POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

The Itchmo Blog has established a regular procedure for submitting pet foo samples that pet owners may think are contaminated by unwanted chemicals. Itchmo has established a special board for posting, coordinating and sharing results about pet food tests. Go to the link for further details. Also a new article on the Pet Connection site says that there may be yet another contaminant in pet food- acetaminophen. They quote an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune as to this matter. Acetaminophen is particularly toxic to cats. The best that Molly can make out from this news item is that the drug was added to foods that claim "arthritis relief". I might be wrong on this, but this is my supposition.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

Yesterday's USA Today had an interesting report, once more documenting how blogs such as the Pet Connection and the Itchmo Blog became the front line for information that concerned pet owners wanted during the pet food recall crisis. Reports on what foods had been recalled were widely scattered between various sources, and Pet Connection, Itchmo and others such as PetFoodTracker.com and PetsitUSA.com became the front line providers of information. This sites also introduced the innovation of live blogging of FDA news conferences. The Pet Connection also complied a database of animals affected, something that no official agency had the mandate to do. Go to the above article to read more about how the internet became a web of timely news and comment in this case. The only fault that Molly finds with this article is that it is not proven that Itchmo and the others are banned in China. The site that they use to track this has been discussed previously on Molly's Blog. It lists Molly's Blog as blocked in China even though Molly regularly gets hits from that country.

Meanwhile another article in the Toronto Star gives more detailed coverage of how much Menu Foods has lost because of the pet food recall. Sales for the period involved were down 31.3% from the same period last year. Two of Menu's main customers have decided to source their production elsewhere. Interestingly enough these two companies are on top of an announcement on March 16th, when the recall began, that Menu was losing its major corporate client, one that represented 11% of its sales. Menu went from a $1.3 million profit to the first quarter of 2006 to a $17.5 million dollar loss in the first quarter of 2007. The final estimated cost to Menu will be about $45 million excluding lost sales and litigation costs.

On the toothpaste front an article in the June 3rd edition of the China Daily reports Chinese officials as denying that their toothpaste can cause harm. The General Administration of Quality Supervision says that a list of ingredients is available to the US FDA. Interesting if true because this would mean that the FDA knew about this matter long before it issued its warning. The Chinese Health Ministry also issued a report saying that the diethylene glycol found in the toothpaste is "harmless at less than 15.6% of the content, citing an unnamed 2000 Chinese study. The mind boggles at what this study did.

Finally, as part of Molly's continued effort to list other Chinese brands of toothpaste that may have been exported, here's another list. Molly urges the reader to look back on previous blogs at this site to see what has already been listed.

Brand Supplier

Kingcol Suzhou Fluo Daily Used Chemicals

OEM Suzhou Fluo Daily Used Chemicals/also Jiangsu

Longli Group

Longli Jiangsu Longli Group (note: this company also

makes mouthwash - is this the upcoming recalled

item ?)

Dentakleen Yangzhou Royal Home Products Manufacture

Quanli Shanghai Quanli Commodities

More items to follow later.

POISONED PET FOOD:

WHAT THE INTERNET DID AND WATCH OUT FOR THAT FROZEN FISH:

A recent article in the Baltimore Sun reports on how the tainted pet food crisis made some internet sites that were previously obscure into valuable resources for the public, more valuable in Molly's opinion than the official sites that produced endless streams of reassurances that turned out to be wrong. As the news story developed and grew it was the blogosphere that became the most reliable source of up to date and reliable news. Such blogs as Pet Connection, Itchmo Blog, Howl911, The Pet Food List and Pet Food Tracker became a much more immediate and reliable source of information than official sites such as the FDA. These sites also had a political effect as they mobilized public opinion in support of Senator Richard Durbin's and Representative Rosa DeLauro's bills on tightening regulatory control of the pet food industry.

The article relates how the Itchmo Blog, named after the owner's (Ben Huh) dog's desire to be constantly scratched, went from a monthly number of hits of 350 in February to over 1.5 million hits in two weeks when the pet food recall began. The sites dug out and highlighted matters that were embarrassing to corporations and government agencies alike. Seems like the internet has become a very much real tool in politics, at least around this matter.

Then there are things about this recall and other exports from China that are "fishy" as well. The Los Angeles Times reports last Friday that there is yet another problem in fish that come from China. Hong Chang of Santa Fe initiated a voluntary recall of its frozen fish imported from China after two Chicago area residents became ill after consuming soup that contained the fish. The fish were sent to wholesalers in California, Illinois and Hawaii beginning last September and were presumably 'Monk Fish'. The problem is that they were contaminated with tetrodotoxin, an extremely toxic substance produced by another species, the Puffer Fish. These are considered an extremely desirable (and expensive) delicacy in Japan where they have to be carefully and specially prepared in order to avoid toxicity. Despite the experience of Japanese chefs there are continued reports of deaths from consuming these fish, even in Japan. Chefs preparing Puffers, also known as 'fugu' or 'blowfish' in Japan have to have at least two years training in preparation of this fish. The toxin's effects begins as a numbness in the mouth and progresses to total paralysis, leading to death by respiratory failure. The victims may remain totally conscious up until the end.

Tetrodotoxin featured prominently in a book that Molly once read 'Murder, Magic and Medicine'. It occurs in species other than the Puffer Fish, but these are not usually consumed as human food. The toxin binds to voltage-gated sodium channels on cell membranes, especially muscle cells, thereby inhibiting their contraction. Death may mercifully result from cardiac failure before respiratory failure ensues. In minuscule doses tetrodotoxin has medical uses in cases of cardiac arrthymias and in pain relief. Death from acute intoxication usually occurs within 4 to 6 hours, with a known range of 20 minutes to eight hours. The published reports of toxicity from Japan say that 646 cases were reported from 1974 to 1983 with 179 fatalities. Some estimates place the worldwide incidence as 200 cases per year with a 50% mortality rate. In Haiti the use of tetrodotoxin is traditional in so-called "zombie magic". The actual fatality rate in Haiti has always been a great unknown. Not every Hoodan succeeds all the time.

