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Pet food recall: Thoughts and questions

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So, a number of things jumped to my mind during and after today's media telebriefing which I liveblogged here, but first I would just like to mention that, while I may have been reporting all along on the music that's been playing while we wait for the conferences to begin, USA Today science writer Elizabeth Weise actually told the FDA about it today! And thanked them for upgrading it from [redacted trademark for tinny canned music of awesome horribleness] to oldies. YOU GO, ELIZABETH!

When I liveblog, to an extent my mind goes blank and I just type. Every now and then something leaps out at me, something that either makes me want to look a little deeper, or something that makes my head explode me think.

I marked a number of things for further digging on today's liveblogging, but the one that's stuck in my head is this -- and again, let me restate my disclaimer, that unless something is in quotation marks it is a paraphrase, and not a direct quote:

NPR: Regarding import alert on vegetable protein, what volume is involved? Is FDA testing these imports, if not who is, and what have results shown so far?

Acheson: Import alert is 100 percent. Stopping EVERY vegetable protein concentrate from China. To get it released, company has to come to us with validated tests, paperwork, assurances, that this material is okay, free of melamine and other compounds. Sampling assignment is different. We have 100 percent sampling assignment on pet food. That means WE take the samples and process them in our labs.

I'm pretty sure most of us, including me, assumed that the US government was actually testing samples from 100 percent of the vegetable protein concentrates from China named in the import alert, not just having the companies assure them with validated tests, paperwork, and assurances that the material is okay. Didn't Wilbur-Ellis and ChemNutra also have such validations and tests? Wouldn't they have made such assurances?

As to sampling pet food, which they are doing with pet food made in China, how does that play into their repeated insistence that they are prioritizing based on where they know the "known risks" are?

No pet food manufactured in China itself has, to my knowledge, been recalled. All the recalled pet foods were made in this country with vegetable protein concentrates FROM China. They were sold not for the pet food market exclusively, but as ingredients that could have been made into human products, although FDA currently does not believe that happened with those two shipments.

So tell me, why are they testing Chinese-manufactured pet foods, which as far as I know are not at issue in the recall, and not doing sampling and testing of vegetable protein concentrates from China, which are?

UPDATE: Did salmon fed contaminated feed get released to the wild? An online newspaper in Canada wants to know.

Update 2: On testing, up from the comments, which directed me back to the import alert itself, which details some of the testing requirements:

Districts may detain without physical examination, all Vegetable protein products from China.

My only comment here is, "may"? Is this being done in all cases, or is it optional?

In order to adequately assess whether a manufacturer has the appropriate controls and processes in place to ensure the quality of the product being produced, the firm or shipper must provide the following information:

1. Documentation showing that a minimum of five (5) consecutive entries have been released by FDA based on third party laboratory analyses using FDA recommended methods and that all shipments did not contain the presence of melamine and/or melamine analogs.

My question here is, can those third party analyses have been done in the country of origin, or do they have to be done here?

AND

2. Certificate, such as from AQSIQ (Christie's note: AQSIQ is a Chinese agency), indicating that an inspection of the manufacturer was conducted and adequate controls are in place. Information should also include:

a. Copy of the inspectional reports and compliance status of the manufacturer.

b. If products were sampled during the course of the inspection, test results indicating that the products are free of melamine and/or melamine analog.

"IF products were sampled." But no requirement for them to have been.

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Pet food recall: Liveblogging 5/10 FDA/USDA press conference

• If you have a sick pet or a question on your pet’s health, call your veterinarian.


• If you’re new to the site, please check out our general information page (includes information on recalled foods).


• If you want to report a sick or deceased pet, click here.

I'll be liveblogging today's FDA/USDA/CBP (Customs and Border Protection) joint media telebriefing today, which starts at 2 PM Eastern Time. Present today will be:

* David Acheson, M.D., assistant commissioner for food protection, Office of the Commissioner, FDA

* Kenneth Petersen, D.V.M., M.P.H., assistant administrator for field operations, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA

* Stephen Sundlof, D.V.M., Ph.D., director, Center for Veterinary Medicine, FDA

* Robert Ali, deputy assistant commissioner for public affairs, Office of the Commissioner, FDA

* Michael Rogers, director, Division of Field Investigations, Office of Regulatory Affairs, FDA

Usual disclaimers: I'm doing this live, there will be typos, only things in quotation marks are direct quotes, the rest is a paraphrase. We'll post the link to the actual transcript when it's ready, usually within 24-48 hours.

Our musical interlude this morning is the original version of "Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

Music has now changed to Bette Midler's "The Rose."

2:06 PM Eastern time, we're now listening to Don McLean's (sp?) "Starry, Starry Night."

2:09 PM ET and we begin.

Hosted by Robert Ali FDA media relations.

Speakers will be David Acheson (FDA) and Kenneth Petersen (USDA).

Acheson: Today he'll update on three areas.

1. Contaminated fish feed
2. Sampling and testing
3. Update on China investigation

Since began in March, have been conducting investigation that started with melamine contaminated pet food. Led places not expected. Gone where leads have taken it. Have discussed information publicly as soon as they knew it and it was validated. It's not in the public's interest to share unvalidated information, but we realize this often leaves unanswered questions.

Melamine was found in fish feed manufactured in Canada. Fish feeding is being recalled. One hatchery Marion Falls Hatchery in Oregon had the contaminated feed. Was a starter diet for juvenile salmon and trout.

Feed was manufactered under BioOregon Label out of Longview, WA.

That same lot was sent to several other hatcheries in Oregon. He named them but spoke to fast for me to get it. Company is offereing replace feed.

Working to determine scope, and to see if any of the fish fed the contaminated feed were released to the environment or the market.

Based on the risk assessment, humans who may have eaten fish "face a very low health risk."

Constant communication with FWS, Canandian gov't, etc.

Turning now to discuss second area, what is ongoing with sampling.

Focus on imports. Summarize where we currently are.

All vegetable protein products imported or shipped from China cannot enter the country unless tested for melamine, cyanuric acid, or other melamine-related compounds. Also have sampling assignment for pet food from China. Also will begin soon to sample animal feed. Including fish feed.

Domestic assignments are underway. Visiting manufacturers and processors in the US who use protein concentrates, obtaining samples, testing for melamine and related compounds, raising safety awareness with them, and doing targeted sampling of finished food products. Targeted at pet food, animal food, and human food.

Finally, brief summary on China.

