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Bravo!

Wheat gluten has no reason to be in pet foods other than an appetite stimulant, however I don't see any pet food manufacturer admitting this (or human food producers since it's in everything we purchase that is not raw).  They indicate it's for the protein, however one would think the protein content would be derived from the meat.  They indicate it's for the gravy consistency, however there's no gravy in dry food, other than the profits.  Eat more/buy more/gain more weight/get sick - great for the economy, medical  and pharmaceutical industries, and we as well as our pets have swallowed it.  Time we start spitting.

Of course there is also an obesity epidemic in dogs and cats - apparently they're playing too many computer games, also.

 

 

Well, well, now we learn the Menu Foods CFO sold half his shares of Menu Foods stocks (reportedly close to $90,000 US dollars worth)  three weeks before the massive botched recall.  Imagine that. 

Says he knew nothing about it.  Imagine that.

FDA still apparently is not revealing all the pet food manufacturers who'd purchased the supposedly tainted wheat gluten.  Imagine that.  One only had to do the math with the 792 metric tons purchased compared to what was recalled to see it was not all accounted for.  How much is that?  Had it been TNT detonated it would have registered 4.2 on the Richter Scale.  But we're still feeding it to our pets, and the price we paid for those foods is going into their cold, lifeless, consciousless pockets.

FDA's gone MIA.

We've heard nothing from ChemNutra - they've gone MIA as well.

Pets are still dying at an alarming rate.

This country is out of control, and it's time we start pulling in the reins.  These people simply do not care, and unless we ge a grip on this, they will walk away millionaires scott free.  To those organizing the Senate hearings next week?  Doesn't matter who they are - we are behind you and plead with you to hunt down and prosecute these heartless, greedy pathetic excuses for mankind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so now we learn that much of this recalled pet food has been sold as "scrap" feed for pigs that will be used for human consumption.

To the top of the food chain whomever is investigating this pet food (which is now human food) travesty:

#1.  We need immediate full disclosure as to who EXACTLY, purchased the tainted wheat/rice/corn gluten, and a full accounting of where it went, whether it be to pet food distributors, pig farms, MacDonalds, whatever - where did it go.  And some answers as to WHY.

#2.  Apparently those that sold it to pig farms were "unaware" of the potential health ramifications, pretty much like one who'd close their eyes while pulling a trigger - unaware of where the bullet went?  Same thing.  Knew they did it, knew the probable outcome, but since they didn't see where it went it didn't matter.  To them.  But that is the American Law of Unaccountability for Profit - if it doesn't directly affect their little world and makes money, it is good, regardless who else or what else it harms.

Unfortunately fellas, lots more people care about their pets than you would ever have imagined.  Since the animals' failed organs cannot be held together by spit, chewing gum, co-pays and prescriptions like us humans which only brings in more profits for the pharmaceutical megaconglomerates, animals simply get sick and die.  And we don't take too kindly to that.  We are trusting of our illustrious leaders, and assume each of us can speak for ourselves, therefore little if anything gets said about how our food chain and our lives have been polluted for profit.  But Fluffy can't speak, and we are speaking for all the Fluffys and Fidos who are now sick or dead.

My guess is this melamine has been being added to these glutens for quite some time, however whomever the light bulb was that concocted the idea got greedy and began to add more.  More than little Fluffy's system could fight, and Fluffy died.  Painfully.  But we humans, we just get sick and that's great for the economy.  But you shouldn't have messed with Fluffy.

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man," said Albert Einstein.

 

We are moving up the food chain.  Mr. Einstein, where are you?

 

 

 

 

I never understood how either stupid or greedy companies in this country are.  Is it stupidity and greed or is it malicious intent? 

1.  Largest pet food recall in history as a result of dog and cat deaths.  FDA still hasn't started counting how many dead animals yet, although it seems as though they don't want to, don't want us to, and didn't think we'd notice.  Does that fall under the "don't ask, don't tell" rule?

2.  FDA indicated it was melamine that killed the animals, although the crystalline composites in the urine of dead animals were not 100% consistent with melamine.  Guess they didn't think we'd notice that, either.

3.  Along with the body counts of dead animals, we've also lost count of the products recalled.  Apparently we haven't begun to track where the recalled pet food went, either, but have you ever tried counting chickens?

4.  Pet food companies sold the recalled contaminated pet food as "scrap" to hog farms and chicken farms - scrap/feed - much like our SPAM - we don't know what's in it but we eat it.  Soooo...they labelled it something else and sold it somewhere else, because hey, who cares about chicken and pigs - they have to be killed anyway before we eat them so what's the problem?