No other importer other than Hong Chang has yet instituted a recall of this fish product

Meanwhile up here in Canada the Toronto Globe and Mail published an update yesterday on how melamine contaminated fish food entered Canada and then the USA. The actual original importer was American, a company in St. Louis, and the original source was Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Co. Ltd, one of the Chinese companies implicated in the pet food scandal. The feed was imported from the USA last August. The name of the St. Louis company is being protected by the CFIA, and they say that the contaminated feed "has gone to less than 60 fish farms and hatcheries in Canada". How reassuring !!!

POISONED PET FOOD:

INTERESTING ARTICLE:

There's an interesting article in today's Salon.com on cat and dog food by Kirsten Weir. The article not only gives a run down on the present melamine/cyanuric acid problem but also goes into another recent (Dec., 2005) recall of dog food contaminated by aflatoxin, a well known toxin that should have been screened for but was not. The author goes into the weaknesses of the US regulatory system for pet food, something that has been extensively discussed in such places as the Pet Connection site and the Itchmo Blog but bears repeating nonetheless.

As Kirsten points out there are further problems with pet food, such as the substitution of vegetable protein for meat protein and the dubious quality of some of the animal protein added (good ol' spleens, bones, chicken feet, brains, spinal cords ad nauseum-yum, yum!). He does, however, scotch some of the rumours that horsemeat and euthanized dogs and cats are used in pet food. If you know anything about the cost of horsemeat you'll understand why the first is unlikely, and the second would be unlikely for different financial reasons- even if it weren't against the rules of the industry group- the Pet Food Institute.

The article proceeds to say that the various pet food manufacturers have taken a "don't talk" attitude as a response to the way that the story has grown. As an aside, the Itchmo Blog reports today that Menu Foods has had a "gag order" placed on it by a court that "prevents it communicating with individual pet owners in regards to compensation". Given that the companies seem to be gravitating towards an 'omerta' position on this scandal this order may be more than convenient for Menu.

Hop on over to this article to see more on the above and many other subjects that the author discusses.

POISONED PET FOOD:

IS THERE A HONEYBEE CONNECTION ?

Many thanks to the Pet Connection site for raising this matter:

The phenomenon of 'Colony Collapse Disorder' (see also http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorder.html and http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070223-bees.html ) is a phenomenon initially involving North American honey bees but now also reported in Europe and South America. The original name was 'Vanishing Bee Syndrome', and a steady decline through the last few decades accelerated late last year. The cause has been disputed, and anything from pathogens, environmental stress(weather), GM crops (containing BTH genes), pesticides and even cell phone emissions(cough,cough) have been proposed. The interesting thing is that only some commercial beekeepers have been affected. Feral bees and organic bee keepers are unaffected. To say the least the cause is controversial. Some of the toxic chemicals that have been implicated include some fertilizers.

In today's edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review author Karen Roebuck reports that the Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory and the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine are engaged in investigating the possibility that some commercial bee-feeds made from such things as brewers yeast and soy flour might be contaminated by melamine. Various commercial diets are being fed to groups of bees to access the results and commercial bee feeds are being assayed for melamine. About 1/3rd of US agricultural production is dependent on bees for pollination.

In Molly's opinion this is a "long shot", but its definitely worth looking into. Studies of the effect of melamine on honey bee reproduction should also be done as simple toxicity studies may not give the whole picture.

POISONED PET FOOD:

STILL ANOTHER ROUND OF RECALLS:

It's Friday, and of course a new round of pet food recalls is streaming into consumerland. The latest items involve products from the Evolve label, the Lick Your Chops label and other items from the Chenango Valley label. Molly has to hit the road so she can't list them all here, but she will do so later today. Also the New York Times hints that still more products are likely to be recalled today. So the full details tonight. In the interim look to the Itchmo Blog and the Pet Connection people for further details.

POISONED PET FOOD:

YET ANOTHER LATE FRIDAY RECALL:

Late last Friday the Royal Canin company announced yet another recall of more of their products. This is despite the repeated assurances of the American FDA that they were "on top" of the situation and that they didn't expect any more recalls. This happens to be strike three for the FDA, and the continued pattern of their calming words followed by more revelations should give anyone pause in believing what they say. Anyways, the foods recalled by Royal Canin on Friday are all dry dog foods except for one. The list is as follows:

Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice Adult

Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice Reduced

Sensible Choice Lamb and Rice Reduced

Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice Puppy

Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice Large Breed Puppy

Sensible Choice Natural Blend Adult

Sensible Choice Natural Blend Senior

Sensible Choice Natural Blend Puppy

Kasco Chunks

Kasco Hi Energy

Kasco Maintenance

Kasco Mealettes

Kasco Mini Chunks

Kasco Puppy

Kasco Cat

Molly assumes that the term "reduced" in the above refers to "reducing" and is merely a typo that has been copied from the Royal Canin site. The AVMA list has not been updated as of now- Sunday night- but I assume it will be on Monday. Once more Molly urges her readers to visit the Pet Connection site and the Itchmo blog for the latest news before it will show up on official sites-especially on weekends.

