During an ongoing media teleconference call, USDA/FDA officials have revealed that melamine-tainted “protein concentrate,” imported from China, contaminated fish meal manufactured in Canada. The tainted fish meal was then distributed to an unknown number of fish farms in the US and Canada.
Other revelations:
- 50,000 swine have been quarantined in Illinois due to suspect feed.
- The tainted “wheat gluten” and “rice protein concentrate” at the center of the pet food recall, was actually misrepresented as such. Further tests have determined that it is wheat flour, adulterated with melamine.
UPDATE:
FDA refuses to reveal how many fish farms and in which states. But you can be pretty damn sure that NW farmed salmon is likely on the list.
UPDATE, UPDATE:
I just have to say that this is STUNNING. Two months after first determining a problem with “wheat gluten flour” they only now determine it was really plain old wheat FLOUR? Anybody who has ever baked bread would have been able to tell the difference… the two products have different color and texture. Mix in a little water and rub it between your fingers, and you can tell the difference with your eyes closed.
UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE:
The image to the right is an actual photo of an actual melamine-tainted sack of “wheat gluten” imported by ChemNutra. As the FDA made clear today, the bag is labeled “Wheat Gluten”, but the contents were actually wheat flour adulterated with melamine to spike the nitrogen content. Wheat flour might typically contain 14-percent protein by weight. Wheat gluten (or more appropriately, “vital wheat gluten flour”) contains a minimum of 75-percent protein by weight. This helps explain the surprisingly high levels of melamine found in some samples.
UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE:
More pet food recalls coming….
Can anyone explain to me why we import wheat products from China? Don’t we export wheat to the rest of the world?
I guess if it smells like fish, don’t eat it!
Milo:
Well, it makes as much sense as seeing apples imported from Chile being in our supermarkets and fruit stands here in Wash.
Why isn’t this a big story? Why are we not up in arms? Why is the goverment downplaying the significance of the tainted food that we fucking eat?
The answer is very simple. There are no votes to be had by rallying the country around wheat flour and wheat gluten. They can’t invade China. They can’t call us to arms and focus our anger in order to insure that Republicans remain in power.
Instead they feed us a story about a terrorist cell planning an attack on Fort Dix. They named hero is store clerk who was asked to transfer a video tape to DVD. That might translate to ratings points for the President.
Call me cynical. Call me negative.
But be sure to call me
rightcorrect.Also, pulling the tainted animals off the market would negatively affect the parties bottom line. Their contributors will lose billions of dollars in potential profit. So if a few Americans get sick, now or down the road, that is considered to be an acceptable risk.
Kanye West had it partly right. To paraphrase “Republicans hate Americans”.
I hope Roger is an organic eating rabbit.
Puddy @ 2:
There are only two things in this world that smell like fish. One of them is fish.
I can’t wait to get Duke Moscrip’s email advertising blurb. The fish-farm industry got on his ass when he wrote about how yukky farmed salmon would look if they didn’t put coloring in the feed. Let’s see them try to rationalize this!
Bush, intoxicated from his brush with royalty, says to America: “Let them eat melamine.” (Of course, he would mangle a three-syllable word like melamine.)
Puddybud Who Left the Slappaho Reservation says:
“I guess if it smells like fish, don’t eat it!”
I like my fish raw and wrapped in seaweed.
Kanye West had it partly right. To paraphrase “Republicans hate Americans”.
Actually, it should be “Republicans don’t like American people.”
Impeach, prosecute, imprison. Otherwise, they’ll never stop.
Why don’t we ban imports from China? It’s not like they are our best friend! This is just one more reason why our farming and local businesses are folding. Cheap labor and products come at a cost!
We don’t ban food imports from China because the goverment[not just GW][who I didn’t vote for & don’t like !] have encouraged all of the major US companies to build plants there. The Chinese are our favored trade partners. We all know who has more sway than the american people & that is big business ! Even S Korea has banned Chinese imports!Since when are we behind Thailand & S Africa in safety?It is the same as the pet food fiasco ! We know 2 other major pet food co’s got tainted gluten/protein. The FDA has the power to name them & force recalls [since 1906] but will not ! I think they are trying to thin out the babuyboomers so ss won’t go bankrupt!