5.  We ate them.

6.  Today, April 26th, Captain David Elder of the FDA, notified eight states  " that adulterated swine products will not be approved to enter the food supply".  Fellas, it already did.

7.  The combination of melamine and cyanuric acid is of concern to human and animal health," Elder said. "Melamine, at detected levels, is not a human health concern," he added.  So, Capt., you would have no objections to feeding this to your children tonight? 

8.  What's cyanuric acid used for?  To keep algae growth out of swimming pools and hot tubs.  Will most likely keep it out of our stomachs, so that's a good thing, right?  But doesn't Dannon yogurt tell us healthy flora is good for us?  So now we're going to kill it, but it's not a human health concern?  I'm confused.

10.  Thanks, notifying "eight states" that you will not approve those pigs and chickens entering the human food chain after they've already been cooked, served, seasoned and eaten. 

11.  What a clever way to poison the food supply - siimply take advantage of our greed. 

Yesterday, the FDA searched (raided) the Menu Foods and ChemNutra facilities.  What did we expect to find nearly TWO months after the inital recall?  One would think if there were any type of wrongdoing involved, the evidence would probably be with Jimmy Hoffa by now.

Since we're now also told we have rocket fuel in our food a drinking water, I'm thinking maybe the melanine and cyanuric acid aren't sounding too bad after all, given a choice between the three.

 

http://www.swnebr.net/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles/articlearchiver.pl?160497

Interesting reading, this is.  For those not wanting to read it in it's entirety, bascially it appears that it is not illegal, to date, to sell livestock which has eaten the contaminated pet food "scraps", however the USDA won't put their USDA stamp of approval on pigs that ate the food.

So these pigs can certainly be sold for food and not have any legal repercussions other than the USDA seal on the cover, like buying a counterfiet copy of Windows XP, basically - the "Pork Genuine Advantage".

"Potentially" 6000 hogs were fed what we know to be adulterated food, but let's remember the national slaughter number for swine is over 100 million.  Would that be per annum?  Per month?  "So that's the context".   Kind of like when kids were stealing out of a farmer's 50 acre watermelon field.  Frustrated with the thefts, he put up a sign which said, "To those stealing my watermelons, please be adivsed I have poisoned two with arsenic - you guess which two" - so THAT's the context.

And the FDAs tally on dead pets remains at 17 OR 18. 

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/argus/index.ssf?/base/news/117804187592580.xml&coll=6

According to the above article, melamine is illegal in the US.  It's in our dinnerware.  Illegal for what reason?  Might it be harmful to us?  If that is the case, then why do we see below the FDA is indicating the likelihood of illness is low?  Low likehood of illness yet it's illegal?

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=consumer_affairs&id=5262921


"Once again, the FDA says there is no evidence the animals fed the contaminated feed are harmful to humans, which is why the FDA has not issued any recalls for hogs or chickens in question."

http://www.komotv.com/news/7282466.html

There is "no evidence" it's harmful to humans, and as things stand now, there most likely will not be.  What, exactly, does occur in the human digestive system when one does ingest melamine and/or cyanuric acid?  Do we know?  If not, then the FDA needs to rescind the above statements, and FOR ONCE place the well being of our people over the companies and groups who them in their pockets.

Let's not forget a few things here.  You get sick, you try to get an appointment with a Doctor, if you can get a human on the phone, and the probability of that is not good and it may take a few days to get a response back.  You may have to wait weeks or months to get in.  They see you in all of about 5 minutes (their AHT) and most likely will check nothing except your credit history.  Tell you it's stress, give you some Xanax or whatever and send you home.  You are not urinating as much, or urinating frequently, and you feel tired all the time.  Your friend tells you it might be food allergies, so you call your Doctor again.  You probably wait another two weeks or months, and when you get there they tell you your insurance company won't cover the food allergy testing, and if you want to shell out $300-$400 to pay for it, and ASSUMING they do not make a mistake, you get tested, and handed a piece of paper a month later with the results stating "for Investigational Use Only and not approved by the FDA" with the results. By then, if this were the family dog, he'd be dead by now, as most were.

By stating there is "no evidence" simply gets us one step further than the "don't ask, don't tell" rule - we've bumped up a notch to "don't know, don't care" rule.

If there is in fact "no evidence" (aka, looking the other way), perhaps Mr. FDA, you can share with us barefoot and pregnant humans what EXACTLY the effects are of a human ingesting melamine and cyanuric acid, or something that may crystalize in our kidneys, so we may know what to look for?  Maybe you could sample it for us and call in two weeks?   Not that you did it with Round-Up-Ready wheat, Teflon, rocket fuel or that you will with cloned beef, but the law of averages indicates in one of these forays you might tell us up front what signs indicate a kidney malfunction in humans?  Or should we just test it on YOUR families because quite frankly I'm getting tired of MY family and pets being your guinea pigs.