IS YOUR SITE BANNED IN CHINA ?
IT MAY BE DIFFICULT TO TELL:
This little Molly project was inspired by the news that the Pet Connection site and the Itchmo Blog had been banned in China due to their reporting of the contaminated pet food ingredients coming from the PRC. The reference they gave was a site that purports to monitor whether sites are banned or not in China, the Great Firewall of China site. Now Molly was receiving a number of hits from China on her blog back in mid-March when she was blogging on the upcoming lunar eclipse. The Chinese hits have been few and far between recently, but she has received hits in April. The latest hit was yesterday from Hong Kong, which one might argue is "outside the firewall".
But Molly went exploring. Of course, the tracking site said that Molly's Blog was banned as were any number of other anarchist sites that Molly tested. No surprise there. But further inspection showed that such science sites as 'Dr. Fungus' and 'I Love Physics' were also banned. To get away from any possibility of error Molly tested two flower related sites, www.ftd.com and www.canadaflowers.org . These were similarly "banned". What Molly has to conclude from this is that the site that purports to track which sites are banned in China is extremely unreliable. It is entirely possible that the site has been hacked by the Chinese government to give a total spectrum of "false positives" so as to discredit the project. It is also possible that the site is not very accurate to begin with.
The Golden Shield Project is the $800 million(so far) US attempt by the Chinese government to censor the internet in China. The Ministry of Public Security of the PRC began this project in 1998, and its first phase was completed on November 16th, 2006. Up to 30,000 police officers were employed on this project. The main focus of the project is to selectively block certain internet addresses as blocking all "objectionable content" is technically impossible, though surveillance of domestic sites does include watching for certain "key words". The main focus of the Chinese project is to block websites that they deem "subversive". Other stated purposes such as blocking pornography or criminal activity are strictly minor.
Various people have devised methods of getting past the Chinese surveillance system whether by using anonymous systems such as "tor" or by other methods. For more on this see the above reference and also 'Breaking Through the Golden Shield'.

POISONED PET FOODS:

WIDER IMPLICATIONS AND THE FUTURE:

The late Friday blip of further recalls has eased, and we'll see how many the next week brings. Back on April 26th the FDA said that they "don't have anything else that we expect to emerge". This was said when Kirkland Foods had announced a recall just before the FDA press conference, a recall that the FDA was unaware of. Since then further waves of recalls have crashed on this complacent shore. The problems with the FDA and its inspections(or lack thereof) have been repeatedly brought to light during the development of this affair. Diedtra Henderson of the Boston Globe tackled this question in an article dated May 1st. She notes that the odds of "getting caught" for dishonest food exporters are quite slim. While the number of products imported to the USA had skyrocketed the percentage "inspected" by the FDA had plummeted in the face of declining staff numbers.

This means that despite reassurances from the FDA that some feel that there are more food poisonings on the horizon. An article in Consumer Affairs on April 28th quotes Dr. Gary Weaver of the Program on Agriculture and Animal Health Policy at the University of Maryland as saying that the FDA "appears to be some 30 years behind as they use pre-global economy border food inspection strategies in our new global economy world of massive international food trade". The article goes on to note the difficulty in tracing such imports should a problem arise because they have often changed hands multiple times before arriving on American shores. The problems with the FDA inspection regime and how it has been gutted by the Bush regime are discussed at further length in this article in the Baltimore Sun.

Despite repeated assurances from the FDA ( see also this more recent article)that the threat from melamine that has entered the human food chain via mix fed to hogs and chickens is minimal the potential harm that could be done to people is an unknown at this time. Realistically the actual threat level is unknown. The chemicals involved may indeed be diluted by the time then reach the dinner plate. On the other hand they may not, particularly in certain organs. If I were you I'd swear off eating kidneys for some time. No loss to Molly's taste, but a hardship to some I guess.

The ability of the FDA to actually protect the public may be limited by things other than simple budgetary constraints. How this plays out is illustrated by stories that have appeared in the press just today, one in the International Herald Tribune and another in even greater depth in the New York Times. Diethylene glycol, related to ethylene glycol, is the prime ingredient in antifreeze and has many other industrial uses. Anybody familiar with veterinary medicine knows all about the commonality of antifreeze poisoning in animals. What is less well known to veterinarians- and seemingly the FDA as well-see later- is that it has become a major source of human poisoning over the years because it has been added to such products as cough syrups, fever medication, injectable drugs, toothpaste and others because it is less expensive than glycerin. Over the past few decades there have been thousands of human deaths attributable to such adulterated products. A 1995 article in the British Medical Journal by Dr. Michael Bennish, a pediatrician who works in developing countries, about a 1992 epidemic of childhood deaths due contamination of 7 different brands of fever medication in Bangladesh concluded that, given the amount of medication distributed, deaths "must be in the thousands or tens of thousands". Most of these dead children would never have been seen by a doctor. As Dr. Bennish says about poor countries, "most people who die don't come to a medical facility".

The latest victim of this scam is Panama. Last September government officials in that country mixed up large batches of cough medication anticipating a spike of respiratory disease during the rainy season. The supposed glycerin had arrived from China via Barcelona. Cases of poisoning began to show up in late September. The epidemic at first appeared baffling, and infectious causes such as Guillain-Barre syndrome were suspected as well as the blood pressure medication Lisinopril. All of these were false leads. It was the cough syrup. Hundreds of deaths resulted. Bodies are still being exhumed today for legal reasons and to gauge the actual death toll.

The falsified "glycerin" came from China, and three out of the last four outbreaks of this poisoning have been traced to Chinese sources. China itself has experienced outbreaks of this antifreeze poisoning. There is, however, a supreme irony lurking here. This sort of adulteration of medicine with antifreeze 70 years ago was one of the scandals that led to the creation of the American FDA. The FDA itself did the analysis for the Panamanians that identified the poison as they did in the deaths of 88 children in Haiti a decade ago. Yet the last major "catch" of bogus glycerin imported by the USA in 1995 was found not by the FDA but by the Chicago drug company Avatar who tested the materials in a shipment that the FDA claimed to be totally unaware of. Have a look at the New York Times article for a trackback of the Panamanian, Spanish and Chinese companies involved.

