., the news service said, citing information supplied by the companies.

Menu Foods made many of the major brands of dog and cat foods that were recalled because of the melamine-contaminated wheat gluten. ChemNutra supplied Menu Foods with the wheat gluten, which was also imported from China but reportedly from a different supplier than the rice protein.

Both companies said they were cooperating with the investigation, the AP said.

Meanwhile, the USDA will compensate hog farmers affected by the tainted pet food, Kenneth Peterson, an assistant administrator for field operations at the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, said during a Thursday teleconference.

"The pork and pork products from these animals will be destroyed," Peterson added. Each year, more than 105 million hogs are slaughtered in the United States, the AP said.


http://health.msn.com/healthnews/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100161930&GT1=10008

[benchmstr]

i am eating pork right now

bench

[~flower~]

 fuckin china fuk fuks 

[~flower~]

http://www.pethobbyist.com/sitenews/index.php?/archives/46-Pet-Food-Crisis-Now-People-Food-Crisis....html

Pet Food Crisis Now People Food Crisis...

The FDA has finally acknowledged that adulterated animal food has killed thousands of pets in the United States and has been allowed to enter the human food chain. Now the U.S. public at large are to be their guinea pigs and they appear to be frighteningly comfortable with that position.

The FDA has danced around the topic of whether the toxins had entered the human food supply for weeks, and it has been both amazing and appalling to watch as each shoe has dropped. Each day brings bigger and far more shocking revelations about the results of lax safety standards in our nation's food supply.

usatoday.com - FDA: Feed no human threat:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/2007-05-01-food-safety-usat_N.htm

    Almost 3 million chickens may have eaten feed containing small amounts of pet food contaminated with melamine, but the health risk to consumers is minimal, federal officials said Tuesday.

    David Acheson, FDA assistant commissioner for food protection, said there is little threat to human health because the proportion of melamine in the original pet food was less than 6%, and the re-purposed pet food made up less than 5% of the chicken feed.



How much toxic food exactly do I need to eat Dave?

Tell me exactly what is the level of toxin the FDA considers it safe for me to ingest?

What is the level of toxin the CDC considers it safe for me to ingest?

Is the CDC even tracking melamine-related illnesses or testing for melamine?

How about my elderly parents and my school age nephews and nieces?

How about people with impaired immunities?

Do we have to wait for PEOPLE to start dying before it moves your stat meter any?

Do I have to die in your office for it to be confirmed, or would it be better for me to die in the CDC's office?

This is not a pet food crisis, this is a food crisis.

What does it say about this country's homeland security when I have to take off my shoes to board an airplane or face getting trundled off by 10 or 15 guards, and yet someone in a foreign country can introduce literally tons of toxins into our food supply with no oversight? Why waste billions on a nuclear program when you could introduce bulk shipments of ricin or anthrax-tainted rice gluten into our food supply instead, at a fraction of the cost, and maybe even turn a profit.

And here are my scariest questions Dave, the ones that I really fear the answer to the most...

How long and what else? When is the next shoe going to drop? How long has toxic, adulterated food been allowed into our food supply and what other toxins have I been ingesting? How many illnesses, cancers and deaths has this toxic food caused or enhanced in the public and for how long? We talk about a rise in things such as autism, allergens, cancer, and other health issues; how much has impact has toxic, adulterated food had on that?

Pet owners did not foment this crisis; dead and dying pets, lax regulations, poor systematics, lack of security, and shoddy oversite at the FDA did. Pets, then pet owners, then bloggers, then finally a few mainstream media houses brought this frighteningly huge hole in homeland security to light. It is fortunate, in a sense, that our pets acted as a tripwire to sound the alarm. It is unforgivable that so many had to die and will continue to die over the coming months for playing this role. Who knows what terrible act their deaths might have prevented? Or has their sacrifice already come too late?

Some people have referred to the bloggers and print journalists covering this as alarmists or sensationalists. If 3 million toxic chickens in the food supply isn't setting off bells and alarms somewhere, it damn well should. If Drudge and the rest of the mainstream media want to continue to ignore the situation, then I hope the journalists that are covering this ring as many bells as they can.


