Poop City

China arrests gluten exporter, Times stuck on 16

From the NYT:

SHANGHAI, May 3 - The general manager of one of the companies accused of selling contaminated wheat gluten to pet food suppliers in the United States has been detained by the Chinese authorities, according to police officials here and a person who was briefed on the investigation.

Mao Lijun, head of the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, is being held in coastal Jiangsu Province, about 320 miles northwest of Shanghai, though a police spokesman in Pei County declined to say on what charges.

In a telephone interview a few weeks ago, Mr. Mao denied any knowledge of how melamine, an industrial chemical, had adulterated pet food supplies sold under his company label earlier this year. He also insisted that his company had never exported any wheat gluten and that his products were only sold in the domestic market.

[...]

Scientists are still trying to explain how melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, fertilizer and surface coatings but not considered very toxic, caused so many deaths.

The contamination -  which affected some of the leading American pet food brands - has killed 16 animals and sickened thousands of others, according to the F.D.A. [Not exactly]

Read the entire article >>

Morning Poop: Total Recall Edition

For the first time in the short history of Morning Poop, there are no exclusively New York headlines to post. There are, however, half a dozen new or expanded recalls, all announced in the last 24 hours. Here they are, courtesy of Itchmo:

- NEW RECALL: All Blue Buffalo canned and treats
- NEW RECALL: Natural Balance canned
- NEW RECALLS: Diamond and Chicken Soup brands
- NEW RECALLS: Costco and Lick Your Chops

Here is an updated list of recalled foods.
Have recall alerts e-mailed to you.

Related:
- Chenango Valley issues nationwide recall [NYT]
- Human risk played down in bad feed [NYT]
- Is the FDA really so clueless? [Pet Connection]

It's disturbing that, aside from the Times Chenango Valley article, I found no recall news in the New York media following a day that saw probably as much activity as any since the scandal broke. The blogs are still where it's at.

Future FDA quote: "Mistakes were made"

The still breaking news that rice protein is a second suspect pet food contaminant has so far followed the same informational pattern as did the initial recall wave: "authorities" think they know (or know they know) what's up, but keep it to themselves as a precaution.

From Howl 911:

Recent reports of Wilbur-Ellis selling melamine-laced rice protein concentrate to five different pet food companies has sent pet parents into a downward spiral of mistrust for the pet food industry and the authorities who regulate it. Both the FDA and Wilbur-Ellis, the U.S. distributor of the poisonous substance, have refused to identify all of the pet food companies who purchased the rice protein concentrate. As of this writing, we only know that Diamond, the makers of Natural Balance's venison-based forumulas, was one of the five companies. Until the FDA or Wilbur-Ellis fully disclose all five pet food companies, it is wise to assume that ANY pet food product containing rice protein concentrate is potentially poisonous.

This time, though, the list of information gatekeepers includes an unlikely name: Veterinary Information Network, and its chief Paul Pion.

From the Sacramento Bee, via Pet Connection:

In Davis, the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory was checking an ever-growing array of food submitted by veterinarians who’ve treated ailing cats and dogs.

“It’s been crazy with phone calls and triaging,” said toxicology professor Birgit Puschner. The lab has not yet received food that’s been gathered by the Davis-based Veterinary Information Network after reports on its Web site of animal illnesses.

Paul Pion, who heads that service, said he plans to take five foods to the Davis lab today. He said he has arranged the tests out of an excess of caution.

“They are not strong patterns, but we don’t want to miss anything,” Pion said, adding that if he were sure that the foods were contributing to illness, he would already have named them.

What's this about? Protection from lawsuits? Stock prices? In most circumstances, such hesitance would be understandable, but with a reported death toll exceeding 4,000, there's just no excuse for it now.

As has been the case from day one, the blogs have taken the lead from the "authorities." In the spirit of sharing information, rather than hoarding it, Itchmo has set up a forum to collect names of foods containing Rice Protein, Rice Protein Concentrate, or Rice Gluten.  Please check the ingredients of your pet foods and report to them if you find one of these substances.

And by all means, keep visiting the always-expanding recall list.

Recall Central

As the recall scandal continues indefinitely, the following list will link to up-to-date info.