All of this is lead in. With a bit of a fire lit under their ass by the pet food scandal the bureaucrats at the FDA issued an advisory about diethylene glycol to manufacturers a full 2 days ago on Friday, May 4th. Love that speed. This advisory gives a lot of the history about this problem dating back to the 1930s even if it grossly underplays the number of deaths that have resulted. One wonders if this advisory would have been issued at all if the pet food poisonings had not gotten such media play. This sort of sloth and glacial speed cannot be corrected by simply throwing more money at the FDA. It says something about their whole bureaucratic culture. Seems that people deserve a little more protection than this. The pet food scandal is merely the tip of the iceberg.

A Few Odds And Ends:

According to the Itchmo Blog (links available there) American Nutrition has capped the compensation offered pet owners whose animals have died from their foods at $500. An article in the US magazine In These Times points out how difficult it may be for bereaved pet owners to obtain possible compensation from income trusts such as Menu Foods as well as mentioning other rather scandalous things about common practices in the Pet Food Industry. The title is 'Poisoning Pets with Industrial Foods'. Worth a look. A Molly thanks to Jeff from Sudbury for this item.

Another newspaper article from the Arizona paper The Republic caught my eye as well. It's basically relating the experiences of an Arizona veterinarian, Dr. Alex MacKenizie, with the recall. His quotation is, "That's been an eye opener for even someone like me" in reference to the fact that so many brands of pet food are made in the same plant with the same ingredients. Molly too. Molly has always known that the pet food industry was slightly "bent" and that a lot of relabelling was going on with the same food sold under different labels with different prices. As she said to many people, "You pay for the advertising". What was a surprise was the full extent of this practice as revealed by this recall. Molly is now leaning towards viewing the pet food industry with the same jaundiced eye as she views health food quackery where getting a product that actually contains what it says it does is a matter of pure chance and where nothing works the way it is claimed to. Unlike health food quackery and the "natural fad" ,however, the pet food scam doesn't have legions of vocal upper class politically savvy supporters who worship it. It actually has the potential for reform.

Which brings us to another news item. As reported in Consumer Affairs and in an Associated Press news release, the US Senate has unanimously passed an amendment by Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill) calling for early warning system for pet food products, fines for companies who don't report contaminated products, improvement of inspections and also improved pet food safety standards. The vote was 95 to 0. Molly wonders when was the last time there was an unanimous vote in the US Senate. All that is missing from the legislation is giving the FDA the power to issue mandatory recalls, and Senator Durbin says that he plans to continue to work towards that goal.

On other matters there's a recall issued recently that Molly missed. The Castor and Pollix Company has issued a recall of their 4 Natural Ultramix Canned Feline Formulas due to cross contamination at the Menu Foods plant. Their press release details their recall. Now as a regular reader should be aware every time Molly sees somebody trumpeting words like "natural" or "organic" she puts them in the same category as those you don't flash a fat wallet in front of when in a line-up at 7-11. Anyways, hopefully those who are thrilled by such adjectives may see what Dr. MacKenzie mentioned above and I have seen. Molly continues to advise her readers to keep up with the AVMA comprehensive list as well as the daily reports from the Itchmo Blog and the Pet Connection for reports of the daily recalls that may still be coming.

One final item. The Pet Hobbyist site plans to hold a panel discussion on the whole matter of the recall this Tuesday, May 8th at 10:00 pm ET. Panelists will include reps from Itchmo, Pet Connection, PetSitUSA, ThePetFoodList and PetFood Tracker, all bloggers who have done so much to keep pet owners up to date on the situation over the last two months, something the FDA seemed reluctant to do. As Molly said before this is an example of the value of the blogosphere in keeping the public informed. Information appears in one place and is almost instantly transferred to other places without a bureaucratic filter. Anarchy in action dare I suggest? How systems self organize themselves ?

That's it for now. I'm sure I'll have more to report tomorrow or even later today. But for now Molly has finally gotten to the bottom of the printouts on this matter and added them all to the tall, tottering stack of "processed" info on the pet food recall. I better get a box for the paper before it falls over.

Big smile Molly. A task is done.

POISONED PET FOOD:

MORE RECALLS AND AN ATTEMPT AT CATCH UP:

Since the pet food recall began with Menu Foods Molly has devoted a lot of attention to this matter. The amount of paper in print outs that Molly has accumulated is truly amazing, and she thinks the tower is about to collapse. Anyways, Molly wishes to thank the people at the American Veterinary Medical Association for deciding to send her regular updates for the list that she uses as her 'master copy' for informing clients. In particular the notice posted as a comment on a earlier blog on this site was useful insofar as it informed people about an expansion of the recall to include the 'SmartPak LiveSmart Adult Lamb and Brown Rice' item (see the company statement ) Molly once more wishes to encourage her readers to visit the AVMA site to find a comprehensive list while also looking to the Pet Connection site and the Itchmo Blog for daily updates. This is particularly important on weekends when, good as it is, the AVMA site is unlikely to be updated. The FDA has gone through several levels of adjustment to the magnitude of the problem here, and after weeks of giving numbers of presumed deaths as "16" they have suddenly upgraded their estimates to "thousands". Any reassuring statement from the FDA should be viewed in this light as the scandal continues to unfold.

But as to further recalls the Itchmo Blog informs us that two additional products from the Drs Foster and Smith line have been recalled. These are the Drs Foster and Smith 'Dry Adult Dog Food Lamb and Brown Rice Formula' in two different sizes. Also the CKN Country Classic Dinners-Chicken Stew is on recall. Other items from the Dr. Foster recall include...

*Adult Lite Dry Dog Food

The Itchmo blog gives references to the website of the company involved.

