It ' s good enough for your t-shirt, but not for your pet ' s food -- or yours

With a reminder that country of origin labeling is required on clothes, but not on the food you eat or feed to your pets, some thoughts from John E. Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders:

Back in early March, it was first revealed that pet food across the United States contained Chinese wheat and rice gluten laced with melamine. Many expected the Bush White House to take swift action, recalling the deadly products and tracking down the source of the contamination for prosecution.



Instead, the Food and Drug Administration deferred to industry and its dubious self-policing capacity.



The upshot was the death nationwide of thousands of dogs and cats, and the dumping of recalled pet food into livestock rations destined for human mouths.



By late April, federal officials were doing a second round of damage control, contacting pork and poultry producers in nine states about melamine-tainted feedstocks and culling suspected animals.



Unfortunately, some livestock could not be recalled, since they were already on their way to market and people's plates. Not to worry, says the FDA, there is no scientific evidence that eating melamine is bad for humans, so no grocery recall is necessary.



Consumers have now unwittingly joined their pets as subjects in a massive food safety experiment.

After reviewing other food safety problems, including the widespread use of imported milk protein concentrate in American processed foods -- an ingredient he says is imported for industrial use -- and contaminated seafood, he says:

Country of Origin Labeling, which was mandated in the last farm bill but has only been applied to seafood, should be fully implemented for ALL imported food immediately.



People may not eat T-shirts, yet one can read right on the tag where it came from.



Without country of origin labeling, consumers and farmers don't even have the choice to avoid products from those countries that have proven to be dangerous "free trade" partners.



Something as essential as food deserves at least as much truth in labeling as clothing, and certainly more serious government regulation -- not less.

Full commentary here.

Comments

[Elaine]

These 2 comments from another thread need more scrutiny. Yes, the CFIA DID find an amino acid contaminated with cyanuric acid, and WHY was this not noted by our FDA and more alerts posted?



On June 5th an AMINO Acid imported from China tested positive for cyanuric acid?



Comment by Krista — June 28, 2007 @ 6:50 am



"I just found this on the Canadian government Food Inspection Agency web site"



www.inspection.gc.ca/en.....proe.shtml

Comment by Bill — June 27, 2007 @ 7:46 am

[Bill]

Here's a story from the Associated Press in todays Toronto Globe & Mail



China says safety of exports 'guaranteed'

NY Times Says US Hospitals Get Tainted Toothpaste from China



AUDRA ANG

Associated Press

June 28, 2007 at 2:46 AM EDT

BEIJING — A government spokesman guaranteed the safety of Chinese exports on Thursday in a rare direct commentary on rising international fears over Chinese products.

Wang Xinpei, a spokesman for the Commerce Ministry, said China “has paid great attention” to the issue, especially food products because it concerns people's health.

“It can be said that the quality of China's exports all are guaranteed,” Mr. Wang told reporters at a regularly scheduled briefing.

The statement was among Beijing's most public assertions of the safety of its exports since they came under scrutiny earlier this year with the deaths of dog and cats in North America blamed on Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine.

Since then, U.S. authorities have turned away or recalled toxic fish, juice containing unsafe colour additives and popular toy trains decorated with lead paint.

Chinese-made toothpaste also has been banned by numerous countries in North and South America and Asia for containing diethylene glycol, or DEG, a chemical often found in antifreeze. It is also a low-cost — and sometimes deadly — substitute for glycerin, a sweetener in many drugs.

On Wednesday, three Japanese importers recalled millions of Chinese-made travel toothpaste sets, many sold to inns and hotels, after they were found to contain as much as 6.2 per cent of diethylene glycol.

Mr. Wang said Chinese experts have already “explained the situation.”

He gave no details, although the country's quality watchdog has in past cited tests from 2000 that it said showed toothpaste containing less than 15.6 per cent diethylene glycol was harmless to humans.

The New York Times reported early Thursday that about 900,000 tubes of tainted Chinese toothpaste have been distributed in the United States, showing up in correctional facilities and some hospitals.

Officials in Georgia and North Carolina told the Times there had been no illnesses reported, and that the toothpaste in question was being replaced with brands not manufactured in China.

Earlier this month, a spokesman for North Carolina's Department of Correction said Pacific brand toothpaste was distributed to prisoners who could not afford to buy a name brand at prison stores. The tubes were taken away after trace amounts of DEG was found in them.

Also Thursday, state media said Beijing police raided a village where live pigs were force-fed wastewater to boost their weight before slaughter, underscoring the country's chronic food safety problems.