Jeff Barringer
President/CEO
OnlineHobbyist.com, Inc.
Home of PetHobbyist

[~flower~]

he New York Times

May 4, 2007
China Makes Arrest in Pet Food Case
By DAVID BARBOZA

SHANGHAI, May 3 — The general manager of a Chinese company accused of selling contaminated wheat gluten to pet food suppliers in the United States has been detained by the Chinese authorities, according to police officials here and a person who was briefed on the investigation.

The manager, Mao Lijun, head of the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, is being held in coastal Jiangsu Province, about 320 miles northwest of Shanghai, though a police spokesman in the area, Pei County, declined to say on what charges.

In a telephone interview a few weeks ago, Mr. Mao denied any knowledge of how melamine, an industrial chemical, had been mixed into pet food supplies sold under his company label earlier this year. He also insisted that his company had never exported any wheat gluten and that his products were sold only on the domestic market.

But regulators in the United States identified Xuzhou Anying and another Chinese company in nearby Shandong Province as the only sources of the contaminated ingredients that killed 16 dogs and cats, sickened thousands of others and led to one of the biggest pet food recalls in American history.

Calls made to the other Chinese supplier under suspicion, the Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Company, went unanswered.

Scientists are still trying to explain how melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, fertilizer and surface coatings but not considered very toxic, ended up in some of the leading American pet food brands.

The arrest of Mr. Mao may be an indication that the Chinese government is stepping up its own investigation into the scandal. It also seems to be trying to show a willingness to cooperate with investigators from the Food and Drug Administration, who finally arrived in China on Monday — after China had initially refused to issue them visas.

Concerns about the quality and safety of China’s agriculture exports have prompted agency regulators to ban all wheat gluten from China and to warn importers to sample or test all food and feed additives coming from there.

Last month, South Africa also announced a pet food recall after more than 30 dogs died from eating food contaminated with melamine-tainted ingredients imported from China.

The Chinese government had initially reacted angrily to suggestions that Chinese food exports could have been the cause of death or sickness in so many American pets. At one point, the Chinese government even insisted that the country had not exported any wheat gluten to the United States this year.

People briefed on the United States investigation also complained that the Chinese government was reacting slowly to efforts by American regulators to obtain information, in addition to visas for entry.

But last week, with the contaminant in pet food spreading to hogs in the United States, the government dropped the denial and insisted only that it was unlikely melamine could cause such harm in pets. Last Friday, China also banned the use of melamine in vegetable proteins that are made for export or for use in domestic food.

There is still some question over the role of the Xuzhou company. Last week, the F.D.A. issued an import alert saying that the Chinese government had evidence that Xuzhou Anying was not the manufacturer of the tainted wheat gluten but may have had as many as 25 wheat gluten suppliers.

ChemNutra, a Las Vegas company that bought the wheat gluten and resold it to pet food makers in the United States, said it thought that Xuzhou was the manufacturer.

Regulators also said that Xuzhou had failed to disclose to China’s export authorities that it was shipping food or feed products to the United States and thereby avoided having its goods checked by food inspectors.

The Xuzhou shipments to ChemNutra were made through another Chinese company, the Suzhou Textiles Silk Light Industrial Company.

Despite its denials of knowing anything about melamine contamination, Xuzhou appears to have sought to buy large supplies of melamine, even in the weeks after the pet food recall.

The company had posted more than a dozen advertisements on the Internet seeking supplies of melamine scrap, the impure waste of an industrial chemical that animal feed producers here often mix into the feed to artificially increase the reading of the protein.

Chinese producers use this practice, local experts here say, in an effort to elevate the level of protein to make a higher grade feed, even though the melamine has no nutritional value.

On March 21, Xuzhou Anying had posted this message on an Internet trading site called EC21: “We urgently need a lot of melamine scrap.”

Despite the ban on melamine in vegetable protein, chemical companies in China continue to say they sell melamine scrap to animal feed companies and even to food companies that make bakery items.

“Our chemical products are mostly used for additives, not for animal feed,” said Li Xiuping, manager at the Henan Xinxiang Huaxing Chemical Company in central Henan Province. “Melamine is mainly used in the chemical industry, but it can also be used in making cakes.”