So much for "clearing the desk" as the number of items piles up. Anyways, here's an attempt. The Associated Press reports that the hold on chickens who have been fed contaminated feed has now gone to 20 million birds in "several states". Here's another report on the matter of the recall from the Houston Chronicle. And still another from the Hartford Courant entitled 'Human Food Eyed in pet Food Recall'. Well worth a look as this scandal will undoubtedly develop further despite government reassurances.

Wow!!!! Molly came to the bottom of one pile on recent news items on this matter. Previous piles have yet to be ploughed through, and either reported or ignored. Once more Molly urges people to consult the references mentioned above for accurate daily updates and a comprehensive list.

Molly in frustration with what she has missed.

POISONED PET FOOD:

NEW RECALLS AND OTHER NEWS:

First the good news. As a poster representing the American Veterinary Medical Association commented earlier today on this blog the AVMA has expanded and updated their recall list as of 11:25 this morning. Quite frankly Molly has found that the AVMA list is more likely to be up to date than the "official" list from the American FDA. The FDA, however, has also updated their list today. This update can be found at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/petfoodrecall. The expansion of the list today due to Menu Foods recalling products that may have been contaminated by a lack of proper cleanliness in their plants (so-called "cross contamination"- how exactly are the machines cleaned between different batches ? Are they cleaned at all ?) illustrates the problem with keeping up with the information as it develops. At the beginning of this recall expansions seemed to come at the rate of once a week. Now they seem to come almost daily. Molly continues to print out the AVMA list in preference to the FDA one to carry with her for her use when visiting clients, but she is becoming frustrated by how often she has to do this now. I also carry other lists with me. To see the expanded list from Menu Foods that became public today look to their press release itemizing the new products on recall. As the AVMA cautions, "the list appears to be changing throughout the day". Some of this may be due to the efforts of the bloggers who have been following this matter who bother to check what the companies say. People at the Itchmo Blog earlier today reported the results of their analysis of the Menu Foods release, and noticed that items that had been added to the general recall list posted by Menu Foods had been omitted in their press release. Itchmo also noted a sudden spike in visits to their site from the corporate office of Menu Foods (30 visits in one day if Molly's memory serves her well), and they commented on this with more than a little humour.

A few asides here. The first is that Itchmo has discovered a number of "fake recall sites" who are engaging in the business or reselling recalled foods while pretending to be about the recall. Go to Itchmo for further details and to download a "button" for your site leading to accurate information. Speaking of which, the good people over at the Pet Connection site have recently written about the abuse they have received concerning their "motives" in working on this recall. They point out that it has been the blogosphere that has been most timely and most accurate at all points during this event. Other organizations, and particularly government agencies, have held to inaccurate estimates and predictions long after they have ceased to be tenable. When Molly is advising clients she refers people to the AVMA for a comprehensive list, but she also refers people to Itchmo and Pet Connection for daily updates. Molly is aware that there are other blogs working on this matter such as the Pet Food Tracker, Howl 911, etc. that are also doing heroic work, and she will try and mention them as much as possible(she's done this before in the last few weeks), but people can easily be flooded by information. Molly almost is. A final aside, I hear nothing more from the correspondent from presumably Royal Canin who was so insistent about the recall of their products being only in Canada some weeks ago. Every once in a while I get a hit from Missouri that sweeps through the posts on this blog looking for further info. Never do I get what Itchmo does, 30 hits from a company in one day. Menu Foods has obviously hired a very disorganized flac runner to scan the internet. Better if they hired more chemists and even better if they hired maintenance to clean their goddamn machinery.

Anyways, here's a brief list of the labels involved in the latest Menu Foods recall. Please go to the press release above for further details about batch numbers, flavours, sizes,etc..

*America's Choice Preferred Pet

*Best Choice

*Cats Choice

*Companion

*Compliments

*Co-Op Gold

*Demoulas/Market Basket

*Drs Foster and Smith

*Fame

*Feline Classic

*Feline Cuisine

*Food Lion

*Giant Companion

*Giant Eagle

*Hannaford

*Hill Country Fare

*Hy Vee

*La Griffe

*Laura Lynn

*Master Choice

*Meijer's Main Choice

*Natural Ultramix

*Nu Pet

*Nutriplan

*Nutro

*Paws

*Performatrin Ultra (Oh shit, says Molly. So far the Performatrin line has been free of problems. This item is the "Chicken Stew Flaked", 156 gm canned. this item is especially distressing as Molly has been on the lookout for lines that have been free of problems )

*Pet Pride

*Presidents Choice

*Price Chopper

*Priority Canada

*Priority US

*Roche Brothers

*Roundry's

*Schnucks

*Soshisticat

*Special Kitty Canada

*Springfield Prize

*Triumph

*Wegmans

*Western Family Canada

*White Rose

*Winn Dixie

*Your Pet

All of the above are cat foods. The following are the dog foods listed...

*Authority

*Award

*Best Choice

*Compliments

*Co-Op Gold

*Hannaford

*Health Diet Gourmet Cuisine

*Hill Country Fare

*Hy Vee

*La Griffe

*Master Choice

*Natural Life

*Nu Pet

*Ol' Roy

*Performatrin Ultra

*Pet pride Good n Meaty

*Presidents Choice

*Priority US

*Schnucks

*Springfield Prise

*Stater Brothers

*Triumph

*Truly

*Western Family Canada

*Western family US

So much more to report. So little time.