Plastic pipes had been forced down the pigs' throats and villagers had pumped each 220-pound pig with 44 pounds of wastewater, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

Paperwork showed the pigs were headed for one of Beijing's main slaughterhouses and stamps on their ears indicated that they already had been through quarantine and inspection, the paper said. Suspects escaped during Wednesday's raid and no arrests were made, it said.

The case underscored China's chaotic food safety situation, where manufacturers and distributors often use unapproved additives, falsify expiration dates or find other methods of cutting corners to eke out small profits.

[Elaine]

An alert from the American Corn Growers:



“Title 1, Section 123 of the 2007 Farm Bill prohibits states and localities from enacting laws relating to livestock, poultry or genetically engineered crops after they have been inspected and/or approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).”



www.acga.org/News/2007/062807a.html



USDA wants to feed us GMO crops whether we like it or not!

[Nancy Nielsen]

Yes, I check the labels on my clothing and make choices based on the country - or countries - of origin. I check my rugs and my pillows and so forth and try to use my purchasing power wisely. I'd like to do the same with my food. Here in Maine I have a choice in the produce department where all the fruits and vegetables are labeled, and at the fish counter - but other than trying to interpret labels, the rest of the food is a grab bag. I trust some things more than others, some countries more than others, avoid some things like poison. Well, some things are poison.



As for the country of origin labeling, it seems like a long shot, with the lobbyists in the driver's seat. But I can and do talk with local management and explain that I am purchasing only foods that I can identify and feel confident about. I can and do write to the management of the chain stores and tell them the same thing. In my experience, one customer means a lot more to a store manager than to a food conglomerate, so it's the only place that I can imagine my opinion mattering. And buying locally as much as possible is still the surest way to go.

[Elaine]

www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56416

[Trudy Jackson]

I really do want, and need ,a simple ,less hectic lifestyle. I really do.

[Linda]

Last week I started brushing my teeth with salt and baking soda - and that's what I'm using from now on. I don't trust anything much anymore.

[Trudy Jackson]

I am cooking for the pets, so I guess i can try it. Sounds good your way. come on over!

[Trudy Jackson]

I hate grocery shopping. And I come home with nothing. just don't trust it. I'm so hungry for a snack, but no way.

[Elaine]

I have a new house, no yard yet, can't have a garden until the yard is done, so this year I planted a "garden" in big planters. I have 2 tomato plants, some green peppers, cukes, and yellow summer squash. If I need to move them to accomodate the husband with his dozer, I can!



Even someone living in an apartment with a deck could do this. I chose these vegetables because they produce a lot on one plant. Row veggies like carrots and radishes and beans don't do well in pots.

[straybaby]

Comment by Trudy Jackson — June 28, 2007 @ 10:45 am



try this link for some simple healthy recipes:



http://whfoods.org/cookhealthy.php



and this one:



http://www.harvesteating.com/



I'm having fun trying new recipes and also storing fresh foods for winter :) i woke up smelling strawberries this A.M. Think it was stuck in my brain from all the prepping I did last night :) I found a couple places to get dayboat seafood along with local fruit harvest aside from the farmers market, so my freezer is filling up nicely and my cooking skills are expanding even more (was always happy in the kitchen!) feel like i've broken out of my repetitive cooking rut, finally! And the homemade ice cream is a super plus!! *grin*

[straybaby]

Comment by Elaine — June 28, 2007 @ 11:02 am



I'll be at the farmer's market in the A.M. picking up some plants for my kitchen garden, mostly herbs, but they do have container tomatoes that don't need to be replanted :)

[Linda]

Trudy,



Life has improved for me though in some areas. The homemade ice cream and frozed yogurt is better than store bought and it's fun to make too!



Now snacks are another thing. I usually make biscuits and honey - that works!

[Trudy Jackson]

I guess I'll have to cook.

[Bee]

FDA Dr. on CNN in the next few moments...it's 3:17 EST here now...regarding the seafood being turned away from China right now....

[Elaine]

I spend more time during grocery shopping reading labels, then putting it back on the shelf!



I do buy fresh produce, melons, strawberries from U.S. sources only, and that is a good snack, however, a good chocolate candy bar with nuts was always good, but now with the Hershey company moving to Mexico and producing Salmonella Kisses, I can't trust that! (Maybe I will drop a few lbs. LOL)

[Carol]

I believe NBC Nightly News is doing a segment on food safety tonight.

[Linda]

Elaine - good articles:



And this one - so true:IBM Survey Reveals Eroding Consumer Confidence in Packaged Goods Brands.



I buy nothing prepackaged except rice made in CA and dry beans, of course, and other basics. My flour is from a small midwestern company that I trust. I eat no fast food whatsoever and nothing mixed and put into packages.



If more of us stop buying their junk, things will change - or at least that's the hope.