Team has been in China since April 30. AQSIQ has been briefed on results of investigation. Cooperation between investigatoin and Chinese authorities. Has visited "both of the firms" involved. Labs are testing samples from "both of the firms." Officials of the firms have been detained.

Investigation continues. Discussions continue on food protection.

Now Kenneth Petersen, USDA.

The same group of scientists who participated in the human health risk assessment are working on an animal exposure assessment. To assess how levels will dissipate from animal's body over time. Not complete. Nor is test for melamine in swine muscle meat. Pending more data, situation for USDA remains the same.

Swine and poultry remain under control on the farms we have previously noted in these calls.

Open to questions.

[Continued after the jump]

CNN: Asking about redacted contaminant on FDA website (Note: as mentioned by Itchmo last night!)

Acheson: "It's redacted for a reason." Cannot answer.

Michael Rogers: That's information we don't want to disclose. Also about the variety of tests we intend to engage in.

Reporter: Small family farms in Utah are anxiously awaiting news about their held hogs. Contaminated feed is sitting in landfill. Swine are beyond their prime.

Petersen: Validated test for swine meat is important. Need it for exposure assessment. Not just Utah but also elsewhere. We hope it's ready soon. Want scientists to have the time to make the appropriate judgment. Until due diligence is completed, I cannot give you a timeline. I think it will be soon. We certainly understand the economic impact and difficulty this is creating for these farmers. We are certainly sensitive to that. They have been contacted regarding Sect 32 funds to restore their purchasing power. There will be at least a safe harbor for their market share. Soon is the best I can do.

Reporter: Can you describe the nature of the test regarding if the meat is tainted or not?

Petersen: Sophisticated analytic method. Laboratories, FERN, doing testing. Want to reach agreement this is the right test.

Steve Dale: This wasn't real protein if it was wheat flour. May have been going on a long time. Were our pets, esp cats, not getting enough protein. Or were we at least paying for something we weren't getting. Over time, did this lack of protein impact our dog or cat's health?

Dr. Sundloff: That's a reasonable point to raise. All the pets that are commercially available are nutritionally balanced to meet the needs of dogs and cats. Too little protein can make problems. In terms of duration, RPC entered August 2006, wheat gluten in Nov 2006, so has not been a long time, at least for these two companies. They are the only two companies "we are aware of" that sold contaminated ingredients. If it's not longstanding, impact was the immediate one. At this point, not aware of any nutritional deficiencies due to substitution of a less than potent protein supplement into the pet food.

Lynn Terry, The Oregonian: In terms of animal and fish feed. How expensive will that be? You're going to be testing imports from China. But how can the two agencies possibly police all this?

Acheson: Regarding domestic surveillance assignment is targeted on raising awareness. Focused on protein concentrates. Clearly we cant' get to everyone in the first few days. Keep assignment rolling long enough to get to everyone as quickly as we can with the resources we have. We're looking for melamine and related compounds in areas where we don't know there is a problem. We started where we KNEW there was a problem - pet food, then chicken feed, then fish. We're trying to be proactive. That's the issue on the assignment.

In terms of products coming into the US, products from China that go to another country then into the US, we do the paperwork associated with that and are trying to look into that, and try to treat them the same.

With respect to the third arm, which is finished products that might have been turned into food and then shipped into the US, we'll be getting more into that. Right now the focus has been on the areas of maximum concern, the risk we know is there.

Rogers: The countrywide import alert is for bulk vegetable proteins from China. All those shipments have 100 percent sampling. Importer must demonstrate not contaminated - "some verification" is done by the Agency. (???)

We are also looking at bulk shipments from other sources, to see if those are ultimately from China. "Some of those" "will be sampled."

Oregonian: You repeatedly said there is no harm to humans even though hogs did get to dinner tables. No results were ever released about concentrations of melamine and/of cyanuric acid. Very little scientific date. How can you say it's safe?

Acheson: Risk assessment was using animal exposure data. You're correct, there's been no studies ever done on melamine to humans. One has to extrapolate. That's standard in toxicology.

There is always some level of uncertainty. Assessment usually includes a safety factor. They do take that into account. We know at what level melamine causes a problem in a rat. "It's orders of magnitude higher than anything we have ever seen in any of these products." (MY THOUGHT: Then why did pets get sick and die?)

In doing the risk assessment, they put it all into account. You end up with an over two thousand fold safety factor between what you may find in the muscle and what could be of risk to the human.

As to the compounds together. Pure melamine, no problem until very high levels. When you put together with cyanuric acid, form crystals in kidneys. That's what we believe in the scenario in the pets. Pets received a much higher level than humans ever would from consuming hogs and poultry.

This is a scientific process. We have a lot of confidence that consumers can be "reassured that eating muscle meat from these animals is not going to pose a threat."

Andrew Bridges, AP: Can you point to any studies in any species on the combination of these compounds?

Acheson: Nothing published. Additive, rather than synergistic. One and one is two, not five. All indications are, and I agree this is limited, that this is an additive phenomenon. Even if synergism were likely to occur, it's not likely to increase risk more than (missed).

AP: Have you looked at how more or less soluble wheat flour is than wheat gluten? Could that have led to higher concentrtaions in pet food?

Acheson: Doesn't know if companies looked at that. Companies go through quality control. If it doesn't work, they'd know, so I can only assume that the melamine was not there in high enough quantities to interfere with the performance of the product.

Washington Post: Regarding domestic assignment, said you'd started testing some human food and animal feed products. Have you had any positive tests yet? Also, second distributor in US, in IL, that has accepted RPC contaminated with melamine from China? Is it RPC? Was it mislabled?

Acheson: We do have samples in the lab, have found nothing positive other than the ones we were already aware of.

FDA: Have analyzed 850 products. More than 500 tested positive, relating to 92 lots. "We have no knowledge to suggest any contaminated bulk products were shipped directly to firms that manufacture products for humans." Can't give a split on the numbers.

WaPo: Second imported stream of labeled RPC. Rep. DeLauro says a company in IL issued a recall.

Acheson: Some of our testing has indicated that some of the labeled RPC was not RPC, it was wheat flour. Some of the RPC we tested was mislabled. As far as IL, we dont' have anything more to tell you on that.

Rogers: Yes, there was a second company in IL. But all positive samples are from the same two sources in China, including the one in IL.

Acheson: We can anticipate that other things will come to light as we follow this. EVERYTHING is still ultimately linking back to the same two companies in China. That's an important point. But we are looking outside that scope and nothing has come up.

