Melamine-tainted corn gluten, imported from China, has been confirmed in South African pet food:
Johannesburg – Tests have confirmed that Vets Choice and Royal Canin dog and cat dry pet-food products contained corn gluten contaminated with melamine, says the manufacturer.
The contaminated corn gluten was delivered to Royal Canin by a South African third-party supplier and appears to have originated from China.
Once again the rumors prove right, and FDA denials prove wrong. On Tuesday, April 17, I informed the FDA that “the word […] is that corn gluten and rice protein concentrate are being recalled” — information they firmly denied.
What we have here is a pattern, and there is absolutely no reason to assume that it is limited to the pet food and animal feed markets. Wheat gluten, corn gluten and rice protein concentrate are all used to supplement the protein content of both animal and human food, and all three have now been found to be contaminated with melamine. Three different Chinese manufactures have now apparently been implicated.
Given the facts, it is now reasonable to assume either massive, industry-wide negligence, or intentional contamination, and that all Chinese produced high-protein food additives are now suspect. Steve Pickman, a VP at MGP Ingredients, the largest U.S. producer of wheat gluten, explores the most likely theory:
“It is my understanding, but certainly unheard of in our experience, that melamine could increase the measurable nitrogen of gluten and then be mathematically converted to protein. The effect could create the appearance or illusion of raising the gluten’s protein level. Understandably, any acts or practices such as this are barred in the U.S. How the U.S. can or cannot monitor and prevent these types of situations from occurring in other parts of the world is the overriding question.”
In grading the quality of these food additives, the protein content is usually extrapolated from measured nitrogen levels. It now seems likely that unscrupulous manufacturers, in an effort to up the grade and price of their product, are intentionally spiking nitrogen levels with melamine, an industrial chemical used in China as a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer.
One would expect the FDA to test this theory by directly measuring protein levels in melamine-contaminated samples to see if they otherwise fall below grade. One would also expect the FDA to release the names of all importers, distributors and manufacturers who are suspected of handling contaminated product. But then, one would expect a lot of things from the FDA that they have thus far failed to deliver.
The truth might be a good place to start.
UPDATE:
During a conference call today, the FDA confirmed that melamine-tainted pet food was reprocessed and fed to hogs. People eat hogs. Figure it out for yourself.
I can think of a few of the two-legged variety (rover) that I’d like to nominate to be taste-testers. I’ll bet they know that it’s made it into the human food supply and that’s the reason for the delay/cover-up. And to think Clinton was damn near tossed for something that didn’t hurt me or my animals in the least. Wake up America! Nobody was killed from the little oval office romp, no wars started, no little hack jerks like brownie running the federal emergency management.Oh, I forgot about the great job he did as Judges and Stewards honcho for the horse club. Hopefully all the 08 candidates are looking at mid-level folks in other horse/dog clubs for future FEMA heads, what great on the job training for future FEMA heads. The AKC has what they call, regional AKC reps, to monitor judging at dog shows! We have a dirty little political thug (rover) making life and death decisions for all of us. For years political hacks have been given jobs, that’s what HUD’s for not the FDA and FEMA.
The two questions I have to ask are:
1) How pervasive is this practice?
2) How long has it been going on?
I guess our thanks go to the owners of the pets who got sick and died. Without them, it may have been more months (years?) before finding out.
A lot of folks who do low carb dieting( like myself)use vital wheat gluten and wheat protein isolate on a regular basis.
Without debating the merits of a low carb diet, what is the likelihood that these products are tainted like the pet food is?
Wouldn’t it be ironic to have a lowcarb dieter die from protein?
Why should we be surprised that under Bush’s FDA medicines are not safe, pet food is not safe, and human food is not safe? Brought to you by the people who spend all their time worrying about whether fetuses are safe.
It is refreshing to see a liberal Democrat saying something critical of Red China for a change.
And let’s not forget that under Bush’s FAA flying is not safe. Prior to Jan. 2001, drunk pilot incidents were almost unheard-of. Since then, such incidents have spiked, with more than 3 dozen cases reported during 2001 – 2005.
Culminating in this week’s absurd episode of police chasing a Northwest pilot who had just gotten off duty who had enough cocaine in him to fly without a plane.
Absolutely nothing works right under the administration of the hopelessly incompetent Bushies.