Let's get it out in the open - "no evidence" means you simply "don't know", therefore whomever is in posession of these chickens and pigs needs to be PROHIBITED from selling them for human consumption, and whomever they WERE sold need to be informed, as we ALL do, as to what symptoms to look for in melamine/cyanuric acid poisoning.

Two more questions:

1.  Who, EXACTLY, notified Menu Foods in December or February or whenever it was, that pets were dying?  Since they are a distributor, it would have had to come from one of the pet food companies - which one? 

2.  Why did it take Nestle-Purina two weeks after the initial recall to recall their Alpo?  This is a company that just bought Gerber Baby Foods from Novartis for 5.5 billion dollars - one would think they would have acted a little quicker, but then, under the influence of a major pharmaceutical company, would we expect any differently?

Of course the stuff was in pet foods long before the recall.  Just enough to make the cats or dogs terminally ill but in a less noticeable time span, many of which were attributed to "old age" or unhealthy lifestyles (smoking, drinking, KFC, etc...).  Anyone who'd undertaken caring for a cat or dog with kidney failure would know the signs, but unfortunately all those signs have yet to be made publicly available via the FDAs site.

Who informed Menu Foods of the initial deaths?

 

Yesterday, Dr. David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food protection at FDA, once again told reporters during a press conference, many of them skeptical that melamine found in an expanding pet food recall and subsequently in feed for poultry and hogs poses no threat to humans, that the substance is so diluted by the time a human would eat it that sickness would be "very remote."

Why then, do we see on the shelves "Omega-3 Eggs", which is basically chickens that have eaten flax seed - in this case, the substance not only went INTO the chicken but came out the other end, after which time we shell it, cook it, then eat it,  therefore one would also tend to think the substance is so diluted by the time a human would eat it that benefits would be "very remote" also.  But if it profits someone - it'll affect us.  If it causes financial repercussions to any of these industries, it won't hurt us. 

Don't buy it, FDA.  The chances are "slim to none" it won't crystallize in or organs, but you cannot unequivocally say "none" - and that's not good enough.  Test it on your kids and grandkids, and not ours.

To ChemNutra - we may have fallen off the turnip truck, but it was not yesterday.  We see now it's being said the Chinese gluten exports had been "mislabelled", and not indicating they were for use in foods, yet you claim here to be "The China Source Experts"?  http://www.chemnutra.com/index.htm

I mean, we are talking about nearly 800 metric tons - it's not like you overlook a bill that gets mixed in with the junk mail, and you claim to import and filter 4,000 tons of feed, food and pharma per year? 

Anyone self-purported to be an "export expert" would not only question imports improperly labelled and not in compliance with regulations whether they be ours or China's, one would think they would also be refused and reported to the appropriate officials - but you turned around and resold it again - right up the food chain with no conscience out of sheer greed.  And by the wording in your press release on the FDA's web site, in which you asked if any other company  received bags of recalled wheat gluten from the lot numbers referenced above, please call ChemNutra at 702.818.5019,  you apparently either were covering your *** or incredulously did not know where the gluten went.  I'll bet my new kitten it was the former, since that is a lawyer's all too transparent CYA mentality.

Now you also state on your site you are a "professionally managed, American owned company experienced in negotiating, securing and delivering ultra-competitive pricing on high-quality chemicals and ingredients from quality-assured manufacturers in China. We bridge the business and cultural gaps…including all regulatory, compliance, import and transportation requirements."  Yet here you state:  "We are qualified as a woman-owned and minority-owned company".  Steve, I do not think you are the woman, therefore I would guess Sally (once removed after the recall Qing) Miller is the woman/minority?  I would certainly expect that someone who's been certified in China as an ISO 9000 Chief Auditor would be sharp enough to recognize whether an imported product was labelled correctly, and would give precise direction and instruction as to how to ship the products to your doorstep.  To attempt to place the blame elsewhere without accepting and acknowledging your responsibility, guilt and intent in this deal smells like burnt toast.

You purchased $94,000 worth of gluten labelled "Industrial Products Arts and Crafts" and resold them to pet food companies? 

Someone in this deal needs to get fitted for an orange jumpsuit, my friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ChemNutra imports quality ingredients from China to the U.S. for the feed, food and pharma industries. We are a professionally managed, American owned company experienced in negotiating, securing and delivering ultra-competitive pricing on high-quality chemicals and ingredients from quality-assured manufacturers in China. We bridge the business and cultural gaps…including all regulatory, compliance, import and transportation requirements.