Elizabeth Weise, USA Today: Said she likes the new music playing while on hold.

Why haven't we seen more of this? Was it really only these two companies?

Acheson: You're not the first to ask that. Without being able to turn time back, we can't know. It never came to light before. Possibly because melamine at low doses is "not problematic." It does appear to form crystals mixed with other compounds. Speculates maybe those two shipments had more cyanuric acid or other compounds. Yes, it's possible it's been going on longer.

EW: Percentage of vegetable protein concentrate we use in the US?

Acheson: Does not know.

Reuters: How many states, what kind of tonnage, of fish meal? Only one manufacturer?

Rogers: A firm Skirretting (sp?) "went public" and notified customers. Our investigation related to RPC shipped to a manufacturer in Canda, made a pre-mix, sold it to Skirretting, has hundreds of customers. Only two are commercial manufacterers. Is notifying companies that they know rec'd suspect product, and some who may have. Firms were told to return product. The two commercial facilities, FDA will be visiting those.

Reuters: How big are those facilities and where are they?

Rogers: I don't know size. As far as location, we believe they received it. This came to light yesterday. We don't know they used it or what products it may have been used. So at this point we won't disclose that.

Acheson: We are sharing everything we know that we believe is validated. It would be inappropriate to share that at this point.

Reporter: There are several hatcheries in WA that use that product. What are you telling them to do as far as fish that were fed suspect product, and what are your concerns about fish released into the wild?

Acheson: Fish meal and fish feed are different. This is fish FEED, not fish MEAL. Technical point. What the hatcheries are doing, that's part of the investigation and what it will tell us. As to whether some of these may have been released into the wild and what the impact, as we learn more about the toxicology, the longterm bioaccumulation in fish will be determined. Those experiments aren't done, this is a brand new issue. We did include fish in the risk assessment, and it suggests risks to humans is very low.

Reporter: What I asked is what you told the hatcheries to do? Hold the fish?

Acheson: If they used the feed, we're telling them to stop using it. We're trying to get to these places so we can give them appropriate advice.

David Barbosa, NY Times: What are officials finding in China? Have they interviewed the producers, learned anything more than what you've said?

Walter Batts: Getting very good cooperation. Visited two facilities. Nothing to be found. Currently are not operating. The officials are being detained. Our investigators have not interviewed them.

NY Times: If they are getting cooperation, why aren't they getting access to the officials and testing the facilities?

Batts: There is nothing to be seen at the facilities. Closed down, machinery dismantled. Nothing to get access to. Chinese did collect samples before we got there. Are being analyzed by an independent laboratory.

Abigail Goldman, LA Times: Slowly spell the fish companies that got the contaminated fish feed. In general, is it true that fish bioaccumulate contaminants more than other animals?

Acheson: Names, I'll refer you to the press release from Oregon Fish and Wildlife.

Sundoloff: Bioaccumulation in aquatic systems is fat soluble compounds that accumulate up the food chains. Food chains are long, get cumulative effect concentrated in top carnivores. Melamine is very water soluble and is excreted quickly. That is in fact why it causes so many kidney problems. We would not exect melamine to bioaccumulate in aquatic systems.

Kansas City Star: What gluten and wheat flour dont' look anything alike.

Acheson: Have to get back to you. Can only assume it's not an obvious difference. It was our forensic chemistry center that measured starch levels.

This may not have been pure wheat flour. In truth, we don't know exactly what it is. The melamine may have changed it. If this product looked different then the manufacturers as part of quality control would have noticed that. It was definitely mis-labeled, but I think it was more complex than just wheat flour plus melamine.

Bloomberg News: Passes.

CBS News affiliate in TX: Facility in OR, and two others? Three suspicious?

Rogers: No. In discussions with the firm, we learned they have 198 domestic companies. A finished feed product that tested positive in OR. In tracing forward, we identified 198 facilities in the US that may have rec'd feed containing suspect lot. Firm said they would notify those companies. The number two is the two COMMERCIAL manufacturers that may, or may not, have received contaminated feed. We will be visiting them.

CBS: Is there an updated number on pet deaths?

Response, not sure who: No more. 18,000 calls rec'd. Have entered a number and continue to enter. Quick review that allege animal death suggest as many as 50 percent allege an animal death. Agency will be evaluating the data and certainly will come out with a characterization of the data.

Chicago Tribune: Can confirm an IL company that rec'd contaminated RPC and distributed it?

Rogers: Yes.

Tribune: Can you name it?

Rogers: These press conferences are designed to alert the public, but our investigative process involves determining scope and if products were distributed. We are in discussions with these firms and if it's determined a recall is necessary, the firms will say that and we'll put it on our website.

Reporter: Clarifying how many calls and animal deaths.

Reply: Has rec'd 18,000 calls alleging animal illness or death. Quick review suggests as many as 50 percent MAY allege animal death. Final numbers is longer term process.

Reporter: When will investigators come back from China?

Batts: Within next week.

ABC News: Said you were happy with cooperation in China. You can't interview people detained, nothing at the plants. So what is China cooperating on? Has anyone tested melamine on live animals.

Batts: They were very cooperative with the visas. Not sure where that information came of. This was taken care of within a day, in one case an hour. There was no problem with visas.

The agency in China, AQSIQ, has limited authority over the firms. It has hampered what they were able to do before we arrived on site. They carried out an extensive investigation before we got there. We are satisfied they shared with us documents they obtained and anything they found. The fact the companies shut down their facilities is just a fact and not to be blamed on lack of cooperation by Chinese authorities.

ABC News: Testing of melamine and cyanuric acid testing on live animals anywhere now? Or remains of animals who ate the bad pet food?

Petersen: I'm not aware, but researchers at Universities may be working on something.

Acheson: We have initiated discussions with our researchers to begin to map out what studies might get some of these issues reviewed. They are valid but right now key focus is on developing assays so we can determine degree of safety of food supply.

NPR: Regarding import alert on vegetable protein, what volume is involved? Is FDA testing these imports, if not who is, and what have results shown so far?

Acheson: Import alert is 100 percent. Stopping EVERY vegetable protein concentrate from China. To get it released, company has to come to us with validated tests, paperwork, assurances, that this material is okay, free of melamine and other compounds. Sampling assignment is different. We have 100 percent sampling assignment on pet food. That means WE take the samples and process them in our labs. (NOTE: I want to follow up on this.)

NPR: Volume coming in?

Response: Responded but I missed it.