@5 You mean this, Richard? From preceding thread:
“Roger Rabbit says:
Republicans send American jobs to China and get poisoned dog food in exchange.
Waytago wingnut fools! You’ve fucked up everything else, so you may as well kill our dogs, too.
04/19/2007 at 1:12 pm”
Ekim,
I think it’s been going on for quite a while. I’ve had one Dobe at a time for years and have done some limited showing for the last 12 years. Many in the dog world have gone to either an all raw diet or one meal per day raw. Simply because they felt pet food was not that good. I’ve done the half and half diet for some time using the human grade kibble such as Wellness, Canidae, Innova, etc.
For some time I’ve felt there were too many cats suffering renal failure and renal problems. Now I’m beginning to think that food maybe is the reason or at least one reason. I have one cat that I took when a friend died, he was about 10 at the time and suffering from some limited renal problems, infections. Five years ago I switched him to half raw and half human grade dry and he’s had no problems.
Right now the cat and dog dry (kibble) that I am using is Canidae/Felidae. Only because their web site is one of the few who say no glutens and only American grown. Prior to this scare I had been using Wellness and all did great on it. Only switched because Canidae/Felidae’s web site info.
One important thing to remember is that while the human grade pet foods do cost more, you wind up using less food. People who feed grocery store dog food are always surpised when they hear how much less my dog eats than the ones fed the lesser quality food. Plus one trip to the vet will make-up for a lifetime difference in the cost.
If you are thinking along these lines, I would suggest finding a Mud Bay store in your area and talking to them. They carry both raw and the human grade foods and have some very good free reading materials. I only have the one dog and two cats, I buy my raw from them, rather than try to mix and grind it up myself. They now have either patties or the small bite size patties, which make it very easy to thaw and feed. The raw has the ground bone in it and you will find that the teeth stay much nicer, in fact, I have not had anybody have to have the vet do teeth since I started on raw.
Roger Rabbit @ 7
You think I am happy about that? I am pissed off about that. Of course, Bill Clinton did the same thing as Geroge W. Bush has done, but I was hoping for a change after the 2000 election. Do the Democrats have a plan, other than complaining more?
I’m shocked!
It took all of you liberals 3 whole comments before you blamed the whole thing on GWB. You’re slipping!!!
Idiots.
Legislators Say Regional Transportation Plan Is ‘Flawed’
“By Andrew Garber and Mike Lindblom
“Seattle Times staff reporters
“OLYMPIA — A $16 billion regional transportation measure headed for the November ballot has serious flaws and could fail without significant changes, several key state lawmakers say.
“The ballot measure would extend the Sound Transit light-rail system and put money toward a series of big-ticket road projects, including a new Highway 520 floating bridge and additional lanes on Highway 167 and Interstate 405.
“It would spend $9.8 billion on transit and $6.7 billion on roads over 20 years.
“Legislators worry the package is too expensive for voters … [and] doesn’t fully fund a new floating bridge or complete as much work as they think is needed on some of the region’s most-congested highways, such as Highway 167 … the money is spread too thin … to cover as many projects as possible, they say.
” … House Transportation Committee Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island [said,] ‘My big concern about the size of the ballot measure is it doesn’t do what we need to have done.’
“Seattle Democrat Ed Murray, a vice-chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, … [said] the regional ballot ‘is in serious trouble.’ Sen. Dan Swecker, ranking Republican on the same committee, said the tax package ‘is doomed to failure’ without significant changes.
“Senate Transportation Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, … agreed the ballot measure has problems, such as cost and a lack of funding for key projects.
“The state Legislature gave King, Snohomish and Pierce counties permission about five years ago to form a regional investment district to address their collective traffic problems. The district is now putting the final touches on the tax package. Approval by the district’s board and the three county councils would send the package to the ballot. …
“The counties came up with 36 projects, mainly highway lanes, but also some arterial streets, park-and-ride lots and a new Edmonds station for ferries, trains and buses.
“Under the current proposal, a typical household would pay $125 more in sales taxes toward Sound Transit and another $25 toward roads each year. In addition, car owners would pay new car-tab taxes — $68 annually for an average $8,500 vehicle — that would cover road projects. Existing Sound Transit taxes would continue.
“The $16 billion figure for the package excludes financing costs and inflation, which boost the total to more than $31 billion over a 20-year construction period, and payments on bond debt beyond that.