You’re looking at a page from Global Genocide 101 a la “Son of IG Farben” (BASF) and the country of CHINA, whose Department of Health actually has a Department OF EUGENICS, that’s what I uncovered and reported back when I was there in 1991… not only do “they” have it down regarding decimating the North American Population, we’re goddamn PAYING FOR THEIR TAINTED PRODUCTS. And they get to do this courtesy an effort to make them MFN back when old man Bush was in power. None of this is an accident!
The FDA was NEVER PUT IN PLACE TO PROTECT WE THE PEOPLE, it is in place to protect the Merck’s of the world who would continue to experiment on way to cut our numbers.
Why are we ever made to listen to them as if they have the unwashed masses’ best interests at heart? How many times do we need to be shown with stacks of dead US bodies over the last century, that JUST isn’t so… how many times must this happen before we PUT OUT THE EYE OF THE BULLY.
@6 I live on naturally grown, organically fertilized, public park grass.
According to a King 5 News report this evening, the melamine-tainted fish feed made it into Canadian fish farms and Washington state fish hatcheries. An unknown number of hatchery fish raised on contaminated feed have been released into the wild and presumably will be caught by sport and commercial fishermen.
Those chinese who killed around 50,000 dogs in a town of theirs just because there were three cases of Rabies going on in there. Barbarians.
Hmm, I am a Canadian who had salmon last week and have suffered consistent abdominal cramps since specifically related to digestion. Going to check with the doc, but if this is caused by tainted gluten I will be going on a rampage.
If farmed fish isn’t safe to eat, you could always eat wild fish. You could even catch it yourself. Too bad the wild fish is scarce, polluted and increasingly unsafe to eat.
NEAL says:
“Well, it makes as much sense as seeing apples imported from Chile being in our supermarkets and fruit stands here in Wash.”
NEAL,
Not quite the same. Apples are perishable, and they have a season. When the new crop from Chile or New Zealand hits the shelves, that means the old crop from Washington is almost six months old.
I’ll take the fresh stuff from halfway around the world, thanks.
Wheat gluten is a labor-intensive product that is derived from wheat and ends up having more protein than plain wheat flour. With all of the “added value,” it is more costly than plain wheat. So what a deal–take plain wheat flour and add a waste product that increases the protein (assuming anyone tests to verify). I read today that China hasn’t even informed Hong Kong and possibly, some of its provinces, about the tainted wheat gluten. A NY Times article said it was common knowledge in China that melamine was added to wheat gluten. Even more profitable is to add it to plain wheat flour and sell it to suckers who don’t check what is coming into their food supply and can’t even tell the difference between the two.
Fresh stuff from halfway around the world may not be that fresh, and may have pesticide residues you don’t want in your body. Polluted soils, air, and water do not healthy produce make. Apples are one fruit you want to buy organic, and buy from a source you trust to verify that they are truly organic–and not just stamped so by an importer whose first concern may be profit. The chain or middlemen/importers make it hard to know what is in your produce. Better to eat close to home and as seasonally as possible. Farmer’s markets are a good place to start.
My family will NOT be eating any pork or chicken for a long time. I don’t trust anything this government says, and the fact that they’re not saying anything good scares me half to death. I’m not sure about the ‘wheat flour’. Does this mean that the flour has been contaminated also? I don’t really want to go through another impeachment but dear god we need to get these people out of office.
Melamine has been found in the feed at an OR fish hatchery.
The same feed was shipped to six other hatcheries in OR.
http://tinyurl.com/26gbwp
anna…for god’s sake…take a pill!
You know, does anyone remember the story from a year or two back where some Chinese General got called out, blathering about some plan that the government had going to kill off North American residents with a bio-weapon so that they could have room to expand?!?!
Brian C
No,I don’t. Can you remember more? Like where you read it?
For those who think melamine increases protein, think again. Tests for protein generally just test nitrogen content. Thus, spiking flour with a nitrogenous waste product allows you to pass off wheat flour as wheat gluten. Surprise! The manufacturer makes money and you get…whatever.
Enough crap from the fda “refusing to reveal”. So let me get this straight, U.S. provides them with a paycheck with our tax dollars and they in turn choose to withhold information from us to protect the big corporations? They deserve the sucks award for this month! It is obvious that the fda sucks and the usda sucks.
http://www.fdasucks.com
http://www.usdasucks.com
let’s face it,they have to do something to reduce the numbers of you breeding morons.Except for a few Gorillas with AK47s and Tasers to protect the Elite,you are just a useless Liability,eating up the Resources.