Sundloff: Wants to clarify on number of pet deaths. I don't want to leave the misimpression that FDA thinks there are 9000 pet deaths. We have rec'd over 18,000 calls. Around 8,000 have been entered in. Of those, approx half report deaths. But a lot of these, in fact few if any, have been substantiated. A lot were from "concerned and distraught pet owners." We are working with AVMA and diagnosticians, doing autopsy work on these pets, and with some of the larger pet hospitals like Banfield, to collate all the reports, develop criteria to determine if pet food was cause of death, and to come up with what we believe was the true scope. Will probably be the fall before we have that.

Dorothy Griffith, Sacramento Bee: Fish meal or fish feed?

Acheson: Product is fish FEED. I apologize if I got my nomenclature muddled up. It is all FISH FEED. Food fed to fish. Fish meal is a product of rendering fish and has a different purpose. If I said fish meal, I apologize. It is fish feed.

Conference ends.

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Pet Food Recall Online Panel

Every since the recalls began, there has been a group of bloggers who knew the story was bigger than most people thought at first. We began compiling data, comparing information, collecting personal stories, and digging for facts. Since then, there have been dozens of additional recalls, threats to the human health supply, a re-evaluation of international food safety standards, and a rising wave of frightened and angry pet owners.

This evening, Tuesday, May 8, at 10 PM Eastern Time, PetHobbyist.com invites you to join us for a panel discussion on the recall with:

• Gina Spadafori and Christie Keith of PetConnection.com
• Ben Huh of Itchmo.com
• Therese Kopiwoda of PetSitUSA.com and ThePetFoodList.com
• Kim Duke of PetFoodTracker

For complete instructions on how to attend the chat, go here. It’s free, you don’t need to register or download anything, but you do need to make sure your browser is Java-enabled. And yes, please cross post and help spread the word.

Therese from PetSitUSA.com/ThePetFoodList.com and I have worked for Jeff Barringer and PetHobbyist.com for years - he's been wonderful at letting us have time to work on the pet food recall story, and we're looking forward to the chat! See you there!

Pet food recall: Some things to do tonight

• If you have a sick pet or a question on your pet’s health, call your veterinarian.


• If you’re new to the site, please check out our general information page (includes information on recalled foods).


• If you want to report a sick or deceased pet, click here.

No doubt your heads are as close to exploding as mine is. So, first on the list is to clean up the skull fragments and gray matter from the keyboard. When you're done:

Come join itchmo, petfoodtracker, thepetfoodlist.com, Gina, and me for a live pet food recall chat over on PetHobbyist.com at 10 PM Eastern Time/7 PM Pacific. Links and info here.

How are you at multi-tasking? Because, also at 10 PM ET, you need to catch Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN - our contacts on their staff say they "interviewed the General Manager of Binzhou Futian Biologic Technology Company - in jail - where he is being held by Chinese authorities after his company was shut down – he claims he has no idea what melamine is – also we have interesting footage of what the inside of a Chinese melamine factory actually looks like."

And by way of a round-up of things not to miss in the news, on other blogs, and here:

A veterinarian speaks from last night - powerful stuff from Louise Murray, DVM, Diplomate ACVIM, the Director of Medicine at the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital.

News and commentary from itchmo, David Goldstein, the AP, and more as we update throughout the evening.

I liveblogged today's FDA/USDA media telebriefing - hopefully the transcript will be out tomorrow, but until then, this should infuriate hold you.

And last, our own story: The FDA says another pet food recall may be coming.

See you at the chat!

Update: The transcript from today's FDA/USDA conference is up! Check it out!

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Pet food recall: FDA says another recall may be coming

• If you have a sick pet or a question on your pet’s health, call your veterinarian.


• If you’re new to the site, please check out our general information page (includes information on recalled foods).


• If you want to report a sick or deceased pet, click here.

According to the FDA, there may be another pet food recall coming.

On April 23, Sens. Durbin and Cantwell wrote to the FDA, saying:

We have learned that in addition to Wilbur-Ellis, a second United States company imported a shipment of rice protein from China that is also likely to be contaminated with melamine. We request the FDA identify this second importer as well as those manufacturers to which it may have sold the contaminated product. Again, we request the FDA closely track this shipment and immediately press the affected companies to recall any food containing the imported rice protein.

At the May 3 FDA media briefing, we were waiting to ask about the senators' letter, and if there was indeed another company. We e-mailed the FDA the questions when we didn't get to ask them at the media briefing, and were promised a response. After today's media briefing, we got our FDA response. What we found out:

On May 4, a company called Cereal Byproducts issued a recall of rice protein concentrate it obtained from what it called a "local domestic importer." The recall was announced on a website at www.riceproteinrecall.com, which was offline for an unknown period until just after we called the company:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Mt. Prospect, Illinois – May 4, 2007 – Cereal Byproducts Company is announcing today that the FDA has determined that there are melamine and/or melamine derivatives in the rice protein concentrate produced by a single source Chinese supplier, Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd., and purchased through a local domestic importer. Cereal Byproducts shipped the recalled product to a total of three customers located in the Midwest between July 19, 2006 and March 14, 2007.

The FDA previously found melamine and/or melamine derivatives in Wilbur-Ellis Company’s rice protein concentrate, which was purchased from the same Chinese supplier as Cereal Byproducts. Cereal Byproducts proactively notified their customers of this finding, and thereafter both parties implemented their own voluntary recall of the contaminated products on or about April 19, 2007.

Although Cereal Byproducts has received no confirmed cases of pet deaths, it voluntarily chose to initiate the recall when Cereal Byproducts discovered there was a potential contamination of melamine or melamine type derivatives in the rice protein. We are confident that our customers have implemented on-going recalls and the remaining rice protein concentrate, not previously distributed to these customers, is located at a separate warehouse facility under quarantine.

Cereal Byproducts assures its customers that the safety and quality of the ingredients it supplies is a top priority. Since 1917 it has always been our goal is to ensure the safety and integrity of our products. Cereal Byproducts is working closely with the FDA to assist in its efforts to address the recent development affecting the pet food industry.

Customers with questions about this recall or any Cereal Byproducts Company product should visit the website at riceproteinrecall.com or visit the FDA website at www.fda.gov for more information.

Note the release says the concentrate was sold to three customers of Cereal Byproducts, only two of which have issued voluntary recalls of pet food products since that time.