“It’s a high-stakes election for the region. ‘We need to be very careful in what we put forward because this is a one-time shot,’ said Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue. ‘If we miss on this one, it’s not something we’re going to be correcting next year in Olympia.’
“State lawmakers aren’t sure what will happen if the ballot measure fails. It’s possible counties would have to try to raise money for big projects on their own. Or maybe a new regional transportation organization would grow out of the ashes. Raising additional money from the state is highly unlikely, they said. …
“Clibborn said she’d like to see the … light-rail portion … scaled back and the roads portion redone so that more money goes into projects such as Highway 167 and … Highway 520. … ‘It’s perplexing to me they’d put together a ballot measure without full funding for 520,’ said Rep Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle ….”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/2xxuqz
Roger Rabbit Commentary: So now we’re told that $16.4 billion is really $31 billion — before interest. And they’re almost certainly lowballing this figure by underestimating inflation.
Face it, the Christmas-tree wish list the regional transportation authority has assembled is too ambitious and too costly. They’ve fallen back on the classic political tactic of throwing in something for everyone to get votes — creating a financial monster in the process. Looks way too much like congressional logrolling for anybody’s good.
One of the first things that should go are two new lanes for 520. This won’t reduce congestion a bit; all it will accomplish (besides driving up project costs exponentially) is encourage urban sprawl into eastern King County. Instead of having four lanes of stalled traffic, you’ll have six lanes of stalled traffic.
And is it really realistic to believe that ordinary workers earning ordinary paychecks can and will pay $10 tolls? That’s $200 a month on top of the exorbitant parking fees they already pay and all their other work expenses. If these tolls are imposed — and there’s no scenario for building the 520 bridge that doesn’t include tolls –employers can expect workers to turn down offers to work downtown unless the employers cough up more pay to defray the higher commuting expenses.
And I continue to question the projected costs of the 520 bridge. How can a concrete pontoon bridge 7,600 feet long possibly cost 5 times as much as a steel suspension bridge 5,400 feet long? The contractors are ripping us off. Someone needs to ask probing questions and tell the estimators to sharpen their pencils. The $4.4 billion figure is beyond ludicrous, it is obscene.
@9 Richard, you confuse me. I’m having trouble reconciling your professed distress with the natural results of Bush’s chicanery and incompetence with your unabashed defense of this crooked and incompetent administration. Which is it?
In a non-event, Ron Sims appointed the assistant elections director to the vacant post of elections director. Sims said the county needed someone who is already up to speed and doesn’t have time to train an outside candidate. Sherril Huff, the new elections director, has worked at KCRE for two years and previously was Kitsap County’s elected auditor for 8 years.
@ 12
She wont have any problems running for Auditor with her experience then…..
Another GOP Senator Demands Gonzo’s Resignation
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has joined the growing chorus of calls for Alberto Gonzales’ ouster, saying “The best way to put this behind us is your resignation.” And Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Ia.) demanded, “Why is your story changing?”
Gonzales’ appearance before the Senate hearing has been inspiring so far — mostly more of the same old assertions that he wasn’t directly involved in the firings and denials of intent to deceive Congress. The senators aren’t buying it; for example, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called Gonzo’s explanations “a stretch.” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) expressed skepticism over Gonzales’ claims that he couldn’t recall a meeting last November where the firings were discussed.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....les19.html
My guess is Gonzales will refuse to resign and Bush will refuse to fire him, no matter what. Blind stupid stubbornness is the trademark of this administration. My opinion is that if Gonzales doesn’t quit Congress should impeach him. Bush can’t veto that.
Another neocon thug embroiled in scandal who needs to either quit or get tossed out on his ass is Wolfowitz.
@13 Wingnuts like you will never be satisfied until a GOP crook like Blackwell or Harris is put in charge to make sure no Democrats or black soldiers are allowed to vote. Fuck you! We’re taking back this country, putting an end to GOP election-stealing, and instituting criminal investigations to put all you fascist traitors in prison camps where you belong.
