Best Summary of the FOOD SAFETY CRISIS

The fact is, due to greed, negligence and uncontrolled Chinese capitalism our food supply has been widely contaminated by melamine and related compounds, and USDA, FDA, CDC and other government agencies have no idea what the long term human health effects might be. Throughout this unfolding crisis, the regulatory agencies tasked with assuring the safety and purity of our food supply have consistently downplayed the risk to humans -- a somewhat understandable attitude considering Chinese and American consumers have apparently been eating melamine-tainted food for months, if not years, with no known epidemiological impact. But given the harm to our pets, and the fact that kidney damage is cumulative and can remain asymptomatic until renal function is mostly lost, I wonder how many Americans would be willing to accept on blind faith USDA/FDA's reassurances that products containing "low" levels of melamine are perfectly safe to feed to our children?

Pigs in China mysteriously bleeding to death (UPDATE: "blue ear disease" named as the cause

The Apple Daily newspaper said that up to 80 percent of the pigs had died in the area, that peasants were engaged in panic selling of ailing animals at deep discounts and that pig carcasses were floating down a river.

The lack of even basic details is reviving longstanding questions about whether China is willing to share information about health and food safety issues with potentially global implications. The Chinese government — and particularly the government of Guangdong Province, which is next to Hong Kong — was criticized in 2003 for concealing information about SARS when it emerged in Foshan, 95 miles northwest of Hong Kong. After SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, spread to Hong Kong and around the world, top Chinese officials promised to improve disclosure.

But officials in Hong Kong, at the World Health Organization and at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said Monday that they had been told almost nothing about the latest pig deaths and that they had been given limited details about the apparently unrelated problem of wheat gluten contamination, which has led to a massive pet food recall in the United States.

UPDATE
China says the outbreak was a result of 'blue ear disease'. Read more here.

Farmed fish in U.S. fed melamine-tainted meal

After pigs and chickens, the farmed fish mark the third food animal given contaminated feed. The level of contamination is expected to be too low to pose any danger to human health, said Dr. David Acheson, the FDA's assistant commissioner for food protection.

Melamine used was the CHEAPEST SCRAP FORM POSSIBLE

Often, the animal feed producers say they do not buy pure melamine, which is used to make plastics and fertilizer, but impure melamine scrap from chemical factories, which is much cheaper than pure melamine.

Feed producers say they believed it to be legal and nontoxic, though they acknowledge they are cheating buyers. Scientists looking at the pet food deaths, however, say melamine scrap may have impurities and related compounds, like cyanuric acid, which could turn it more toxic.

Chinese chemical makers say they also produce a chemical which is a combination of melamine and cyanuric acid, and that feed producers have often sought to purchase scrap material from this product.

Melamine scrap or cyanuric acid scrap often costs one quarter of the price of pure melamine or cyanuric acid and is much cheaper per protein count than wheat or corn meal.

Cyanuric acid scrap is often even cheaper than melamine scrap, producers here say, which is one reason it may have been mixed in or used as a substitute for melamine in the pet food ingredients.

full article (with a strange publish date of tomorrow (05/09/07) can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/business/worldbusiness/09food.html?pagewanted=2&ref=business

From China to Panama, a Trail of Poisoned Medicine

Toxic syrup has figured in at least eight mass poisonings around the world in the past two decades. Researchers estimate that thousands have died. In many cases, the precise origin of the poison has never been determined. But records and interviews show that in three of the last four cases it was made in China, a major source of counterfeit drugs.

Panama is the most recent victim. Last year, government officials there unwittingly mixed diethylene glycol into 260,000 bottles of cold medicine — with devastating results. Families have reported 365 deaths from the poison, 100 of which have been confirmed so far. With the onset of the rainy season, investigators are racing to exhume as many potential victims as possible before bodies decompose even more.

Panama’s death toll leads directly to Chinese companies that made and exported the poison as 99.5 percent pure glycerin.

Forty-six barrels of the toxic syrup arrived via a poison pipeline stretching halfway around the world. Through shipping records and interviews with government officials, The New York Times traced this pipeline from the Panamanian port of Colón, back through trading companies in Barcelona, Spain, and Beijing, to its beginning near the Yangtze Delta in a place local people call “chemical country.”