The FDA's Kimberly Rawlings today by phone confirmed that the third company may, at some unspecified time in the future, also recall some pet food products, saying, "Cereal Byproducts recalled the rice protein concentrate they sold to three firms. This recall may result in additional pet food being recalled." She said she was unable to put any kind of timeframe on such a recall.

Neither FDA nor Cereal Byproducts would identify the third company, although Cereal Byproducts did say all three customers were "in the Midwest."

Rawlings stressed that "based on our records, the Cereal Byproducts shipments of rice concentrates trace to Binzhou Futian Technology--the source already identified. There is no new importer or Chinese supplier of rice protein concentrate that we know of per the records we collected."

She said that FDA was preparing a response to Sens. Durbin and Cantwell. Sen. Durbin's office indicated it was in the process of setting up a meeting with FDA and the Chinese Embassy to investigate this issue in more depth.

The last set of pet food recalls was attributed to cross-contamination with wheat products containing melamine and similar chemical compounds in a Menu Foods plant. When asked if the Menu Foods recall was related to the FDA inspection of one of the company's plants the previous week, the FDA's Douglas Arbesfeld replied, "It is the same firm in Kansas, the corporate HQ, that initiated the recall to include the NJ facility. It would be a stretch to say that this action was a direct result of the current and ongoing inspection and interaction with firm. I would refer to them as related activities."

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Pet food recall: Liveblogging the 5/8 FDA/USDA media conference

• If you have a sick pet or a question on your pet’s health, call your veterinarian.


• If you’re new to the site, please check out our general information page (includes information on recalled foods).


• If you want to report a sick or deceased pet, click here.

Update: The official transcript has been posted.

I'll be liveblogging today's media telebriefing with the USDA and FDA on the "melamine investigation" at 2 PM Eastern Time.

Present will be:

* David Acheson, M.D., assistant commissioner for food protection, Office of the Commissioner, FDA
* Kenneth Petersen, D.V.M., M.P.H., assistant administrator for field operations, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA
* Stephen Sundlof, D.V.M., Ph.D., director, Center for Veterinary Medicine, FDA
Re* Julie Zawisza, assistant commissioner for public affairs, Office of the Commissioner, FDA
* Captain David Elder, director, Office of Enforcement, Office of Regulatory Affairs, FDA
* Michael Rogers, director, Division of Field Investigations, Office of Regulatory Affairs, FDA * Vera Adams, Executive Director, Commercial Targeting and Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

My usual disclaimers: I am typing this live. There will be typos. Anything not in quotation marks is a paraphrase. There will be an official transcript and if you want exact wording, you can get it there. These are usually out within 24-48 hours of the media conference and are published on the USDA website. We will link to it here when it's available.

During the liveblogging, from time to time, just refresh your browser, and you can see the new material I am typing as the conference proceeds.

It's starting on time, no musical interlude!

Dr. David Acheson opens.

Wants to address two issues: First is related to a misrepresentation of the wheat gluten and RPC.

As you are all aware, we have been following wheat gluten and RPC from two sources from China, and have done many tests with those. As part of our strategy "just to ensure we are following this in all possible directions," they are further analyzing those samples and have discovered these products were mislabled, and actually contain wheat flour contaminated with melamine and related compounds.

None of these products have been used directly as ingredients in human food. These are the same ingredients we've been tracking all along, not new.

These are wheat flour, not wheat gluten or RPC.

None of this changes risk assessment re: feeding to animals.

Second point is fish and fish meal.

Where did contaminated wheat gluten go? A portion of the mislabled wheat gluten went to Canada, and was used to manufacture fish meal. Which was then imported to the US to feed fish in certain industrial aquaculture situations.

This fish meal was made in Canada, Canadian authorities are aware.

As with the situation with the poultry and the hogs, levels in fish meal are comparable so they don't believe this is a human health risk in eating these fish. Investigation is active.

A number of firms have rec'd the fish meal and investigators have so far been to one, and confirmed the findings. "Very small fish," fry or tiny fish not yet ready for human consumption anyway. That is the current state of the investigation, these are new findings linking this to the fish meal. Following pattern of other investigation. We'll find out what's going on with the fish facilities and follow up as appropriate.

[The rest is after the jump]

Dr. Petersen from USDA.

Risk assessment on humans and melamine and "melamine compounds." Low risk to humans. USDA and FDA "initiating the appropriate course of action" for hogs and poultry that consumed contaminated feed.

Food consumed by the animals had low levels that became so diluted that any tests no longer detected the presence of melamine and its compounds. In those cases, poultry was released.

If feed tested positive, or there was no feed available to test, those swine and poultry are still being held, pending animal exposure risk assessment.

Animal exposure risk assessment will provide them with scientific data on how animals excrete melamine and related compounds, which will provide scientific data. They believe that data will support their human risk assessment, but investigation is ongoing.

They expect to have animal exposure assessment by the end of this week.

Ms. Vera Adams, Customs and Border Patrol:

Testing additional ingredients from all countries destined for human and animal consumption. Sending samples to laboratories to determine there is no further risk. There is no evidence of risk or further contamination, but are conducting tests as a precautionary step.

We do routinely test products entering the US, and have seven regional labs that mirror FDA procedures. Sampling for RPC, wheat and corn gluten began last week. Are getting those samples back for testing ASAP.

Open to questions.

NYT Times: You're testing wheat, corn gluten and RPC. But you say it's wheat flour. Are you testing the wrong thing? And how did you determine this wasn't RPC and wheat gluten?

Vera Adams: If it's misrepresented it's wheat gluten, it's important we target wheat gluten. We are in touch with FDA and USDA to see if what we're targeting needs to be changed.

David Acheson: To clarify. This product was LABELED wheat gluten and RPC. So that's what we're targeting. Assays were done that determined it, using light microscopy. That is followed by a type of chromatography that is looking at levels of starch.

(NOTE FROM ME: But if it's the wheat flour that WAS contaminated, isn't that what should be tested, not just things labeled gluten?)

NY Times: Will you now be looking at wheat flour?

Acheson: Focus is on things labeled as RPC and wheat gluten. We plan on expanding the assignment as we learn more and get the ingredient side of things figured out. I don't exclude it, but right now this is not the top priority.

Reporter: Shouldn't you expand investigation to cover everything from China at this point?

Acheson: Trying to expand our investigation based on where we see the risk. This is shifting constantly. From one company, to two, to import alert on all Chinese protein concentrates, now to also to pet food and animal food (???) coming in. Border Protection also expanding it.