40 yrs. ago, when when something was out of season, we ate what was IN season. Why do we need fresh??? strawberries/blueberrys,apples, etc. 24/7/52 when they aren’t in season here in the states? (it’s what made, watermelon, peaches etc) SPECIAL..they were only around for a short time. And then we moved on to some other food that was readily available, and IN season. AND, our OWN farmers & our own WORKERS..(another topic) made a living doing it.
Chalo said:
Not quite the same. Apples are perishable, and they have a season.
To Bryan C:
I had to really search for this one. The article is from the Epoch Times an excellent (dissident)China news site. it is the “transcript of a speech believed to have been given by Mr. Chi Haotian, Minster of Defense and vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission”. It cannot be verified.
However, it matches the cold blooded analysis in the 1999 best seller in China “Unrestricted Warfare” by Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsiu printed by the Peoples Liberation Army publishing arm. I have read that book (originally translated by the CIA into English, obtained via Freedom of Information Act available at various conservative sites).
I have a great respect for The Epoch Times reporting. The international news articles compare well to our western press coverage. The Epoch Times is a champion for human rights, especially defending the falun gong.
In this case, the Epoch Times warns that the article is unverifiable. However, I personally take it very seriously because of my experiences with the integrity of the site. First, they are championing human rights in a credible fashion, not for ego, and at some risk. Second they print many first and second hand testimonials from witnesses to abuses. Third, they never take the low road. They are not attempting to destroy China, but to help Chinese people.
There is an obvious love and respect for the nation itself.
Here is the link.
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/5-8-8/31055.html
BTW I do not think Bush is a dunce. I do not think he is drunk with power, a despot or working to enslave us. However I think he should be impeached for one and only one reason. He took an oath to uphold the laws of the USA. He is intentionally ignoring the laws controlling the border for the purpose of encouraging illegal flow. He is not alone in this.
A majority of Congress, both parties, are also playing this game. The immigration laws stand because the politicians know the citizens would not approve of open borders. So the politicans have decided to simply ignore this huge body of law for many different reasons. We can only guess. Some do it because they believe in open borders, and the one world concept. I assume Bush does it because he thinks it pumps the economy and he balances it against cost of the giant welfare system that he also approves of. It does pump the economy in the short run. Transitioning to a plantation economy of business ‘masters’, Mexican ‘serfs’ unemployed ‘cracker’ citizens has fueled the construction boom for instance. It is being paid for by spending the capital of previous generations, increasing the national debt, and sustaining the drop in buying power by purchasing hard goods, processed items at lower prices from China.
Eventually, we will owe China too much to buy any more Christmas lights made in slave labor camps. Our middle class will collapse due to unemployment, and rising cost of living, and the new illegals will eventually through their anchor babies form a hostile, anti american voting block with first loyalties to Mexico.
You cannot impeach a President for being dumb. If Congress wants to impeach Bush for the war, which I support, than they must have the votes to do it, and they do not. But you should impeach a President for preventing his agencies from enforcing an entire body of law and defending our borders – these are direct violations of oath.
That Congress will not impeach Bush for these violations of oath has impeached the integrity of this Congress. They are a crooked as Bush and our pets are eating poisoned pet food as a direct result.
Get your facts straight… There is only ONE U.S. Salmon Farm called American Gold Seafoods and they did not use the feed containing contaminated material…Read the Press release.. However the wild fish hatcheries did :) yep WILD!!!! fish hatcheries WTF… so Alaska, Oregon, and Washington WILD fish hatcheries have already released the fish that ate the feed into open waters …Yes, Open season on wild Salmon starts soon… Did you know it’s illegal to farm salmon in Alaska!!! Should we tell the Government that? Next time you see an idiot complaining about farmed salmon ask them where the wild ones grow LOL..
Here is a video link YOUTUBE of an Alaskan “wild” hatchery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDUYFg-lNiI
I would like for someone to look into the tainted food products (wheat gluten, rice protein, etc) getting into the human food chain via processed foods. Cereals, rice milk, soy milk, tofu, … As you can probably guess from this list, the direct consumption of the tainted products may have damaging effects on those people who consume a lot of the product — i.e. vegetarians. The USDA keeps focusing on the metabolism through poultry or swine, but they have ignored the potential impact of non-meat vectors. It would be great if a public health epidemiologist would look at the vegetarian population and incidences of kidney troubles. The vegetarians might be the “canary” in the melamine cyuranic acid coal mine. I have not seen any media make this connection yet.
