PET FOOD ALERT

Link please.

Unfortunately, Senator Byrd's monologue demonstrated more than his love for his pets. Sadly, it clearly showed that he appears to be suffering from the old person's dreaded state of mind, dementia. I've noticed when he conducts the committee of which he is chairman, his aide has to constantly provide documents and cues to him, including the names of other senators on his committee.

The reason I mention this is that at the end of his pet monologue covered by the Washington Post journalist, which was not included in the article, Senator Byrd stressed his years of senate service and announced that he will run for relection to the senate "if God permits." It's way past time for the people of his state to thank him for his service and elect a younger woman to the senate. Then he can spend more time with his beloved pets. ---BBB

Byrd Doggedly Expresses His Love for Man's Best Friend
By Dana Milbank
Friday, April 13, 2007; A02

A bomb had struck the Iraqi parliament earlier in the day, but it would take more than that to bring the United States Senate to heel.

"For many in America, pets are more than just companions -- they are members of the family," Chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said at the start of his Appropriations subcommittee's hearing yesterday into contaminated pet food.

"An important part of the family," agreed the ranking Republican, Bob Bennett (Utah).

"Members of the family," echoed Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). "Our pets are our companions, our soul mates and our hedge against emotional turmoil."

Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, tried to establish dominance over the pack by raising a can of Alpo for the cameras -- but not before Byrd broke free of his leash. In a lengthy discourse, he informed the panel three times that he has a Shih Tzu, nine times that his late wife named the dog Trouble, and three times that he prefers to call it Baby.

"She sleeps on my bed," said Byrd, in his 90th year and prone to meandering. "She goes with me to the Senate, rides in the car with me. She stays in my office. When somebody comes into the office, she rises and comes over and greets them, goes on about her business and gets back on the couch."

The ostensible purpose of the hearing was to determine what legislation or regulation might be needed to prevent a recurrence of the contamination that may have killed hundreds of animals and sickened thousands before a huge pet-food recall. In reality, it gave the lawmakers, the regulators and even the pet-food makers a chance to say how very, very much they love dogs and cats.

Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, noted that "I have two dogs. And when we learned of the recall, I was feeding one of the products on the recall list."

Another witness, veterinarian Elizabeth Hodgkins, invoked her "deep concern for the health of my own pets, my many patients, and, indeed, dogs and cats everywhere."

Even Duane Ekedahl, representing the pet-food makers, tried to get out of the doghouse by talking about his pets. "In our family we have a 12-year-old cat, Gus, and a 4-year-old dog, Sven, and I think I know where I stand in the family hierarchy," he testified.

The FDA's Sundlof appealed for calm, saying, "Consumers have access to an ample supply of pet food."

This assurance didn't tame Kohl. "Is the FDA confident that this recall will not grow? When will we get the all-clear signal?"

Sundlof picked at his cuticles and pawed the microphone cable.

But it was Ekedahl, of the industry group, who really made the senators growl. Durbin demanded to know why Menu Foods, the company at the center of the pet-food recall, "waited more than three weeks after finding out that the dogs wouldn't eat their food and were getting sick."

"I don't have the facts on Menu," Ekedahl replied, rubbing his fingers together.

The phrases coming from the wood-and-marble hearing room in Dirksen Senate Office Building were not the usual Appropriations fare.

"I have found Kibbles 'n Bits in my Cat Chow occasionally," said veterinary witness Claudia Kirk.

"Someone once said old age means realizing you won't own all the dogs you wanted to," posited Durbin.

But best-in-show honors went to Byrd, who, in a statement notable for its breadth, explained why his eyes had been closed ("I have what is called dry eyes") and why he has tremors in his hand ("I'm not scared or anything"), noted his friendship with the late Chicago mayor Richard Daley, mentioned his 49 years in the Senate, called himself "Popeye the Sailor Man," and demanded the witnesses be sworn in, even though the hearing had been going on for nearly an hour.

Byrd even brought some dog doggerel for the occasion. "A poem that has always meant so much to me begins with this stanza, 'All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the lord God made them all,' " he said.