- Recalled food list

- NON-recalled foods

- Recall headline database and archive

- All Poop City recall posts

- Report a sick or deceased pet

- Recall victim photo gallery

- Top recall sites: Howl 911 / Itchmo / Pet Connection

MORE:

- Pet food basics (who owns what, what the labels mean, etc.)

Photo: Lucy, c/o sarah is me. via Flickr

98.7 percent of food not inspected

Straining to keep up with market globalization, the Food and Drug Administration inspects just 1.3 percent of imported foods, the AP reports.

And much of that 1.3 percent is contaminated.

Consider this list of Chinese products detained by the FDA just in the last month: frozen catfish tainted with illegal veterinary drugs, fresh ginger polluted with pesticides, melon seeds contaminated with a cancer-causing toxin and filthy dried dates.

Ew.

The remaining 98.7 of food imported into the United States is not inspected at all. Instead, it goes straight to the market. Imports now account for 13 percent of food consumed in America annually.

Even foods that are considered "safe" can contain hidden contaminants. If the wheat gluten now suspected to be responsible for pet sicknesses and deaths across the U.S. had been inspected, it would not have been tested for melamine, because melamine isn't (or wasn't) considered "toxic."

Photo: hober via Flickr

Don't panic! Denial is your friend

As the Senate holds the first federal hearing into the ever-growing pet food scandal at this hour, there seems to be an emergence of crisis denial.

Veterinarian Claudia A. Kirk, scheduled to testify before the Senate as of this writing, had a piece yesterday on Tennessean.com in which she tries to soothe pet parent fears based on the FDA's ludicrous official death count of "fewer than 20" - a number the FDA itself has acknowledged is incomplete. Kirk dismisses "anecdotal reports suggest[ing] the numbers will more likely be in the hundreds." Hundreds?

Kirk goes on: "The commercial products now on the grocery shelves are considered safe [really?]. We expect few, if any, additional recalls [really?]."

Few, if any, additional recalls. Kirk's piece is dated April 11, which means it was written no later than April 10 - the day of Menu Foods' latest recall expansion.

"For those needing extra peace of mind," Kirk advises, "avoiding products with wheat gluten could be considered for the next few weeks."

And for extra extra piece of mind, change your oil every 3000 miles, rather than 5000. It should horrify the pet parent community that this woman is at this moment testifying before the United States Senate.

Everyone's favorite "pet journalist," Steve Dale, filed a "news" article today declaring that, according to the FDA and the Banfield vet chain, "cases of death and illness among animals due to eating tainted pet food have greatly diminished."

But Dale offers no real evidence to back up this claim - only a recitation of casualty numbers released by Banfield. Other credible sources see those same numbers as a sign that tens of thousands of pets could be affected. Not only does Dale avoid such extrapolations, however, he virtually sounds the all-clear.

The good news is that reports of thousands of pets dying at Banfield hospitals because of poisoned food are false. The number of pet deaths nationwide may turn out to be in the hundreds, not thousands.

Even if he is right - and that would be good news - to say that "cases of death and illness among animals due to eating tainted pet food have greatly diminished" makes no sense. Does it mean reports of new cases are slowing? That existing cases have since gone away? Or that - based on Dale's non-calculations - most of the 3000+ people who have reported that their pets are dead or dying after eating recalled food are mistaken? Or does it mean they're liars?

Weeks ago, Dale went on NPR and poo-pooed the whole recall thing, dismissing online coverage as "sensationalized." Now that the recalls have been expanded again (and again, and again), his position doesn't seem to have changed.

On his web site, Dale writes: "Reports of confirmed pet death numbers are beginning to finally trickle out, as opposed to the ongoing rampant speculation by various sources."

Confirmed numbers are a useful tool, no doubt - and everyone wishes we had accurate official counts. But if not for "rampant speculation," how many more pets would have eaten contaminated food as the FDA stuck to its figures? How much press coverage would the crisis have earned? Would the U.S. Senate be holding a hearing today - a step Dale apparently approves of - if the public were satisfied with the "confirmed pet death numbers"?

And again, Mr. Dale, please explain the rampant, speculative death toll. All those stories. All those pictures. Is there a vast conspiracy against the pet food industry, propagated by individual pet parents across the nation? Again: Are they wrong, or are they lying?