'FDA says beware of glycerin imported from China'

The FDA is warning pharmaceutical manufacturers, suppliers, drug repackers, and health professionals who compound medications to be especially vigilant in assuring that glycerin, used worldwide in liquid over-the-counter and prescription drug products, is not contaminated with diethylene glycol - a known poison used in antifreeze and as a solvent.



read more | digg story

How Two Innocuous Compounds Combined to Kill Pets

What do a dead cat in Ontario and a motel swimming pool in Phoenix have in common?



read more | digg story

FDA press conference HIGHLIGHTS

from Itchmo.com:

UP TO 8,500 PET DEATHS, FOOD TAINTED SINCE 2006

The FDA press conference yielded new information.
Here are the highlights:

-Of 17,000 calls up to 50% claimed their pets died.

-Pet food from 2006 tested positive for melamine.
No samples available prior to that date.

-2.7 million chickens ate tainted food. In addition, tainted
pet food consumed by chickens in hundreds of farms.

-Will not give clear answer to whether people ate those
chickens.

-No details given on investigation in China. Not even the
number of investigators.

-Can’t rule out contamination in other vegetable protein.

-All tainted ingredients went to pet food companies.

FDA Press Conference at 4PM Eastern Time

Will they finally admit the higher death count? Will they finally
announce the addition of 29 new pet food recalls that happened in
the last 24 hours? Will they tell us they are detaining a Chinese
exporter - if so, will they prosecute him? Will they finally tell
us the truth about melamine AND cyanuric acid in the food as that
is the combination necessary for the reaction to cause death or
severe illness? They can't tell me anything I don't know - but
will they finally let the rest of the U.S. know the facts?
We'll see. Tune in.

FDA IMPORT ALERT

Finally, nearly two months later, the FDA is a little closer to announcing what many of us suspected all along. Problem is, the import alert (NOT a press release, NOT an update) they posted on 4/27/06 is so buried on their website that bloggers only found it late last night!

That import alert which must be read to be believed - notes an extremely large increase in the number of pets the FDA is willing to suggest have been killed by tainted products. On 4/26/07 FDA officials repeated that that only "16" pets are reported dead - the same day at which they said they weren’t expecting more recalls,
(even though a recall was made just before or during the media conference, and four more in the hours after) the alert dropped quietly onto the FDA’s Web site 4/27/06. It happens to note:

This has been one of the largest pet food recalls in history, a recall that continues to expand. Thus far, 18 firms have recalled product, 17 Class I and 1 class II, covering over 5,300 product lines. As of April 26, 2007, FDA had received over 17,000 consumer complaints relating to this outbreak, and those complaints included reports of approximately 1950 deaths of cats and 2200 deaths of dogs.

The info on their alert is a start. It's still a mess though and they really don't know what's going on. Add in the fact that melamine has been spiking our food and Fido's food for decades and it's no wonder there more questions than answers.


IA #99-29, 4/27/07, IMPORT ALERT #99-29, "DETENTION WITHOUT PHYSICAL
EXAMINATION OF ALL VEGETABLE PROTEIN PRODUCTS FROM CHINA FOR ANIMAL OR HUMAN
FOOD USE DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF MELAMINE AND/OR MELAMINE ANALOGS"

TYPE OF ALERT: Detention Without Physical Examination (Countrywide)

(Note: This import alert represents the Agency's current guidance to FDA field
personnel regarding the manufacturer(s) and/or products(s) at issue. It does
not create or confer any rights for or on any person, and does not operate to
bind FDA or the public).

PRODUCTS: Wheat Gluten
Rice Gluten
Rice Protein
Rice Protein Concentrate
Corn Gluten
Corn Gluten Meal
Corn By-Products
Soy Protein
Soy Gluten
Proteins (includes amino acids and protein hydrosylates)
Mung Bean Protein

PRODUCT 02G[][]08 - Soy Bean Meal/Powder/Gluten/Protein Isolate
CODES: 18E[][]03 Soy Protein Powder
02F[][]08 Wheat Gluten
02E[][]06 - Wheat Flour Gluten
71M[][]01 Wheat Gluten