6 Not to risk getting too far off topic, but the FCC, first under the General’s Brat and now with Kevin Martin, appears to have no concerns with assuring that the electromagnetic spectrum is used in the “public interest, convenience and necessity”, save for a lot of blather and posturing about “decency”. Along with a frantic rush to approve media ownership consolodation, they’ve pretty much abdicated any responsibility for restcicting technologies that might cause harm. A case in point is HD radio, which in practice in some areas appears to interfere with analog reception of all but the most powerful stations. This may well have the side effect of wiping out the remaining broadcast operations that aren’t owned by the big syndicates like Clear Channel.
If our resident wingers want to claim that’s OK, you might consider that most of the conservative “talk radio” operations are 5,000 watts or less.
When St. Helens blew in 1980, it was casued by GWB and the Repulicans. They wanted to get their hands on all that “salvage” timber on the cheap. Go check it out!!
Good article on Kos today, Goldy!
I say first off we ban all non-prepared food imports from China. Next, we terminate the current “free-trade” arrangement with China, and replace it with a Fair Trade policy that mandates: 1. An open market for US goods into China, 2. Independent sample testing of all prepared and non-prepared food products, regardless of grade, 3. Reparations for damages caused by the intentional contamination of non-prepared food products to not only individuals, but also to US food manufacturers who has been adversely affected financially by this criminal act.
If not that, I’d say this should be construed as an act of terrorism using a chemical agent and there should be an appropriate response. Yes, that is extrapolating a bit, but what is to prevent them from intentionally contaminating the human grade food supply in the US? Blowing it out of proportion… if the Chinese government is complacent in this matter, could it be judged as an act of war? Then again, we did accidentally blow up their embassy a few years back.
re 19: Christlike feelings of persecution and the conviction that you are just a “right thinking” victim of liberal humans who are mere “humanists” is a part of your psychological makeup that you need to have in order to feel OK.
So the answer is a resounding YES. Republicans are to blame for everything that goes wrong.
Even the recent college slayings in Virginia are the fault of Ronald Reagan, who single-handedly dismantled and de-funded public mental health care in the U.S.
Yes, #19, you and your kind are to blame for just about every damn thing that goes wrong and countless bab things to come that are still, “…. asleep in the rock of ages.” Gordon Lightfoot
11 Roger, I’ll have to differ with you about 520. In general, I’m of the opinion (as I presume you are) that adding road capacity to relieve congestion is like killing for peace or fornicating for chastity. However, where you have a major highway where three lanes get funnelled into two in each direction, something’s gotta give. If we tear out one four-lane bridge and build another four-lane bridge in its place, I can’t help but wonder whether someone’s conjuring up excuses to build a new bridge just because they like to build bridges.
Spineless @ 21
“again, we did accidentally blow up their embassy a few years back.”
That much is true. B.J. Clinton accidentally bombed the residence of one of his contributors in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Spineless @ 21
How about requiring freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, internet freedom, and free elections too?
It all sounds like a big damned conspiracy theory to me.
21 “Yes, that is extrapolating a bit, but what is to prevent them from intentionally contaminating the human grade food supply in the US?”
And your assumption that this isn’t already taking place is based upon what?
I see the dems appointed a new hack at KC elections
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....ir19m.html
Re update: If you excrete plastic shit, you ate melamine-tainted pork.
@19 We already know that. Move along. Nothing to see here.
@23 So tear out the feeder lanes and use the lane to build condos. =:-D
use the land
@26 You got that right! The neocons are trying to prove government doesn’t work. So they’re doing their damnedest to fuck up every federal agency there is. Then they will privatize the federal government and sell it off to their friends.
Since we’re not using oil inefficiently enough yet, let’s send shiploads of drinking water to China for purification, then they’ll ship it back. That’s make our balance of payments even worse — just what the wingnutz want!
It’s only a matter of time before Redneck’s “invisible hand” figures out it’s cheaper to ship drinking water to China for processing by political prisoners than to pay expensive American labor to purify it.
Another fucking market failure …
@28 I like our hacks waaaaaay better than your hacks.
The worst thing that could happen to Republicans would be to count Florida’s military votes. At least they think so.
http://tinyurl.com/jv9nf
Gonzo’s Amnesia
Does melamine cause memory loss? If so, Gonzo must be eating dog food, because he answered questions with “I don’t recall” 71 times today.
White House aides told CNN he “didn’t do himself any favors,” but there’s no evidence Bush is looking for a new attorney general — yet.