[Elaine]

Some more informative articles



www.ellinghuysen.com:80/news/articles/53357.shtml

[Elaine]

www.ellinghuysen.com:80/news/articles/53338.shtml

[Linda]

Walking dogs is a great stress reliever and sometimes just sitting outside under the night sky with the dog(s) by my chair is very relaxing and all seem to enjoy it.

[Elaine]

I think we all know that it wasn't JUST melamine that killed the pets, and the FDA doesn't want to let us know what it was.



Surely some vets have posted some of the pets that died to discover the toxins that killed it. Why isn't this info available?

[Linda]

Elaine, you are so right about the container garden. As I planted my tomato plants in containers along my driveway - a place where the dogs can't tromp over them or eat them green. My yard is too shady for a garden but the driveway is nothing but sun!

[Linda]

Well, that's funny, ha! ha! there's got to be a way to cook that makes it fun.....well at least there's joy in not being poisoned.

[Linda]

Trudy,



I'm rediscovering the joys of living a simple less hectic lifestyle these days. Even planted my own tomatoe plants this year. Cooking can be fun - a cood DVD, a glass of wine......and it usually tastes bettr than store bought too!

[Trudy Jackson]

Thanks Starbaby, i'll try them. I hate fish, but the rest looks good.

[Katie]

I noticed while grocery shopping today; Foster Farms chicken pkgs are now labeled - California chicken fed by their own farmers. All the peaches, nectarines and grapes were labeled product of the USA and grown in Calif. New organic products on the shelf.



There was not a soul in the pet food aisle.



I overheard two ladies looking at silicone colanders: they noticed from China...remarking to one another about all the recalls and wondering if the food would be safe or would it pick up the silicone. They put the product back!



These are small steps, but I think change maybe coming.



Linda,



It is amazing how comforting life can be without all the "stuff".



Katie

[Linda]

So true Katie - so very true.

[Elaine]

A story about pigs entering the U.S. from Canada that were ill with 2 different virusus, the virus is not considered harmful to humans, so they SLAUGHTERED them while they were still SICK, and they entered OUR FOOD SUPPLY!



What are they THINKING?



Oh, I know! They are thinking "these pigs are owned by big agribusiness, and we don't want to impact THEIR bottom line, or we are in deep pig doo doo!"



www.ellinghuysen.com:80/news/articles/53442.shtml

[straybaby]

Comment by shallah — June 28, 2007 @ 11:24 pm



when buying seeds you need to make sure they aren't gmo. i saw a list somewhere very recently. i'll see if i can find it . . . i'm pretty sure i saved it for my mom.

[Barb]

FDA Curbs Sale Of Seafood From China



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/business/worldbusiness/29fish.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[shallah]

For those looking for locally grown food http://localharvest.org lists many coop farms, farm stands, and stores that buy locally.



also Revive the Victory Garden has a page with tips on container gardening including a link to a seed company that specializes in plants that do well in containers. Link:

http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/containers.html

[Lew Orban]

We are now getting new stories about all kinds of contamination because we are now looking for it. This contamination has gone on for years in all imported processed foods. It now appears that it has entered all of our meat and livestock supplies and we are all being fed these bi products the FDA is calling safe food. Clearly the winners are the government... via commerce taxes and the manufacturing capitalist profits here and afar far away in China. Let us not forget the medical community that reaps billions on sickness and cancers.... The losers are the people, animals, livestock subjected to contaminated products and the the victims are all of us. and our children. What a shame that there will be no changes....oh will find some of the contamination but 98% will make it through and it will eventually make you and your animals very sick. An event today might not surface for twenty of more years in some cases as the immune systems attempt to deal with the damages. I hear all the time about gastric problems Oh I ate there and I got sick or I don't feel good today or I have to get antibiotics etc. and on and on and on. We live a new fast paced gimiie what I want now world and we bought into it and they allowed all this to go on behind your backs when you were working your two jobs and sleeping. It does pay to pay attention to the politics and business practices around you. As your jobs leave the country you are now poisoned by the people that took your livelihood. Who has been watching the shop.......not the FDA or government for the people and by the people.. that's for sure!

Obewan

[shallah]

If you are concerned about Genetically Modified food like I am look for seeds that are certified organic which forbids GMOs and heirloom/heritage seeds and seedlings. There are many companies out there focusing on this and on preserving rare types of vegetables like Seed Savers Exchange. For example the Victory Garden website links to a few of them: http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/seeds.html



re: diseased pigs - unfortunatly the more I read the more I find out this has gone on for years and not just with diseases not communicable to humans. If you can stomach it read this page on the NoDowners site:

http://www.nodowners.org/usda.htm

[Schnauzer]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19508453/