"You have to put your resources where you believe the risk to be greatest."

Reporter: What don't we know is in Chinese products that's being shipped to the US?

Acheson: If I could tell you what I don't know, I'd know. This is not a melamine investigation only. We are looking more broadly. We're keeping our eyes open. If we start to see unusual spikes of inexplicable illness, we'll ask those questions. We're making maximum use of resources.

Reporter: Following up on antibiotics found in imported Chinese catfish, are you testing US catfish for melamine?

Acheson: Yes. We are focused on testing a range of different fish samples. We have validated an assay for melamine in fish, which we did not have a week ago. We can add it to antibiotic screening. Will test any remaining fish samples in the lab, and as fish samples come in, we'll test for melamine related compounds.

If we find levels, particularly if they're signficant, we'll focus where the risks are likely to be.

David Curley, ABC News: Chinese news agencies are saying the two companies added the melamine illegally. Is that your understanding?

Acheson: Our investigators are on the ground in China. We're working closely with investigators. Will have more answers as to what happened in China.

Curley: Which story should we believe? Have Chinese accepted this has happened?

Acheson: Why this happened in China, that is a Chinese investigation, with our investigators. We want to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's still ongoing, they're out there, they're getting to the establishments, I don't have any more specifics I can share.

Washington Post: Noted many of the reporters missed the beginning of the media conference. Asked for a recap. What flour, not wheat gluten, so is this about flour instead of gluten? Does this add to the possibility this entered the human food supply instead of just pet food?

Julie Z says Dr. Acheson will recap. (FROM ME: I'll cover this only if it differs from, or adds on to, what he said before. Resting my wrists.)

He did call this "a perfect storm for total confusion."

(NOTE FROM ME: I find it interesting that these two different companies - ChemNutra and Wilbur-Ellis - sold different ingredients - wheat gluten vs RPC - from two DIFFERENT sources in China, that both turn out to be contaminated, mislabled wheat FLOUR.)

Back to liveblogging after recap.

WaPo revised question: Did something get done to the fish meal in Canada?

Acheson: No, no, it was contaminated wheat gluten was imported to Canada just as the US.

WaPo: How many fish ate it?

Acheson: We don't know. Investigating.

Karen Roebuck: It's not expected people would get sick in the short term. Are you ruling out the possiblity of long term health effects from consuming the products over time. And Dr. Petersen said pigs who ate the contaminated food could not LEGALLY be put onto the market because they ate adulterated food, but now they are. How is that legal?

Dr. Acheson: Long term exposure consequences. We don't know for a fact yet that there's been long term exposure or that melamine has gone into the human food supply other than the poultry and hogs. We're working with the CDC looking for a shift in trends. We can't rule it out. At this point I can't rule anything in or out other than to say there's absolutely no evidence that has happened.

Dr. Petersen: The initial discussion was about the swine, we had very little info. Some level of contaminated food had been fed to swine. We took the most aggressive approach to protect public health. Subsequently there has been significant additional info. Low amount of melamine in pet food, then low amount went into animal feed, exposure was brief, no reason to believe concentration of melamine in meat. Our initial scicentific judgment was applied to risk assessment, risk is 2500 times or so below any known possible risk. At the time, the appropriate decision was not to apply the mark of inspection. But given all the new info, and farms where feed tested negative, we can apply the mark of inspection to these animals. With some animals we're still missing info, either no feed or it tested positive, we're still waiting for more facts. Position has shifted as facts were put on the table. We want to make sure the public is well-served.

Acheson wanted to clarify about wheat flour vs wheat gluten. "Because it's complicated." Wheat gluten is a component of wheat flour. To make gluten, you wash the starch away. It's the protein part. Wheat gluten is a component of overall wheat flour. This is the point at which we become speculative. It's a simpler process in which a manufacturer would take wheat flour or whole wheat, simply grind it up, and it would still have a low level of wheat gluten. The starch is still there. It's total protein content would appear low.

If you add melamine to that, you're adding a source of nitrogen, you're measure of protein (or actually nitrogen) gives you a wheat based product with an artificially high level of protein because of the melamine. Speculates that if you avoid the whole process of refining to get the wheat gluten, you just add melamine to get the higher level of protein. May explain what's going on.

Reuters: 6000 hogs, how many chickens? Indiana? Missouri?

Petersen: Last Friday we asked that 20 million chickens be voluntarily held so we could do the risk assessment. Most of those - half - have begun to move into slaughter channels. Those were associated with a negative feed test. The other ones in Indiana are still, approximately 100K of the breeder birds are still on hold, don't remember if it's voluntary or not. "Don't quite have a negative test" on those.

Reuters: What about the 3 million in Indiana, and the other 10 million birds? And the hogs.

Petersen: Other 10 million are eligible and are queuing up for slaughter facility. Others had already made their way into commerce. Slaughtered in March, we believe. One other piece of info on animals on hold. There are some on hold in Illinois, three facilities. Approx 50,000 swine on hold. (NOTE: THIS IS NEW INFO.)

"That's pretty much what we have in total." The broilers (chickens) are moving to market today.

CNN: How do you know the wheat flour in the fish meal was contaminated? Are there samples?

Acheson: Yes, the fish meal was positive.

CNN: Now that risk assessment is low, will you allow the pet food companies to sell all the recalled foods to the livestock companies for feed, as long as it's used in small quantities?

Sundloff: The answer is no. Any food that tests positive is considered adulterated and can't be processed into animal feed.

Japanese reporter: How long investigators going to be in China?

Acheson: Will return early next week.

Abigail Goldman, LA Times: You said you don't know how many fish, how many farms or aquaculture establishments, and what kind of fish. Also, doesn't this alert you that wheat flour has been adulterated and that all wheat flour should be investigated?

Acheson: We do have a preliminary list of places to follow up on, and we're trying to confirm it. We don't have a definitive list to share with you. With regards to wheat flour, it came into the US labeled as wheat gluten or RPC. We don't have any indications that anything else coming into the US labeled as wheat flour is anything other than wheat flour. We have no reason to believe wheat flour being imported as wheat flour is contaminated.

Andrew Bridges, AP: Who exported the wheat gluten to the Canadians, and why did you only learn this now? Are you looking at fish meal that could have been contaminated?

Acheson: It came from the Chinese firms.

AP: Who imported it and re-exported it?

Acheson: ChemNutra. Brokered through ChemNutra direct to Canada. That wheat gluten never came to the US. Went directly to Canada. Whe they dug into the ChemNutra records, this came to light.