Molly

POISONED PET FOOD:

THE RECALL EXPANDS ONCE MORE:

Yesterday Menu Foods announced yet more pet food recalls due to "cross contamination" of other foods with the melamine added to the wheat gluten that they used in foods included in the original recall. (What...they don't clean their vats !!!!!!!-Molly) . See today's Toronto Star on this matter. The expanded list of Menu Foods products is available here. The new recalls are quite extensive, and Molly will hopefully have time to list them here later. In the meantime check in at the Menu Foods page. The comprehensive list of recalled products maintained by the American Veterinary Medical Association will hopefully be updated soon so as to include these new items. it should be noted that the AVMA has retitled their list from Menu Foods recall to petfood recall, perhaps in response to pressure from Menu or perhaps merely because the problem is now obviously more than a one company matter.

For daily breaking news keep tuned to the Pet Connection site and the Itchmo Blog.

Much more to say, but it will have to wait until later.

POISONED PET FOOD: THE RECALL EXPANDS YET AGAIN:

The death toll reported to the Pet Connection unofficial data base now stands at 4,515. This site, by the way, continues to live blog the ongoing US Senate hearings into the tainted pet food scandal, and the testimony presented so far has been enlightening. Go to Pet Connection to read what has been presented so far. Just as the hearings were wrapping up for the day today the spokesman for the FDA claimed that he was unaware of any pending new food recalls, even though some foods from Kirkland had tested positive for melamine. After the conference was over the shoe dropped. Costco announced that they were withdrawing their Kirkland Signature Super Premium canned dog food(both the 'Chicken and Rice' and the 'Lamb and Rice' formulations). also Chenango Valley pet food manufacturers added another item, their 'Lick Your Chops Lamb Meal, Rice and Egg Cat Food' in packages. Also the Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul company has announced a recall of their Kitten Formula in 5.5oz cans, their Puppy Formula in 13oz cans and Diamond Lamb and Rice Formula for Dogs in 13oz cans. Finally, Natural Balance Pet Foods has announced has announced a recall of the following canned foods:

Chicken Formula Canned Dog Food 13oz

Lamb Formula Canned Dog Food 13oz

Beef Formula Canned Dog Food 13oz

Ocean Fish Formula Canned Cat Food 3oz & 6oz

If anything the recalls seem to be expanded faster than once a week as the list of possibly toxic ingredients grows. One of the more disturbing facts uncovered by the Itchmo Blog is that some of the newly recalled foods have neither wheat gluten nor rice protein concentrate as a listed ingredient !!!!!!! To say the least this makes it difficult for the pet owner to judge by ingredients what is safe or not.

More tomorrow I'm sure,

Molly

POISONED PET FOOD:

NEW RECALLS:IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION:RISK TO HUMAN FOODS:

Today the reported number of suspicious deaths reported to the Pet Connection site stands at 4,474. Since Molly last blogged on this matter there have been some new pet foods added to the recall list. Live Smart has initiated a recall of their LiveSmart Weight Management Chicken and Brown Rice Dog Food. The company was one of the recipients of the contaminated rice protein concentrate from Wilbur-Ellis. Now 4 out of five of Wilbur-Ellis' customers have voluntarily identified themselves, but a final one remains anonymous though known to both Wilbur-Ellis and the FDA. also the Drs Foster & Smith Pet Foods Products have initiated, who also received tainted rice protein from Wilbur-Ellis have initiated a recall of their Adult Lite Dry Dog Food and Adult Lite Dry Cat Food. See this press release from the company for full details. Molly wishes to remind her readers that the present stage of the food recall is far beyond being a "Menu Foods recall". The American Veterinary Medical Association maintains a comprehensive list of all foods affected by the recall, though it may be a day or two behind. For daily news on new products being recalled go to the Pet Connection site above or to the Itchmo Blog.

IMPORTANT NEWS FOR AMERICAN READERS:

The law in some Canadian provinces differs from that in most American states as it is possible to sue for "emotional damage" due to the loss of a pet rather than just for financial loss. Two Canadian law firms have launched class action suits against Menu Foods, and American residents can also join in these suits. For more information see the Merchant Law Group and the

Falconer Charney Law Office of Toronto.

OTHER NEWS:

The Pet Connection site has begun a post card campaign targeting the FDA, the White House, CNN, Senator Richard Durbin and other US Senators . You can see details of this campaign at the following Pet Connection entry. Also don't forget the upcoming April 28th series of demonstrations. For more details about these go to the Itchmo Blog mentioned above or the Howl911 blog. Also at the Itchmo Blog is an interesting declaration from the blogmaster in response to Senator Durbin's request for input as to new pet food regulations. This item is entitled The Right to Good Pet Food.

Meanwhile an item from Reuters News agency has reported that Senators Durbin of Illinois and Maria Cantwell of Washington have written a letter to the FDA saying that they have heard from "industry sources" that there is a second US importer of Chinese rice protein concentrate other than Wilbur-Ellis whose product is likely contaminated by melamine. On another front the New York Times reports that the Chinese government has finally relented and agreed to visas for US FDA inspectors to enter China to investigate Chinese suppliers. Meanwhile in California the FDA has traced the contaminated hogs fed melamine laced protein concentrate to four facilities who received shipments from the quarantined Ceres farm. Not all of the hogs, however, are accounted for. An item from Reuters News Agency says that the FDA now says that "thousands" of American hogs may have been contaminated by the melamine containing rice protein. These include hogs not just in California but also in the states of North and South Carolina, New York, Utah and "possibly" Ohio. An article in USA Today reports that the FDA will (finally) begin testing on various products imported from China that go into a number of human food products such as baby formulas, bread, pasta, cereals, pizza doughs, protein shakes, energy bars and some vegetarian foods. These include not just the wheat and corn gluten and the rice protein concentrates so far implicated in the pet food recalls but ALSO corn meal, soy protein and rice bran. It seems to Molly that the alarm bells should have been going off way back in March when the pet food scandal first broke. Time will tell just how seriously the human food chain has been affected. It should also be noted that at least one poultry farm in Missouri has been identified as feeding their birds with melamine contaminated feed as reported in the Boston Globe today. The Washington Post also had an interesting article today on the state of food safety (or lack thereof) in China where food poisoning is a very common occurrence. The article examines the problems with China's dysfunctional food quality programs in depth.