After the verse, he devoted the next quarter of an hour discussing his Shih Tzu. "There is a unique, special relationship between pets, like my little dog," he said. "She is a Shih Tzu. They were lap dogs. They were trained to be lap dogs in the palace in Tibet, China."

The senator was just beginning. "Dogs -- I could talk a lot about dogs. I can tell you about great dogs in history. Truman, Harry Truman, former president, said, 'If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.' Or buy a dog. But I have a dog. Her name, by my wife Erma, is Trouble. Now, I call her Baby."

Muffled laughter rose from the audience; senators on the panel struggled to maintain their composure. Byrd became aware that he was spending too much time on his Shih Tzu. "This is not for a show. I don't often do this. I'm interested in a little dog," he explained.

It had become a dog's breakfast of a hearing, but Durbin, preparing legislation to rein in pet-food makers, called it a success. "I'm barking up the right tree," he said.

Broadcast Journalism, no link.

Dont the several states have laws against such things

When I worked in China, I was always sick. It took weeks to figure out what I could or could not eat. By the time I came home, Id lost like 25 pounds and was looking worse than Imus.

Natural Balance Pet Foods recalls two dry pet food products
April 16, 2007
Natural Balance Pet Foods recalls two dry pet food products
Associated Press

WASHINGTON ?- Natural Balance Pet Foods recalled two kinds of pet food after receiving reports of animals vomiting and experiencing kidney problems, the Food and Drug Administration said today.

The recall includes all date codes of Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Food. The company does not know the cause of the problem, but said it is focused on one particular lot.

Natural Balance Pet Foods is working with the FDA to investigate the matter and is urging consumers to not feed either pet food product to their animals.

Last month, Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans of dog and cat food after the deaths of 16 pets, mostly cats, that ate its products. The FDA said tests indicated the food was contaminated with an industrial chemical, melamine.

At least six pet food companies have recalled products made with imported Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical. The recall involved about 1 percent of the U.S. pet food supply.

FDA spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said the agency had no indication that the Natural Balance case is related to the melamine problem.

For more information, visit http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com or http://www.fda.gov.

Geez, will this never end?

Damn, the Natural Balance Venison & Green Pea is one of the very few dry foods that I can feed my cat with the food allergies.

I have been feeding both my three dogs and cats on a combination of raw diet and Wellness food since I got my 22 month old Irish Wolfhound from a breeder who awakened me to the dangers of the extruded kibble diets from most pet food companies. I read a lot of material...including the Australian Vet Dr. Billingham and another American woman about diets we have subjected our animals to since after the 2nd WW. Dogs and cats used to eat what we gave them or what they killed. They didn't have kibble or canned food with "meat by-products" and they apparently didn't have many of the problems our pets have today with auto-immune disorders.

Having lost two cats to auto-immune problems linked to Science Diet food, I was more than ready to listen to the breeder I got my Wolfhound from.

I feed a diet of (1) Nature's Variety patties...these include all necessary nutrients that include raw meat, bone, vegetable and fruits because dogs are omnivores. The patties are in Chicken/turkey, rabbit, Venison, and beef. They eat the entrails of their prey in the wild. Nature's Variety also makes a kibble that has no grain and is encoated with meat and has all nutrients the dogs need. (2) I feed raw chicken wings...preferably from farms that do not give hormones and lots of antibiotics. (3) Green tripe from Bravo and ground rabbit, (4) Chicken necks and backs, (5) lots of vegetables that are slightly steamed with their juices, (6) raw fruit like apples, and bananas...no grapes(7) Salmon oil rich in Omegas and an occasional raw egg. I also give non-fat yoghurt as a probiotic. When I fix a salad...they eat the romaine lettuce hearts, beg for bell pepper, cucumber and radishes!!!

Dogs have a high amount of hydrochloric acid in their stomachs that allows them to eat and digest the food very easily, especially bone. The feces is minimal and if not picked up is chalk- like and dry after a day and easily picked up. The dogs grow at a much slower rate which is good for giant dogs and smaller ones as well because it is more natural and they do not have the joint problems. My dogs are healthy....and the cats....

The cats love Wellness canned food and Innova Evo kibble that contain no byproducts...and a high amount of protein that cats require. They also eat Bravo raw ground rabbit and LOVE it. They will eat green tripe also for micronutrients.