AP: Why didn't ChemNutra disclose this? Does that disturb you?

Acheson: I'd have to talk to our investigators and see what questions they actually asked. I'm not aware that ChemNutra were withholding information deliberately.

AP: Were fish in China fed contaminated feeds since birth?

Acheson: Looking at a lot of feeds.

Rogers: (Very hard to hear him.) All vegetable protein concentrates from China. Using risk based approach on other products. (May have missed something.)

Julie Schmitt from USA Today: Dr. A, is it reasonable some company along the supply chain could have discovered the product was not a protein concentrate but a wheat flour, or do they only test for protein levels?

Acheson: Different companies have different degrees of quality control. If it fails their testing, they'll just reject it, they wont' dig into why. Don't have an obligation to tell anyone.

USA Today: The companies all along said they used it.

Acheson: They assumed it was wheat gluten.

USA Today: With average due diligence, shouldn't they have discovered it?

Acheson: Depends on level of quality control. Doesn't really know.

USA Today: It's easier to see wheat flour is a step to wheat gluten, but you're saying the RPC wasn't rice at all?

Acheson: That's my understanding.

Wall Street Journal: Is FDA or USDA or other agencies thinking about broad changes in regulations? Seems there is a pattern here...hogs, chicken, fish.

Dr. Sundloff: Yes, we have been working on some comprehensive animal feed safety systems. Working on for years. Our previous food safety programs have been targeted at specific issues such as mad cow disease or medicated feed or e. coli. We have not had an overall comprehensive program that looks at safety from a broader perspective such that it would catch problems like melamine.

Baltimore Sun reporter, didn't catch name: Asks if the process being simpler also means it's cheaper.

Acheson: Don't have a specific analysis of that.

I missed something here, sorry.

Reporter: How long have these companies been exporting to America? What states (?) are under investigation?

Acheson: Won't name states under investigation. How long, I know back to 2006. David Elder?

David Elder: Investigation is ongoing. Will be confirming details. At this point in time we don't have anything.

Acheson: Working closely with Canadian government?

Reporter: Are fish fed 100 percent fish meal?

Sundloff: No, but can't tell you proportion. Probably less than half.

Conference ends.

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Pet food recall: A veterinarian speaks

• If you have a sick pet or a question on your pet’s health, call your veterinarian.


• If you’re new to the site, please check out our general information page (includes information on recalled foods).


• If you want to report a sick or deceased pet, click here.

Dr. Louise Murray, DVM, Diplomate ACVIM, the Director of Medicine at the ASPCA's Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York City, wrote recently to our own Dr. Marty Becker, and gave us permission to share her thoughts and experiences with treating animals affected by the pet food recall.

"We have seen a number of cases, varying from unaffected or mildly affected to severely ill and death," she wrote. "In terms of the latter 2 categories, we have treated one very ill Cocker who died, euthanized one Husky who was deathly ill with a creatinine of 15, and treated about 6 cats who were severely affected, 2 of whom died (euthanized when treatment failed), one of whom went home with normal kidney values and is doing great, and 3 of whom are alive with severe chronic renal failure."

She added, "Of course, I'm sure we saw more cases Dec.-March before the food was recalled, that we didn't realize."

Dr. Murray took the loss of one cat particularly hard:

"He was 6 months old, a beautiful big purry healthy guy. When the recall began, his mom went over the lists with a fine-toothed comb and continued to do so throughout the recall. He became acutely ill April 10, well into the recall. She was positive she was not feeding recalled food. He was so acutely ill that when he first presented his creatinine was just above normal but it skyrocketed over the next few days, on aggressive fluid therapy. On ultrasound a few days into it, he had moderate-severe hydronephrosis with bilateral ureteral obstruction...but I couldn't see stones which seemed odd. As he was worsening rapidly, we took him to surgery to see if the obstructions could be relieved. The surgeons were mystified because his proximal ureters were dilated but they couldn't see why.

What happened to him?

"On necropsy, the pathologist found that his ureters were stuffed with the melamine-type crystals. We were horrified because he wasn't eating recalled food. I went through all the foods he was eating with his mom over and over, and narrowed it down to 2 foods I felt were the most likely culprits (other flavors of the same line of foods had been recalled, etc.). I notified the 2 companies, one of whom took 2 days to call me back despite repeated attempts. I also notified the FDA. That was April 23. One of those 2 foods was just recalled; it was one of the ones recalled due to "cross-contamination at the Menu plant. It did not contain wheat gluten. Supposedly. What a tragic little story.

"I hope people realize that this 'cross-contamination' isn't just some hypothetical possibility."

One of the most heartbreaking consequences of the poisoned pet food is something rarely mentioned in the media, or even on the blogs: the longterm health damage done to pets who recovered from their initial acute kidney failure. "I am watching young cats die or end up with 17-year-old kidneys in a 3-year-old body," she said.
Update: From Elizabeth Weise at USA Today, an article quoting both Dr. Murray AND Gina, here.

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Pet food recall: I was wrong

When I started covering the pet food recall for PetConnection.com and our nationally syndicated pet column for Universal Press, I thought that if this had happened to human food, it would have been taken more seriously.

I was wrong.

Today the government announced at least some of the chickens and hogs fed contaminated food were being procssed into the human food supply, because, as they say, the risk of the extremely low levels of melamine in their meat pose no risk to human health. But that's not what they said back in April.

From the official transcript, FDA-USDA Update on Recall of Pet Foods , April 26, 2007:

REPORTER: Could I follow up that question? The parts per billion that you found in the urine, is there an acceptable level? You told me what the level is. But how much higher is that than what’s acceptable, or is there no acceptable level?

DR. MCCHESNEY: This is Dan McChesney. I’ll try that one. Currently there’s no tolerance for any of these compounds, either melamine or cyanuric acid. So because of that we really cannot, the likelihood of this leads from very low likelihood of any problems resulting in food that contained these as Dr. Acheson said is really extremely low. However, we just don’t know when we get these mixtures together. So there is no acceptable level.

It's also not just melamine. Melamine, cyanuric acid, ammeline and ammelide are all chemical compounds identified in protein concentrates imported from China. They were found in pet foods. They were found in the urine and tissues of pets. They were found in animal feed that was given to millions of chickens and thousands of hogs, some of which have already been consumed by people. The vast majority, however, have been on hold. Although not, apparently, any longer.