“WASHINGTON (CNN) — White House insiders … involved in administration discussions about Gonzales, told … correspondent Suzanne Malveaux that two senior level White House aides who heard the testimony described Gonzales as ‘going down in flames’ ….
“But these sources acknowledge that no one … is looking for a replacement yet, … and the White House is waiting to see how this plays out with the public and members of Congress over the next couple of days. Another White House insider said …[,] ‘There is no indication that Gonzales thinks he needs to leave.’ … Gonzales said he thinks he can continue to be an effective leader of the Justice Department. …
“Publicly, White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino said Gonzales has the full backing of the president: ‘President Bush was pleased with the Attorney General’s testimony today … he again showed that nothing improper occurred. …’
“But sources involved in discussions with White House officials say, ‘People are a bit shocked. He didn’t win over Democrats and he may have lost a few Republicans. No one privately is saying it’s a homerun. No one is saying he did what he needed to do. There’s faint praise like he didn’t get killed. We understand he’s on shaky ground.’ …
“One White House insider points to [critical] comments by Republican senators as a troubling sign for Gonzales. The problem with the testimony, according the insider, was that ‘every senator except for Orrin Hatch was not helpful, even senator John Cornyn was frustrated. That’s not good.’
“‘His (Gonzales’) tactic was inexplicable. He keeps saying I know why I made the decision, but I don’t know anything else,’ one source said.”
Quoted under Fair Use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://tinyurl.com/2odhso
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I kinda hope Bush ignominiously dumps Gonzales, and then Gonzo sings like so many others have.
What Didn’t Happen In The Partial-Birth Abortion Decision
Bush’s appointees, Alito and Roberts, didn’t join in Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion calling for overturning Roe v. Wade — signaling they may not be in the right-to-lifers’ camp on the ultimate issue. http://tinyurl.com/3xzbln
37
Do you ever wonder why democrats do not persue charges of voter fraud? If you do, do you ever wonder why bank robbers never persue charges of inadequate security at banks? If you can answer the former, you will have your answer to the later. hehehehehehehehe
Rufus @ 41
You’re still a sore loser, eh?
Now that’s hilarious!
Roger Rabbit @ 39
I would like to see Gonzo leave his present position too. I don’t think he has done anything illegal, but he has been horribly incompetent and ineffective as Attorney General. He was actually pretty good as a judge and as White House counsel, however.
Roger Rabbit blogs this article: Legislators Say Regional Transportation Plan Is ‘Flawed’
Of course PelletHead. It’s written by Moonbat!s, elected by Moonbat!s, for all you Moonbat!s, reported by Moonbat!s.
Pet Food Grade is Human Food grade
I know that most of these contamination investigations concern pet food. I am
very sorry for all those animals that have passed. I think this problem is much
larger and this product melamine is and has been in our human food supply for
many years. The FDA has covered up this investigation and this information. We
can not find out why we are importing these wheat, corn and rice gluten. We can
not find out where they are going or too whom they are going. The diabetes
rates have skyrocketed throughout the country along with many other auto immune
diseases like cancer. It is my belief that melamine is the cause and the
effects mirror these diseases which are all auto immune diseases. Since the
distribution in the human chain is sporadic it has been hard to identify the
culprit. The young have been effected the most and the disease rates reflect
this. Cereals and processed foods are the biggest users of these gluten
products in production. We have a major problem here and all imported foods
that are imported in non whole food states need to be suspended immediately in
USA by the FDA. We are all being systematically poisoned. All of these gluten
are “food grade” gluten…that means….our food too!
Simply this melamine has a protein signature that allows the protein reading
for the product to be high which in turns brings the price of the commodity and
product up for those selling it. There has been and is no test required for
checking for any substance like melamine in these imported gluten products. We
started importing these glutens from China around the same time rates for
diseases like diabetes started to increase in this country and world wide. This
is the first time they have been caught because they added to much of the
melamine by mistake and the animals had a severe reaction. The first time a
person is caught drunk driving…do you think this was the first time he did
it….not in a million years. This contamination of our food supplies has been
going on for many years and we would not have known about it. Auto immune
diseases have sky rocketed and the end result of diabetes is kidney and renal
failure which is exactly what happened to the overload the animals experienced
quickly…and the supplies got caught.
I recommend we all stay away form any processed product containing these
glutens and protein food additives until this investigation has been completed.
Another reason to eat only whole healthy foods.
Lew