Melamine - it's what's for dinner tonight.


Fish food?  They've sold it as fish food to fish farms?  http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20070508-1406-foodcontamination.html    And our FDA once again is saying it's no threat to humans.  Or wait, should I say "no evidence" of threat to humans.  Of course, they're only speaking about melamine since cyanuric acid seems to have dropped off the face of the earth in the FDA world, although it's mostly likely what you had for dinner today.  However, we didn't see it widely publicized that the FDA has stated "there’s a real absence of toxicity data on melamine other than somesomewhat old studies in rats. They do indicate that very, very high levels of all ingestion of melamine can lead to significant illness in the rats in the formof bladder stones and ultimately cancer."

So we humans would not see something immediately, and at that point we certainly would not imagine it would have been from the chicken we ingested, the teflon we cooked from, or the cloned beef they're wanting to shove down our throats.  They do go on to say both hogs and chickens known to have been fed contaminated feed appear to be healthy.  My Mother appeared to be healthy for two years before she died of cancer, but cancer is good for the economy, and is what keeps the pharmaceutical companies in business today.  Cancer is not reason enough to recall those pesky chickens.

Kudos to Steve Hedges from the Chicago Tribune who asked what about those meats going into baby foods.  Thumbs down to the FDA for their answer.  Prayers to new parents and their infants.

The FDA also has said these quantities would not be significant because we do not eat the same foods each day.  We do at my house.  I can tell you 1,000 ways to cook chicken.  Ever hear of Atkins?  Lots of people still following his diet.  And of course, they have overlooked one other point - since there's *only* evidence of it causing kidney damage in dogs and cats, everybody can go home happy.  Except I've got 20 cans of cat food in my kitchen left over from my dead cats which I am feeding to my new kitten.  I have carefully filtered out the recalled foods and anything containing any type of gluten.  But I do have lots of *chicken* and *fish* flavors - sure would be nice to know if those chickens and fish ate the melamine/cyanuric acid products from our friends at ChemNutra.  But the FDA will not reveal to whom these products went.

3 MILLION BROILER CHICKENS
6000 SWINE
How many fish?  http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20070508-1406-foodcontamination.html

All very well have made their way right back into pet food again, my friends. 

Us, we'll only get cancer from it, however, on the bright side - the poultry industry pumped $1,079,704.00 into political contributions in 2006, and $450,000 into lobbying: http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?cycle=2006&ind=A05

The livestock industry pumped $4,984,627 into political contributions in 2006, and $4,400,924 into lobbying.

I've never been all that fond of NASCAR, but my significant other bought up a point worth closing on.  NASCAR is great because the drivers' uniforms clearly and proudly indicate who sponsoring their car, funding the races, and paying their way.  NASCAR is actually one of the most respected sports in the nation.  Maybe we need to request our elected officials and governing bodies wear the same sporty uniforms so we know who's bought them.  Unfortunately, it's blazingly obvious whose team they're on, and it's not ours.

The FDA said after the initial recall it was safe to now feed pets food not on the recall list.

A few hundred recalls later they said it was not in human food.  Or should we say, "no evidence".

Then it was in pork.

Then it was in chicken.

Then it was in fish.

But they say it's safe to eat.

No mention of baby foods or the pet foods the pork, chicken or fish may have gone into.

No mention of where the original melamine came from.  Interesting that Borden acquired a Melamine company quite a few years ago, but there's no evidence of harm.  It's not like this country is not familiar with it.  And Nestle Purina bought Gerber Baby Foods which is owned by Novartis whose gross profits in December were 26,450,000, which will mostly likely quadruple if we drink the Kool Aide.

The bad news is the FDA lies to us.  The good news is we have health insurance - don't we?

On May 4th, a Chicago based company, Cereal Byproducts, has issued a recall of tainted rice protein products sold to more pet food manufacturers.  It is now May 10th.  We do not know who these companies are, and they are being once again protected by their pimp, the FDA.

The poultry industries will not disclose which of their poultry had been feed the melamine/cyanuric laced food, and are also being protected by their pimp, the FDA.

Apparently the fishing industries do not make large enough political contributions, so we at least know where 4.5 million chinook salmon went - into the Columbia River, and this was only one of 25 hatcheries in Oregon alone that we've been told about which will be released into the wild, and private hatcheries as well, and a fraction of the fish the melamine/cyanuric acid laced food was fed to.

Six state run hatcheries in Washington State.

A large fish food company, Sketting, recalled the product on May 8th  - with 198 customers in the US.

Thank you, Oregon, for at least informing us.