As a final Molly note don't forget that the Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia has an ongoing commentary on this recall. They mention some of the American lawsuits against pet food manufacturers but omit the Canadian ones listed above.

Unfortunately more later,

Molly

LATEST NEWS ON POISONED PET FOOD:

The Wilbur-Ellis company whose rice gluten (protein concentrate) was found to contain melamine the other day has issued a voluntary recall of all lots that they have shipped to pet food manufacturers. They have also issued a press release concerning the details of this recall. Turns out that their Chinese supplier Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Ltd. had the total gall to ship them rice gluten in a bag with a different colour and the word "melamine" plainly stenciled on it. Don't waste the bags I guess. While the company's testing found no melamine in the other bags in the shipment samples sent to the FDA who do more sensitive testing came back positive for melamine. The company is keeping the names of the customers who purchased rice gluten from them secret, but they are urging said companies to come forward and issue their own recalls. Since the date of this press release no company other than Natural Balance has come forward. One wonders about the delay. As a side note the people over at the Itchmo Blog have launched a project to identify all pet foods that may contain rice gluten. Go there to find out more.

A couple of other companies, Nestle Purina and Hills, have issued press releases on this matter. The Hills Company receives rice protein concentrate from two suppliers, neither of which is affected by the most recent recall. They presently manufacture 4 products containing rice gluten, and they have tested all of these and found no melamine. Also according to a recent article in USA today Proctor and Gamble has promised to exercise more "control" (some control???-Molly) over Menu Foods, the manufacturer of their Iams and Eukanuba brands. Molly also wants to direct readers to the most recent (April 18th) statement by the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association where they provide a list of suspect deaths in their state as well as further up to date news items on the general subject of this recall.

The death toll on the Pet Connection unofficial date base now stands at 4,294, 2,214 cats and 2,080 dogs. The total number of food related illnesses reported is 13,158.

More later,

Molly

POISONED PET FOOD:

THE EVER WIDENING RECALL:

The news around the pet food recall continues to widen, seemingly by the day now rather than the week. The latest items include the fact that Menu Foods has added another item to their recall list ie Natural Life Vegetarian 13.2oz cans. Readers are urged to keep checking the menu Foods list for further updates. They are also urged to keep tuned to the more comprehensive list compiled by the American Veterinary Medical Association as well as keeping up with the Pet Connection site for daily breaking news.

More seriously the Natural Balance company has expanded their list of recalled products from the four dry foods listed previously. The items recalled now include the Venison and Brown Rice Treats for Dogs and the Venison and Brown Rice Canned Formula for Dogs. The company has issued updates on their website.

USA Today has an article on this latest recall. The troubling thing about this latest recall is that the source found to be contaminated with melamine is not wheat gluten but rather rice gluten, also imported from China. The rice gluten was imported from China by the San Francisco company Wilbur-Ellis. Wilbur-Ellis sold the rice gluten to five pet food manufacturers, one of which was Diamond Pet Food which added the concentrate to the Natural Balance venison based foods. The Chinese exporter is Binzhou Futian Biology Technology. On the same subject the Sacramento Bee has a story that says there may be five more foods not yet on the recall list which have fallen under suspicion due to reports from the local members of the Veterinary Information Network. Testing is expected to begin on these today.

Molly wonders just how widespread the practice of adulterating protein products with melamine is in China. This is company #2 that has been implicated. With rice gluten added to the list of suspect products the possibility that this contaminated concentrate has entered the human food supply becomes more and more likely.

More later,

Molly

POISONED PET FOOD: NEW NEWS AND RESOURCES:

To date the Pet Connection site has registered 4,133 suspicious deaths on the reporting site in their website. Look to this website for a developing debate on the 'Country of Origin' labelling requirement that has been proposed. For what it is worth Molly believes in a more stringent idea ie a "locally produced" label that would refer to either the classic idea of the '100 mile Diet' or a more expansive idea that all ingredients should be produced within a state or province. This would go more than a few steps forward to an ideal situation, where any problems that develop would be localized rather than continent wide. A "made in USA(or Canada)" label is worthless. Components of the food may come from all across the globe. As an anarchist Molly believes that this sort of thing should be the product of action from local groups such as Humane Societies, Farmers' Unions, etc., and that the labelling should be voluntary. The "wake-up call" from this latest scandal should be enough to shift consumer behavior to purchasing pet food that can't be damaging other than possible problems that can be corrected locally much more simply than the process of tracing components from foreign countries has proven to be. The whole 'Eat Locally' movement has become more prominent in recent years(prominent enough to be featured in Time magazine) and Molly has reported it before on this blog. Molly thinks that this would be an opportunity to both expand local self reliance, a cornerstone of a sensible anarchism, and provide an opportunity for the creation of local business and jobs that has been drained from the community by the multinationals. think about it.

Blogs in the political sector that Molly belongs to such as Shagya's Blog and Le Revue Gauche have also paid attention to this issue recently, especially concerning the corporate and state connections surrounding this event. On the (far!) conservative side of the American political spectrum Daniel Sargis has published a post on the Etherzone website (a conservative blog aggregator) that more than slightly questions the abilities and priorities of the US government.

Anyways, to keep up to date regularly on the pet food recall go to the Pet Connection website mentioned above. The Wikipedia website now has an entry about this recall by John Wambaugh. Here's a few more references that people might want to look at (in no particular order):

1) A statement from Dr. Elizabeth Hodkins, an America veterinarian, who testified before the recent Senate hearings on this matter. The reference includes some of her other writings on the subject of pet food.