South Africa banned all gluten imports from China after the deaths of pets there from contaminated pet food containing corn gluten adulterated with melamine. Pet food companies in this country have recalled hundreds of brands of dog and cat food because of this contamination. Some of those companies may never recover from the financial blow.

So when you read the USDA/FDA press today that says "Scientists Conclude Very Low Risk to Humans from Food Containing Melamine: USDA Releases Some Swine and Poultry for Processing," at least be comforted to know that pet food companies care about your pets more than human food processors - and the government - care about you and your children.

Pet food recall: Sunday night news and open thread

• If you have a sick pet or a question on your pet’s health, call your veterinarian.


• If you’re new to the site, please check out our general information page (includes information on recalled foods).


• If you want to report a sick or deceased pet, click here.

Welcome to PetConnection.com's Sunday night news and open thread. Gina is still purring with her new kitten, and I'm laughing at this new t-shirt from the folks at Pets Need a Voice Too. I may need to buy two or three of these.

You can purchase the shirt, seen in the photo, here. We don't benefit in any way from the sale of these shirts, other than to be vastly amused by them.

More news: Therese, the intrepid pet food detective at PetSitUSA.com and ThePetFoodList.com, and I have both worked for several years for Jeff Barringer over at PetHobbyist.com. Jeff is a great guy, with two beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback rescue dogs, Sasha and Gus, who are the loves of his life. He also has two tortoises and an African grey parrot named Bob. Jeff has been wonderful at letting Therese and me take time away from our jobs to focus on the pet food recall story, and he's offered the website's chat program for us to use to have a special "power bloggers" panel discussion on the pet food recall.

Every since the recalls began, there has been a group of bloggers who knew the story was bigger than most people thought at first. We began compiling data, comparing information, collecting personal stories, and digging for facts. Since then, there have been dozens of additional recalls, threats to the human health supply, a re-evaluation of international food safety standards, and a rising wave of frightened and angry pet owners.

This coming Tuesday evening, May 8, at 10 PM Eastern Time, PetHobbyist.com invites you to join us for a panel discussion on the recall with:

Gina Spadafori and Christie Keith of PetConnection.com

Ben Huh of Itchmo.com

Therese Kopiwoda of PetSitUSA.com and ThePetFoodList.com

Kim Duke of PetFoodTracker

To receive a free email reminder of the special chat, sign up here. For complete instructions on how to attend the chat, go here. It's free, you don't need to register or download anything, but you do need to make sure your browser is Java-enabled. And yes, please cross post and help spread the word.

Gina finally got the blood and skull fragments and gray matter out of the blog, so let's try to play nice. Think soothing thoughts of her new kitten Clara, who is purring on Gina's shoulder as she tries to finish up her book deadline. GO GINA!

Update: Interesting article dated tomorrow from the Washington Post, which apparently lives in the future, all about the chemical and scientific aspects of melamine, cyanuric acid, ammeline and ammelide - the last three being called in FDA media briefings "melamine-related compounds," perhaps so as to diminish the perception that there are four toxins present in pet food:

Scientists seeking the chemical culprits in the widening pet food scare have come across some unusual chemistry that may help them understand how two largely nontoxic compounds ended up killing an unknown number of cats and dogs.

At the end of March, investigators detected a man-made compound called melamine in wheat gluten produced in China and sold to U.S. manufacturers as a pet food thickener. The contaminated samples contained various amounts -- from 0.2 percent to 8 percent -- of the chemical.

Melamine has been used for decades in manufacturing. In its chainlike "polymerized" form, it is used to make dishes, flame-retardant fibers and industrial coatings.

Also found in the gluten in smaller concentrations was cyanuric acid. The man-made chemical is used to stabilize chlorine in outdoor swimming pools, especially in regions such as the American Southwest where the sun's rays are quick to dissipate that disinfectant. Two other compounds, ammeline and ammelide, were present in even smaller amounts.

The four compounds have similar chemical structures. One can easily be made into another with the right chemical reaction. All contain relatively large amounts of the element nitrogen. Of the 15 atoms in a molecule of melamine, six are nitrogen. It also has three atoms of carbon and six of hydrogen. Ammeline has five nitrogen atoms, ammelide has four, and cyanuric acid has three.

Full article, in all its science-wonky glory, here.

Update 2: This one from Gina via email. It's an editorial by David McNaughton in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that really gets the big picture of this story, about why it's not about pet food or human food, it's about food. And guess what? "Thousands of pets" have died, not sixteen! Imagine! After stating that "the globe is our grocer," it says that the globalization of the food supply, while it has benefits, also means Americans are at risk from adulterated and dangerous imported products.

That lack of reach has been made all too obvious by the contamination of pet food ingredients imported from China. The presence of melamine, an industrial chemical used by unscrupulous Chinese suppliers to raise the apparent protein level in processed food ingredients, was detected only after thousands of pets in the United States became ill or died after eating tainted pet food.

The contaminant also made it into our human food supply when scraps from pet food production were fed to hogs and chickens in the U.S.

McNaughton isn't any more optimistic than I am that David Acheson's appointment as "food safety czar" is going to make that situation better any time soon - or ever:

In response, the Food and Drug Administration has created a new position of "assistant commissioner for food protection," or "food czar" as the post was dubbed by the media. Unfortunately, the appointment of a czar falls well short of what's needed, which is an outright revolution in how we safeguard the food supply.

He went on to outline just why that matters, and how dire the situation truly is.

Certainly, the FDA cannot protect every American from food-borne illness or death. But when you consider that more Americans die each year from what they eat than were killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, surely it has room to improve.

In fact, right after those attacks, federal officials initially did demonstrate a sense of urgency about possible "agro-terrorism." "I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply, because it is so easy to do," Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson observed in 2004 as he left office.

Since then, however, time has dulled the appetite for vigilance; the FDA still inspects only a tiny fraction of incoming agriculture products.

What should we do about it: He has a suggestion:

The FDA can't enforce American standards on foreign producers. But the United States can and should use its leverage as a major buyer of goods to insist that foreign governments do a better job of screening edible goods before they are exported.

Or, as Acheson suggested in yesterday's Baltimore Sun article, we could do some more research and not, you know, actually do anything.

Stuff we missed? Email us or post here! You know me, I never sleep.

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My head exploded over on Pet Connection!

Do you like it when my head explodes and I get all ranty? I usually do that here, but Gina's asleep so I did it on Pet Connection. Check it out. Pet food recall, FDA, bad journalism... all my favorite topics.