Because they are Walmart’s favorite supplier. Walmart won’t let that happen.
In Canada the American produce sellers were complaining because our laws re:pesticides on produce were lower than the US limits. The solution. Allow imported produce to have more pesticides than domestic.
Not melamine, but just as deadly. Corporations appear to get what they want regardless of harm to humans.
My solution:eat domestic. At least it has some checking on it from your own country and if something goes wrong at least a commission will be held. Feel good stuff but at least something.
You do not have to depend on lax laws from some other country to protect you.
Oh get off the presidents dick already! I dont like him all that much either but he cant be expected to micro manage every aspect of our lives. Gees I honestly doubt its his responsibility to oversee a companies purchasing practices; which is what this boils down to. Simple solution to the problem. Boycotte companies that import/outsource to/from china! Your all the retards who buy the crap then bitch about it when something goes wrong! Next thing you know youll all be blaming him for the west nile virus too.
“Oh get off the presidents dick already! I dont like him all that much either but he cant be expected to micro manage every aspect of our lives. Gees I honestly doubt its his responsibility to oversee a companies purchasing practices;”
How the FDA behaves seems to be directly related to what party is in power. Aspartame (Nutrisweet) was banned by the FDA for 16 years til Reagan was in office for about 2 weeks. It’s maker, Searle Pharmacutical, and it’s CEO, Donald Rumsfeld were probably very happy. I wasn’t.
So it Is Bush’s job to have an FDA that dosn’t kill us, dude,
God, Guts and Guns…
They have been trying to Poison us and are succeeding..
There is going to be a Civil War in this Country…
Start raising fish if you can…
A simple solution ban and destroy all food from china. And any other place that uses this practice.
Just a thought, but I wonder if the melamine will remain in the farmed fishes environment (via droppings) therefore tainting future fish raised there?
INFOWARS.COM
PRISONPLANET.COM
JONESREPORT.COM
911PRESSFORTRUTH.COM
911WEKNOW.COM
Millions of Alaska’s ‘wild’ salmon – the fishery is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) – have, it turns out, now also been fed with melamine-tainted fish feed. Little did SeafoodIntelligence.com know this when they made such possibility the title of their editorial comment last Friday; but it’s exactly what happened, according to AK media reports this weekend. Friday, SeafoodIntelligence was pointing out how the difference between ‘wild’ and ‘farmed’ fish fades away when considering that about a third of Alaska’s salmon fisheries are stocked with juveniles raised in captivity, and thus fed with the same feed as ‘conventional’ farmed salmon.
Indeed, in the eye of the current melamine crisis, the issue is very much a shared one. It also proves to show how fragile and counter-productive the ‘wild’-versus-‘farmed’ war of words can be, when one digs deeper. Alaska of all places doesn’t like to think of its salmon as being farmed ones (re. the moratorium on fish farms; opposition to offshore aquaculture).
Sometimes the truth is not so straight forward, as some would like to have others believe… Many wild salmon stocks contain more PCBs than some farmed salmon ones (but – like always – one can’t generalise; and the reverse also applies). This is true for some Pacific Northwest stocks but also in the Atlantic. In the Baltic, wild salmon is considered unfit for consumption under European Union standards(though there are some exemption for Finnish consumers)…
In this melamine case (unfolding…), luckily, food safety concerns can be easily repelled for both ‘wild’ and ‘farmed’ salmon as the doses of melamine in fish – in the worst potential case – remain well below (2,500 times…) the ‘risk’ threshold.
Nonetheless, the Alaskan fishery authorities have refused to name which of the 34 state hatcheries have used the contaminated feed (in particular for pinks and chums). Furthermore, a hatchery manager has acknowledged having used the feed, and will still continue to do so ‘a bit’, as they are due for release in days and there is no time to obtain replacement feed…
I just ate an OLD EL PASO soft tortilla. On the back of the package it says “…TRADEMARK OF PET INC….PREPARED FOR GENERAL MILLS CANADA…PRODUCT OF THE U.S.A.”…nobody gives a flying —-.even if it looks like chinese terror and could be, the responsibility rests with the companies who buy this flour, and finally us dufuses who buy all thier crap. !!!
Jimbo 92107 has quoted Kanye West. This racist, Kanye gets little respect from thinking people, white or black.
Witness the lunatic ravings of the rapper in his rant during a fundraiser for hurricane victims. Kanye says “We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way — and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us!