All my animals are healthy now...and I am very careful with the raw food. I thaw it carefully in the refrigerator and none have been sick. This is what they require and they thrive. It is not cheap... but I do not worry about them getting proper nutrients. Read about the BARF diet and you will understand a little more about it.

If the FDA doesn't regulate the pet food industry...what do you think they are doing about human food, Hmmm?

( Vietnamnurse! I was actually thinking of you yesterday (True! I'm not making this up, I promise!) & wondering where you were & how you & your menagerie were getting along! Amazing you just appear like this!
Lovely to see you!


Excitement over. :wink:
OK folks, please continue with the topic of the thread, now ...

Hi msolga! I have been away awhile....showing my dogs at shows...but more important I am a full time grandmother to my two granddaughters now that my daughter is living with us during her divorce. All that and I became president of my garden club has kept me away from the computer.

My two new cats are just what I needed to take away the sorrow of losing Tequila and Pewter to such strange illnesses. My vet suspects the food...in fact has no Science Diet products in her hospital. She ordered them to take them away when they could not tell her what was meant by "meat byproducts."

Tomorrow and Sunday I am showing my Irish Wolfhound at dog shows in Baltimore, MD at two big shows. I do show for the love of it...I do not think I will breed with her although she is outstanding. The breeder who I co-own her will probably do that if she is bred at all.

I just wanted to say how healthy all my animals are...they are in top condition and form and I have a vet who supports the diet and understands the nutrients they need. By the way, chicken wings, have the best ratio of meat, to bone and fat than all other meats. The teeth of my animals do not need dental care as they are cleansed by the eating of bone. You cannot say that about kibble.

Wow, it sounds like you well & truly have your hands full, VN!

But then, is this anything new? :wink:

Very sad news about Tequila and Pewter. You were feeding them Science Diet?

I hope it won't be another year or so before we hear from you again. I'd love to hear about the progress of your 2 new moggies (& to hear news of you, too, of course!)

msolaga...I promise it will not be that long...but I have a very long story to tell about the new babies! I hope I can figure out how to put the pics on.

Being from Oz...you have heard of Billinghurst, no?

Be back later...watching scary movie!

No, I haven't, but just googled for more info.
An "evolutionary Barf diet? From Oz?

Gosh, this is news to me!

Tainted pet food reaches human fare
Tainted pet food reaches human fare
Officials doubt a health risk, but 1,500 hogs are quarantined as sold carcasses sought
By Diedtra Henderson, Boston Globe Staff
April 21, 2007

WASHINGTON -- An industrial chemical linked to kidney failure in dogs and cats has found its way into the human food supply chain. California officials quarantined 1,500 animals at the American Hog Farm and are tracking who purchased nearly 100 hogs from the farm this month, when the animals' feed included pet food that had been tainted with melamine .

In addition, 26 hogs were sold and slaughtered at an unnamed processing plant in northern California . Federal authorities quarantined those unprocessed carcasses at that plant, but state officials expect to identify more California processing plants that purchased the hogs.

American Hog Farm, a specialty slaughterhouse in Ceres, Calif., sells whole hogs suitable for backyard barbecues to celebrate weddings, retirements, graduations, and other festive events.

A man who answered the phone at American Hog Farm and who identified himself as one of its owners said yesterday it is premature to comment since the federal investigation continues.

So little is known about melamine that it remains unclear why hogs that ate tainted food survived, merely excreting the chemical in urine, while cats and dogs died from kidney failure. For now, the risk to humans who ate the pork is thought to be minimal, said Dr. Kevin Reilly of the California Department of Health Services.

Still, members of Congress have little patience for yet another food safety fiasco. Tuesday , a US House of Representatives subcommittee will examine the Food and Drug Administration's "diminished capacity" to assure American food safety. Rosa L. DeLauro , Democrat of Connecticut , promises to hold additional hearings.

"The pet food recall is turning into a real crisis," DeLauro said . "FDA initially assured us that the concerns about the pet food supply was a separate issue and that the human food supply would not be threatened. However, recent reports noting that the melamine has been found in hog urine which, if verified, has the potential of contaminating human food."