And what about Paul Pion, founder of the Veterinary Information Network? At the end of March, Pion told the AP:

"I'm sure we haven't seen half the cases and if you double what we've seen, it's a thousand ... If we're only getting 10 percent of the veterinarians, you can do the math."

Well, some of us can.

Far from being an alarmist, Pion has taken pains to avoid hyperbole. But unlike other "experts," he is not in denial.

The fact is we don't know how many pets will eventually be affected by this mess, and we may never know. Nor do we know how many foods are actually contaminated, or how many will eventually be recognized as such and pulled from the market. Acknowledgment of these facts seems to be a key difference between the deniers and the rest of us.

No one wants anyone's cat or dog to get sick or die from contaminated food, and no one is intentionally trying to induce unwarranted panic. Personally, when it comes to the safety of my kids, I'll take caution - and even fear - over complacency any day. Complacency, after all, is what got us and our pets where we are.

P-O-R: Good Government Edition

NO CLASS: Democrats in the House and Senate have proposed federal legislation to prevent "Class B" animal dealers and unlicensed dealers from selling dogs and cats to research labs. "This bill," writes the ASPCA, "would eliminate the incentive for 'bunchers' - people who collect animals from random sources and sell them to Class B Dealers - to obtain dogs and cats through illegal [i.e. theft] or unethical [i.e. 'Free to Good Home' ads] means, as there would be no profit in doing so." Read the ASPCA endorsement for more details about S. 714/H.R. 1280, the Pet Safety and Protection Act. And, most important, be sure to contact your Senators and Representative (click here if you aren't sure how or who).

PROPERTY RIGHTS: New Jersey lawmakers are looking to crack down on pet food makers who release contaminated food into the marketplace. One bill, proposed by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, would require food makers to certify that their products are safe, and would hold them liable for damages if proved otherwise. Another legislator wants tighter controls on the retail level in order to ensure that recalled food doesn't remain available for sale. The New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, while applauding those efforts, believes the state should take a more holistic approach by elevating pets above "property" status.

IMBY: Support New York's own animal-defending government watchdogs by attending the League of Humane Voters of New York City spring membership meeting, tomorrow (Wednesday) at the LGBT Center (208 W. 13th St., Rm. 101, 6:30 p.m.). Come for the animals, stay for the animal-free pizza.

Yeti

Yeti passed away on 3-31-2007 after eating recalled dog food. He was a very good boy, and will be missed. - Badadam

Image c/o the BARC Pet Food Recall Photo Gallery

ASPCA questions Vitamin D theory

The ASPCA issued a release late last week discounting the emerging theory that high levels of Vitamin D in pet food may be causing illnesses and deaths.

ASPCA doc Steven Hansen says that some of illness indicators could be seen as symptomatic of a Vitamin D overdose. However, the release adds [emphasis theirs]:

[T]he difference that we see in cases of Vitamin D overdose is that the increase in blood calcium leads to the generalized calcification - or hardening - of tissues throughout the animal’s body. This calcification can be seen on X-rays, and is especially apparent in the kidneys, heart and intestinal tract.”

The documented reports by veterinary pathologists involved in the pet food recall have thus far not shown any such generalized calcification.

“Further, if these pets were suffering from overdoses of Vitamin D, fluid therapy alone would not be successful - they would require aggressive and early veterinary care to reduce blood calcium levels to achieve any chance of success. And we have seen that fluid therapy has indeed been successful in treating some of these cases, including at our own Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York City.”

Remember, despite its slow public response to the initial Menu Foods recall, the ASPCA was ahead of the curve in questioning aminopterin as the causative agent. It has also cast doubt on melamine.

The sad and horrifying fact is, despite the theories, there is still no definitive answer. No one knows why over 3,000 cats and dogs are (unofficially) dead, or, apparently, which food product will next appear on the ever-growing list of those confirmed or suspected to be contaminated.

Get mo' Itchmo

Hanging by the computer for the inevitable Friday drop-and-run recall expansion media release? Itchmo can help.

Our friends in Seattle have set up a Pet Safety Alert E-mail List, delivering urgent news straight to your Inbox. And not to worry, your addy will not be shared with anyone else.

Stay informed. Sign up now.