02D[][]12 Rice Protein
02D[][]13 Rice Gluten
71I[][]03 Rice Protein

71G[][]02 - Corn Gluten
02B[][][][] Milled Rice Products

54[][][][][]- Amino acids and protein hydrosylates


PROBLEM: Poisonous or Deleterious Substance
Unfit For Food
Unsafe Food Additive
PAF: PES

COUNTRY: China (CN)

MANUFACTURER/SHIPPER: All

CHARGES: "The article is subject to refusal of admission pursuant to
section 801(a)(3) in that it appears to bear or contain a
poisonous or deleterious substance, which may render it
injurious to health [Adulteration, section 402(a)(1)]"

and/or


"The article is subject to refusal of admission pursuant to
section 801(a)(3) in that it appears to bear or contain a
food additive that is unsafe within the meaning of section
409 [Adulteration, section 402(a)(2)(C)(i)]"

and/or

"The article is subject to refusal of admission pursuant
to section 801(a)(3) in that it appears to be unfit for
food [Adulteration, 402(a)(3)]"

RECOMMENDING
OFFICE: Division of Import Operations and Policy, HFC-170

REASON FOR
ALERT: In recent weeks, there has been an outbreak of cat and dog deaths
and illness associated with pet food manufactured with vegetable
proteins contaminated with melamine and melamine related
compounds. In response to this outbreak, FDA has been conducting
an aggressive and intensive investigation. Pet food manufacturers
and others have recalled dog and cat food and other suspect
products and ingredients. This has been one of the largest pet
food recalls in history, a recall that continues to expand. Thus
far, 18 firms have recalled product, 17 Class I and 1 class II,
covering over 5,300 product lines. As of April 26, 2007, FDA had
received over 17,000 consumer complaints relating to this
outbreak, and those complaints included reports of approximately
1,950 deaths of cats and 2,200 deaths of dogs. The Agency is
working with federal, state, and local governments, academia, and
industry to assess the extent of the outbreak, better understand
how melamine and melamine related compounds contributed to the pet
deaths and illnesses, and to determine the underlying cause of the
contamination.

As of April 26, 2007, FDA had collected approximately 750 samples
of wheat gluten and products made with wheat gluten and, of those
tested thus far, 330 were positive for melamine and/or melamine
related compounds. FDA had also collected approximately 85
samples of rice protein concentrate and products made with rice
protein concentrate and, of those tested thus far, 27 were
positive for melamine and/or melamine related compounds. FDA's
investigation has traced all of the positive samples as having
been imported from China.

Although FDA's investigation is ongoing, the Agency has learned
the following about the outbreak and its association with
contaminated vegetable proteins from China:

1. For the vegetable proteins and finished products that have been
found to be contaminated, it is unknown who the actual
manufacturers are, how many manufacturers there are, or where in
China they may be located.

The samples of vegetable proteins that have tested positive for
the presence of melamine and melamine analogs have, thus far, been
traced to two Chinese firms, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology
Development Co. Ltd. and Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co.
Ltd. Records relating to the importation of these products
indicate that these two firms had manufactured the ingredients in
question. There is strong evidence, however, that these firms are
not the actual manufacturers. Moreover, despite many weeks of
investigation, it is still unknown who the actual manufacturer or
manufacturers of the contaminated products imported from China
are.
All of the contaminated wheat gluten has thus far been traced to
Xuzhou Anying. According to the General Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) of the Chinese
government, Xuzhou Anying purchased its wheat gluten from 25
different manufacturers and Xuzhou Anying may just be a supplier.
Press statements by Xuzhou Anying state that it did not
manufacturer the wheat gluten it had shipped to United States that
has been associated with the outbreak, but that it received that
wheat gluten from other sources not named in the press statements.

Despite its investigation into the matter, FDA has been unable to
determine who, in fact, the actual manufacturer(s) are.
2. The source of the contamination problem is currently unknown and
FDA has been unable to isolate the scope of the problem.

Melamine is a molecule that has a number of commercial and
industrial uses. Other than a few limited authorizations for use
in food contact materials for human food, melamine has no approved
use as an ingredient in human or animal food in the United States.
FDA is continuing its investigation into how the melamine and
melamine related compounds may have gotten into the vegetable
protein, and has asked the Chinese government to help with this
investigation.