Three pet food makers this week recalled products made with tainted rice protein concentrate imported from China . More recalls could follow since Wilbur-Ellis Co. , the San Francisco firm that imported the rice protein, said it sold the tainted ingredient to five pet food manufacturers. That is in addition to more than 100 brands of pet food recalled since mid-March due to contamination by imported wheat gluten laced with melamine.

Diamond Pet Foods of California has an exclusive contract with American Hog Farm to sell pet food that spilled onto the floor during production or spilled from split bags during shipping, making it unsuitable for sale. Those shipments included Natural Balance pet food that later tested positive for melamine.

"The arrangement was for the farm to pick up 25,000 pounds of salvage food from the pet food manufacturer every 10 days or so. The farm mixed that with other salvage resources" to make the pig feed, said Steve Lyle , a California Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman.

"You've heard the word 'slops' to feed the pigs, historically?" Lyle said. "It's not uncommon that sources like this would be mined for pig feed."

Federal regulators suspect that rogue suppliers in China deliberately laced a trio of protein supplements -- wheat gluten , rice protein concentrate and corn gluten -- with melamine to inflate the ingredients' protein levels and price tag. If it finds an intent to defraud, the FDA said its investigation could result in criminal charges.

Some food-safety crisis-weary companies, like a Woburn corporate caterer that handles a few pig roast requests a year, are bypassing such trouble by rigorously screening suppliers, changing menus, and paying more.

"We can't take that risk. I have to have it perfect," said John Andrews , catering sales manager at David's World Famous . "I can't have anyone questioning my product. Period."

Meanwhile, The Blue Buffalo Co. of Wilton, Conn., stunned to learn that its pet food contained the tainted rice protein concentrate, now will demand that, if its American suppliers must use imports, they will choose trusted countries like Australia , Canada , New Zealand, and the European Union nations, which have more rigorous standards.

"It's when you get into some of these Asian countries, particularly China, where the regulation just isn't there," said Bill Bishop , the company's president. "We can't tolerate that as a pet food supplier. We're clearly going to bar China."

I can see the use of melamine as a "fake" protein booster. Its pure Nitrogen compounds A Triazine-triamine. The hell of it is that, in the GI tract of animals that secrete high acidic s , the resultant breakdowns include lots of ammonia and that could have been what did in the kitties.

Finding it the human supply train is another reason to not be so globally minded when it comes to food. Other countriescould really give a rats ass about our health and welfare.

Next time we get questions about "Western style breakfast" we should let them know waht were being fed.

Farmerman
Farmerman, I think the problems you describe are a result of our insistence on having out-of-season produce on our tables. We have moved away from seasonal cooking. I can get almost any fruit or vegetable at any time of the year that is flown in from a different hemisphere.

Does the same thing happen with animals, their birthing seasons, etc.?

BBB

BBB, I agree with you. I am frightened about the food we are importing and the lax rules at the FDA due to gutting of the agency by this administration. It seems like making money is more important than our health or the health of pets.

I read "Fast Food Nation" and haven't been the same since. I never really cared that much to eat at fast food restaurants, but to read about what happens to the family rancher and farmer because of big Agro is enough to to make you cry. Plus the workers.....they can't unionize, they get hurt and can't get health care. Horrible.

We haven't a clue about some of the chemicals used on and additives to processed foods. Very frightening.

FDA aware of dangers to food
WP: FDA aware of dangers to food
Outbreaks were not preventable, officials say
By Elizabeth Williamson
The Washington Post
Updated: 2:02 a.m. MT April 23, 2007

The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show.

Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents.

Congressional critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply.

FDA officials conceded that the agency's system needs to be overhauled to meet today's demands, but contended that the agency could not have done anything to prevent either contamination episode.

Last week, the FDA notified California state health officials that hogs on a farm in the state had likely eaten feed laced with melamine, an industrial chemical blamed for the deaths of dozens of pets in recent weeks. Officials are trying to determine whether the chemical's presence in the hogs represents a threat to humans.

Pork from animals raised on the farm has been recalled. The FDA has said its inspectors probably would not have found the contaminated food before problems arose. The tainted additive caused a recall of more than 100 different brands of pet food.

