biscuit

Yeesh.

shallhb

Yeesh is right. What is going on?!!!

__________________
Sharon Hall

Grace (puppy in training)
Bella, UD, VER, TD, RE, CGC
Pearl,UD, TDX, RE, CGC (Waiting at the Bridge)
Samantha, Theodore, CGC, Louella, Zeke and Arty, Bassets All; (All Waiting at the Bridge)

biscuit

$$$$$$$.

The higher the protein content, the more they get for the product. Melamine ups protein content.

Welcome to globalization and the 3,000 mile Caesar salad.

murraysmom

I saw this article last week and wasn't going to post it here, but under the circumstances:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265846,00.html

Pet Food Crisis Highlights Chinese Food Safety Woes

Quote from article:

SHANGHAI, China — The list of Chinese food exports rejected at American ports reads like a chef's nightmare: pesticide-laden pea pods, drug-laced catfish, filthy plums and crawfish contaminated with salmonella.

Yet, it took a much more obscure item, contaminated wheat gluten, to focus U.S. public attention on a very real and frightening fact: China's chronic food safety woes are now an international concern.

In recent weeks, scores of cats and dogs in America have died of kidney failure blamed on eating pet food containing gluten from China that was tainted with melamine, a chemical used in plastics, fertilizers and flame retardants. While humans aren't believed at risk, the incident has sharpened concerns over China's food exports and the limited ability of U.S. inspectors to catch problem shipments.

monty's mom

Luckily my dog never liked vet's choice so i stopped buying it.

murraysmom

Biscuit- I just found this article which explains exactly what you are saying about melamine being added intentionally to up the protein content:

Link: FDA: Pet Food Tainting Might Be Intentional

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18210224/

Quotes:

WASHINGTON - Imported ingredients used in recalled pet food may have been intentionally spiked with an industrial chemical to boost their apparent protein content, federal officials said Thursday.

Chinese authorities have told the FDA that the wheat gluten was an industrial product not meant for pet food, Sundlof said. Still, melamine can skew test results to make a product appear more protein-rich than it really is, he added. That raises the possibility the contamination was deliberate.

Wilbur-Ellis Co., the U.S. importer of the tainted rice protein, said Thursday it was recalling all the ingredient it had distributed to five U.S. pet food manufacturers. The San Francisco company in turn urged its customers to recall any products that may be on store shelves.

The FDA and Agriculture Department also were investigating whether some pet food made by one of the five companies supplied by Wilbur-Ellis was diverted for use as hog feed after it was found unsuitable for pet consumption.

"We understand it did make it into some hog feed and we are following up on that as well," Sundlof said.



So, if it turns out it got into hog fee, it's in the human food chain too. What a nightmare.

biscuit

Well, I read something a couple of weeks ago - and I wish I could find the link - which explained that melamine is made from urea and something else, and urea is used as a cheap protein replacement in some cattle feeds.

Here's a link to an article about feeding urea to cattle.

The problem is, the cattle get sick from it. Not all the time, but enough. Even the article in the link notes that:

biscuit

Ooops. Hit reply by accident.

So the problem is, some of the cattle get sick from the urea. Even the article linked in the post above notes this:

You would think that the manufacturers would be aware that, if urea has these kinds of risks, that melamine would, as well. Unfortunately, that no longer seems to be the case. Or they simply don't care. Or ?.