2)More statements on the affair and pet foods by Dr. Jean Hofve.

3)An extensive report (49 pages) called 'Deconstructing the Regulatory Facade' by lawyer Justine S. Patrick of the Harvard Law School. Molly hopes to report more fully on this document in the future.

4) Dr. Michael W. Fox who has written many books for pet owners has weighed in on this matter. Not that Molly endorses all of his opinions, but I urge people to check his website for some rational recipes for home made diets for pets.

5)Finally there is the website of Robert J. Russell that is coming out with new insights on this matter.

Molly

MORE ON POISONED PET FOOD:
Just a brief note here. The Pet Connection site has now logged 3,973 "suspicious deaths" on their reporting system. Also go to their site for reporting on the Senate hearings on this matter and the pet food industry in general.

MORE ON THE PET FOOD RECALL:

STATEMENTS, RESOURCES AND NEWS:

In response to the latest enlargement of the Menu Foods recall list (at 100 items as of yesterday) a number of companies and other organizations have issued recent public statements. The statement from Royal Canin is here. They express their dismay at discovering that despite Menu Food's repeated assurances that none of the contaminated gluten had made its way to Canada that they found out that some indeed had and that they were forced to recall their Feline Dissolution diet. According to Menu Foods spokesman Sam Bornstein this was due to a "clerical error". An article in USA Today quotes other food making consultants as being "surprised" that such an error could be made.

The American Veterinary Medical Association has also prepared an expanded list of recalled products that is far more detailed than that on the Menu Foods site and includes products from companies other than Menu Foods. The list goes into complete detail about not just the brand names but also the flavours,etc..The US FDA has also issued a public statement detailing the course of their investigations as of yesterday. The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association has also released a public statement on their response to the recall. Finally Hill's Pet Nutrition Canada has made an offer of reimbursement of up to $100 for any extra expenses involved in the recall of their M/D diet for diabetic cats.

Meanwhile, in addition to the excellent Pet Connection site that features breaking news each day an informal coalition of bloggers has got together to try and mount a national campaign to have all the recalled foods removed from the store shelves. Yes, a lot of them are still there ! Here are some interesting sites that are part of this coalition. The Pet Food List provides a list of foods that are not on the recall list. The Itchmo site has an interesting report on an NBC report on how this event underlines deficiencies in the human food safety system in the USA. Over at Howl911 there is a report on a planned April 28th national march for 'Keep Our Pets Safe' and a link to a recent article in the British Harold Tribune about events in China surrounding this recall (more on this later on Molly's Blog). The Pet Food Tracker keeps an updated list of recalled food and Spocko's Brain also contains updated news on the recall.

Finally the news. As mentioned above the British International Harold Tribune has published an article on what is or isn't happening in China surrounding this recall. Go to the link provided for full gory details. The main "office" of the Chinese company involved consists of two rooms and an adjoining warehouse, somewhat reminiscent of ChemNutra in the USA. The Harold Tribune found that this claimed trading rather than manufacturing company has made several online posts in recent months seeking to purchase large amounts of melamine. These were found on Chinese sites such as Sohu.net and ChemAbc.net. The company left posts saying that they "buy large quantities of melamine scrap all year around". Spokesmen for Xuzhou Anying still claim that they have no idea of how the melamine got in their product and that they make no direct shipments to the USA. Local Chinese people interviewed by reporters working for the Harold Tribune confirmed that Xuzhou Anying does manufacture wheat gluten amongst other products despite the company's denials.

Chinese officials "claim" that they are conducting a nationwide inspection of wheat gluten, but people in the industry in Xuzhou city said they were unaware of any new inspections and even of the fact of the recall. The news director of the city's City Morning Post was quoted as saying, "I didn't know this news about Xuzhou Anying, and even if we had heard about the news, we wouldn't be able to report on it because it's negative news". Having looked at the chemical structure of melamine Molly can see how it might be used to adulterate a product and increase the "apparent" protein content if the assay used is solely based on nitrogen content. Melamine is a very nitrogen rich compound.

The Harold Tribune story also has an interesting sidebar about how 203 people in Heilongjiang Province were sickened (one died) after eating breakfast cereal laced with rat poison two days ago. In China it has been known that commercial rivals sometimes deliberately poison the products of their competitors.

More later

Molly

LATEST NEWS ON THE PET FOOD RECALL:

This morning (Wed., April 11th) the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported in an article that researchers at Cornell University's Veterinary Diagnostic Lab have discovered crystals other than melamine in the contaminated gluten and the urine of affected pets that they have analysed. According to an interview with veterinary nephrologist Richard Goldstein this lab has now ruled out aminopterin which they originally identified as the poison, but there are other coloured granules that have yet to be identified. Researchers have found high concentrations of melamine in the samples, up to 6.6% of the gluten in some cases, but don't believe that this is the source of the toxicity. At the present time over 10 laboratories are working to try and analyse the crystals that make the contaminated gluten different from normal gluten even to the naked eye.

Meanwhile Michael Rogers of the American FDA expresses his disappointment at the slow and incomplete response from the Chinese government and the company Xuzhou Anying responsible for shipping the gluten to the USA. They have still to determine what if any other products the company shipped to the USA and whether they sold any gluten domestically in China that might have made its way to export. The website of the Chinese company involved claims that they also export carrots, garlic, ginger, corn protein powder, other vegetable and animal feed.

There have been many previous large cases of food poisoning in China as the government has little coherent response to food safety issues. There have been cases where commercial rivals poisoned foods manufactured by their competitors. More on this later on Molly's Blog.

To read the original Pittsburgh Tribune Review article go to the Pet Connection site and follow the links.

Molly