There is no credibility left in the US government's regulating agencies - they are simply Corporate's bitches.

And on a lighter note - from the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser site:
http://www.mrclean.com/sites/en_US/mrclean/ME_Truth/index.shtml

"Formaldehyde is not and has never been an ingredient in Magic Eraser. One ingredient in Magic Eraser (formaldehyde-melamine- sodium bisulfite copolymer) contains the word "formaldehyde" in its chemical name. However, this ingredient is not formaldehyde and poses no health or safety risks. Think of this name like "sodium chloride", which is table salt. Sodium by itself can be dangerous, but sodium chloride - salt - is safe.

Magic Eraser is considered non-toxic. As with any sponge-like product, when swallowed this product may block the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, we do advise to keep this product out of the reach of children and pets to avoid accidental ingestion - it is not a toy.

It is possible that formaldehyde may be present in minute, trace amounts as a result of the manufacturing process. Even then, the amount present is significantly lower than standards established by governmental agencies and trade associations, and is actually less than what is found in indoor air. In fact, no ingredients in Magic Eraser are subject to any health-related labeling laws in North America or in the European Union. Be assured Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is completely safe and poses no health risks or safety concerns when used according to directions."

http://www.northcountrygazette.org/news/2007/05/12/dry_food_added/ - From this article it appears as though Royal Canin notified Cereal Byproducts (a "domestic" ingredient supplier) prompting the Cereal Byproducts recall, however those feeding these products to their pets needed to also be the ones notified immediately - not weeks after the discovery, and that is an atrocity inflicted onto the companion animals and the humans they trusted to care for them, furthering and fueling the contempt and anger too many are becoming all too desensitized to.  But that is the goal, after all.

The cultural contrasts with China vs. the US are startling.  China's media reports the country's former top drug regulator will go on trial on charges of taking bribes to approve untested medicine.  In America that would prompt a #1 bullet on a resume guaranteeing a comfortable extremely profitable position in the government, pharmaceutical or agricultural sector with accepted disregard for the people who are paying these representatives to ensure their well being - and that will most likely be something we may never see in America again if we continue to give them their free rein to destroy us.  It is the land of corruption and greed, and it will soon be the sterile land of 4Ds - diseased, disabled, dying and dead - right behind our insects, marine life, crops, wildlife and domesticated animals. 

We are being falsely led to believe our import/export standards are greater than countries such as China and Japan, but it is the opposite - we are attempting to lower their standards therefore we will call them on this until they do.  Example?  http://www.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/01/20/japan.us.beef/ 

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=124235 <--- But there are rules for Japan and China, and rules for us, "the shipment in question, though partially ineligible, underwent and passed inspection before it was shipped to Tokyo. Billy Cox, spokesman for USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, told Meatingplace.com that Tyson's shipment met the agency's technical requirements. "The only mistake they made was they put it in the wrong box," Cox said. "In other words, it wasn't labeled correctly when it was sent."

Deja vu - wasn't labeled correctly?

When construction companies secure a municipal contract, they are required to submit a Certificate of Origin from every casting purchased right down to the storm drain cover, but roadway aesthetics are certainly more critical than our food supply.  There is no requirement for a "certificate of origin" to be supplied for EACH ingredient contained in our foods whether it be domestic or imported.  When Japan refused to import our beef because of BSE likelihood, *someone* in Japan came out with a study that BSE likelihood was not detrimental to human health, consequently strong arming Japan to discontinue it's requirement of inspecting all beef shipped from US processing plants.

We have strongarmed Japan to discontinue its requirement of inspecting all beef shipped from U.S. processing plants and implement random sampling instead. 

In spite of their Peter Pan salmonella recall, ConAgra still enjoyed profits because we Americans continue to purchase from these companies.  http://www.cnbc.com/id/17734599 

The majority has become lazy, apathetic, complacent and desensitized giving these greed infested grandiose wannabes free rein to profit from our sickness and losses, and they do it BECAUSE WE ALLOW THEM TO, much like the play by Arthur Kopit - "Because He Can".  And we let them. 

We must demand immediate disclosure of the names of ALL the pet food companies who were distributed the tained wheat flour/wheat gluten/rice flour/rice gluten and whatever else "mislabled" products which will destroy our pets and ultimately ourselves as well.

There are Contact Us links at www.fda.gov and www.usda.gov. as well as telephone numbers - utilize them.

 

Get the current FDA/USDA pimps off the streets so we may just live to see our children and grandchildren grow and flourish, and have the ability to teach them about the birds and the bees by seeing and experiencing their beauty, and not by memories of species that have been poisoned by greed.