The outbreaks point to a need to change the way the agency does business, said Robert E. Brackett, director of the FDA's food-safety arm, which is responsible for safeguarding 80 percent of the nation's food supply.

"We have 60,000 to 80,000 facilities that we're responsible for in any given year," Brackett said. Explosive growth in the number of processors and the amount of imported foods means that manufacturers "have to build safety into their products rather than us chasing after them," Brackett said. "We have to get out of the 1950s paradigm."

?'Poisonous result'
Tomorrow, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will hold a hearing on the unprecedented spate of recalls.

"This administration does not like regulation, this administration does not like spending money, and it has a hostility toward government. The poisonous result is that a program like the FDA is going to suffer at every turn of the road," said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the full House committee. Dingell is considering introducing legislation to boost the agency's accountability, regulatory authority and budget.

In the peanut butter case, an agency report shows that FDA inspectors checked into complaints about salmonella contamination in a ConAgra Foods factory in Georgia in 2005. But when company managers refused to provide documents the inspectors requested, the inspectors left and did not follow up.

A salmonella outbreak that began last August and was traced to the plant's Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter brands sickened more than 400 people in 44 states. The likely cause, ConAgra said, was moisture from a roof leak and a malfunctioning sprinkler system that activated dormant salmonella. The plant has since been closed.

The 2005 report shows that FDA inspectors were looking into "an alleged episode of positive findings of salmonella in peanut butter in October of 2004 that was related to new equipment and that the firm didn't react to, . . . insects in some equipment, water leaking onto product, and inability to track some product."

During the inspection, the report says, ConAgra admitted it had destroyed some product in October 2004 but would not say why.

"They asked for some of our documentation and we made the request to them that they put it in writing due to concerns about proprietary information," ConAgra spokeswoman Stephanie Childs said last week. "We did not receive a written request, . . . they filed the report and that was that."

Until February of this year. That's when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified the FDA of a spike in salmonella cases in states near the ConAgra plant. The agencies contacted the company, which initiated a recall and shut the plant for upgrades.

Brackett said that if the FDA inspector had seen anything truly dangerous the agency would have taken further action. But, he said, the agency cannot force a disclosure, a recall or a plant closure except in extreme circumstances, such as finding a hazardous batch of product.

The problem in 2005, he added, "doesn't necessarily connect to the salmonella outbreak right now. It's not unusual to have it in raw agricultural commodities."

The FDA has known even longer about illnesses among people who ate spinach and other greens from California's Salinas Valley, the source of outbreaks over the past six months that have killed three people and sickened more than 200 in 26 states. The subsequent recall was the largest ever for leafy vegetables.

?'Still problems out in those fields'
In a letter sent to California growers in late 2005, Brackett wrote, "FDA is aware of 18 outbreaks of foodborne illness since 1995 caused by [E. coli bacteria] for which fresh or fresh-cut lettuce was implicated. . . . In one additional case, fresh-cut spinach was implicated. These 19 outbreaks account for approximately 409 reported cases of illness and two deaths."

"We know that there are still problems out in those fields," Brackett said in an interview last week. "We knew there had been a problem, but we never and probably still could not pinpoint where the problem was. We could have that capability, but not at this point."


According to Caroline Smith DeWaal, who heads the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer-advocacy group, "When budgets are tight . . . the food program at FDA gets hit the hardest."

In next year's budget, passed amid discovery of contamination problems in spinach, tomatoes and lettuce, Congress has voted the FDA a $10 million increase to improve food safety, DeWaal said. The Agriculture Department, which monitors meat, poultry and eggs and keeps inspectors in every processing plant, got an increase 10 times that amount to help pay for its inspection programs. The FDA visits problem food plants about once a year and the rest far less frequently, Brackett said.

William Hubbard, who retired as associate commissioner of the FDA in 2005 and founded the advocacy group Coalition for a Stronger FDA, said that when he joined the agency in the 1970s, its food safety arm claimed half its budget and personnel.

"Now it's about a quarter . . . at a time in which the problems have grown, the size of the industry has grown and imports of food have skyrocketed," Hubbard said.