[USCC] Fw: Sludge Watch ==> Tainted pet food fed to hogs - Melamine in pork

[The Rubins]

Please, someone who calls themself a composting professional challenge this 
commenter's rhetoric.

Cheers

Alan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Maureen Reilly" <maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca>
To: <Sludgewatch-l at list.web.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2007 3:16 PM
Subject: Sludge Watch ==> Tainted pet food fed to hogs - Melamine in pork


> Sludgewatch Admin:
>
> This is interesting.  On the US Composting Listserve I see that composters 
> are asking if it is safe to make fertilizer from the melamine and rat 
> poison contaminated pet food found in the US.
>
>
> So is the contaminated pet food going to animal feed or to 'fertilizer'? 
> Where did it go?
>
> Again - the dark side of 'recycling'...and the fact that there are no real 
> standards for 'compost' in the USA.
>
> ........................
>
>
> Investigators: Tainted pet food fed to hogs
>
> By Diedtra Henderson, Globe Staff | April 20, 2007
> http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/04/20/investigators_tainted_pet_food_fed_to_hogs/
>
> WASHINGTON - Hogs fed pet food rejected as unsuitable for sale ended up
> eating a product laced with an industrial chemical, federal authorities
> said yesterday, expanding a food safety investigation that had been
> primarily focused on cats and dogs.
>
> It remains unclear, however, whether products made from the hogs will be
> considered safe for human consumption.
>
> Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center
> for Veterinary Medicine, said the FDA will work with the United States
> Department of Agriculture ''to determine whether or not those animals can
> go into the food supply. That's a process that is still ongoing. We should
> know the answer to that in a short period of time.''
>
> At least two US companies imported protein-based ingredients from Chinese
> suppliers that were tainted with melamine, a chemical used to make
> fertilizers and plastics. Since mid-March, manufacturers have pulled more
> than 100 brands of pet food from store shelves in a recall that this week
> grew to include rice protein concentrate imported from China that also was
> tainted with melamine.
>
> Meanwhile, the Chinese government continues to block federal investigators
> from visiting the country to confirm the source of melamine.
>
> Even though reporters were able to quickly travel to China and determine
> that at least one supplier there openly shopped for melamine to
> artificially boost the protein content of its wheat gluten, FDA
> investigators still lack visas needed to inspect Chinese plants.
>
> In addition to wheat gluten and rice-protein concentrate that the FDA
> confirmed contained melamine, the agency has been alerted to a third
> protein-based ingredient - corn gluten - that also included melamine and
> was shipped from China to South Africa. For now, there is no indication
> the corn gluten was sent to the United States, Sundlof said.
>
> The current theory is that Chinese suppliers intentionally added melamine
> to ingredients that were low in protein to ensure they would test high
> enough to allow them to be labeled as protein supplements and command the
> prices of wheat gluten, rice-protein concentrate, or corn gluten.
>
> ''It adds to the theory when you see other products that are labeled as
> protein supplements,'' he said. ''That melamine was found in all three of
> those, it would certainly lend credibility to the theory that this was
> intentional.''
>
> Members of Congress, pointing to $2.1 billion in agricultural products
> American companies imported last year from Chinese suppliers, are
> pressuring the Chinese government to cooperate with the FDA.
>
> ''We strongly urge the Chinese government to quickly issue visas to US
> inspectors,'' wrote Rosa L. DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, and Senator
> Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois. ''Clearly, this is an important
> trading relationship.''
>
> In the meantime, the FDA said it has begun to more closely scrutinize rice
> protein concentrate and other imported pet food ingredients, which it
> declined to name.
>
> But confusion persists for consumers as incremental recalls continue.
>
> After a single bag of rice-protein concentrate imported by Wilbur-Ellis
> Co. tested positive for melamine, the San Francisco company said it
> quarantined the entire shipment. Since July, Wilbur-Ellis purchased
> 740,753 pounds of the rice protein concentrate from Binzhou Futian Biology
> Technology Co. It shipped 341,716 pounds to five pet food manufacturers in
> Kansas, Missouri, New York, and Utah.
>
> This week, Natural Balance of California recalled venison-based pet
> products containing rice protein laced with melamine.
>
> The FDA declined to name other firms until, in the midst of its briefing
> with reporters, the Blue Buffalo Co. of Connecticut said it was recalling
> a production run of Spa Select Kitten dry food made with contaminated
> rice-protein concentrate.
>
> The FDA has fielded 15,000 complaints from pet owners since the pet food
> recall began. Outside researchers estimate 39,000 pets were sickened and
> hundreds died.
>
> Diedtra Henderson can be reached at dhenderson at globe.com.
>
> *
>
>
> ---------------------------
> This message was sent to you via the Sludge Watch list serv, the list serv 
> of the Sludge Watch Working Group of the Ontario Environment Network Waste 
> Caucus.  This list serv is maintained by H2infO - The Water Information 
> Network.
>
> For more information visit www.H2infO.org or www.oen.ca
>
> _______________________________________________
> Sludgewatch-l mailing list
> Sludgewatch-l at list.web.net
> http://list.web.net/lists/listinfo/sludgewatch-l
>