In addition, FDA does not know how widespread the problem in China
might be. For example, FDA does not know which regions of the
country may or may not be impacted by the problem, which firms are
the major manufacturers and exporters of vegetable proteins to the
United States, where these vegetable proteins are grown in China,
and what controls are currently in place to prevent against
contamination.
According to the Chinese government, Xuzhou Anying did not declare
the contaminated wheat gluten it shipped to the United States as a
raw material for feed or food. Rather, according to the Chinese
government, it was declared to them as non-food product, meaning
that it was not subject to mandatory inspection by the Chinese
government. In addition, in a communication to the U.S.
government, the Chinese government has requested that FDA either
request or require that U.S. importers of plant protein products
insist on AQSIQ certification, based on AQSIQ testing, as part of
the import contract. According to a media report, China's Foreign
Ministry issued a statement that the contaminated vegetable
protein managed to get past Chinese customs without inspection
because it had not been declared for use in pet food. The news
report said the contamination problem has prompted China to step
up inspections of plant-based proteins and to list melamine as a
banned substance for food exports and domestic sales.

This information indicates that there are manufacturing control
issues that cannot be linked to specific sources in China, but
instead require country-wide monitoring.

3. On April 17, 2007, pet food manufacturers in South Africa recalled
dry cat and dog food due to formulation with a contaminated corn
gluten, a vegetable protein. FDA has learned that the corn gluten
was contaminated with melamine and that the corn gluten had been
imported from a third-party supplier in China. According to news
reports, the contaminated pet food has been linked to the deaths
of approximately 30 dogs in South Africa.

GUIDANCE: Districts may detain without physical examination, all Vegetable
protein products from China.

Appropriate screening criteria have been set.

For questions or issues concerning science, science policy, sample
collection, analysis, preparation, or analytical methodology,
contact Mr. Thomas Savage, Division of Field Science, at 301-827-
1026.

If a firm, shipper or importer believes that their product should
not be subject to detention under this import alert they should
forward information supporting their position to FDA at the
following address:

Food and Drug Administration
Division of Import Operations and Policy (HFC-170)
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 12-36
Rockville, MD 20587

In order to adequately assess whether a manufacturer has the
appropriate controls and processes in place to ensure the quality
of the product being produced, the firm or shipper must provide
the following information:
1. Documentation showing that a minimum of five (5)
consecutive entries have been released by FDA based on
third party laboratory analyses using FDA recommended
methods and that all shipments did not contain the
presence of melamine and/or melamine analogs.

AND

2. Certificate, such as from AQSIQ, indicating that an
inspection of the manufacturer was conducted and
adequate controls are in place. Information should
also include:

a. Copy of the inspectional reports and compliance
status of the manufacturer.

b. If products were sampled during the course of the
inspection, test results indicating that the
products are free of melamine and/or melamine
analog.


All requests for removal (exemption) from DWPE will be forwarded
by DIOP to CVM (HFV-230) or CFSAN (HFS-606) for
evaluation depending on the intended final use in animal
or human food.

PRIORITIZATION
GUIDANCE: I

FOI: No purging required

KEYWORDS: Feed, pet food, human food, melamine, gluten, protein,
concentrate, rice, wheat, corn, soy, mung bean

PREPARED BY: Cathie Marshall, CVM, HFV-232, 240-276-9217
Salvatore Evola, CFSAN, HFS-606- 302-436-2164
Linda Wisniowski, DIOP, HFC-172, 301-443-6553

DATE LOADED
INTO FIARS: April 27, 2007

Melamine is COMMONLY used in China (vanished article attached)

The article below appeared on the International Herald Tribune
and just as quickly it disappeared. It appeared on the front
page of that paper today. Did someone make IHT take it
off their website? I emailed the paper as well as the two
authors... so we'll see.

In the meantime, PLEASE SHARE THIS ARTICLE WITH YOUR
LOCAL PAPER as well as friends and family.

(link to article that as of 4:02pm on Sunday, April 29, 2007 is still now working)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/29/news/food.php

Additive that tainted U.S. pet food is commonly used in China
By David Barboza and Alexei Barrionuevo
Published: April 29, 2007

ZHANGQIU, China: American food safety regulators trying to figure out how an industrial chemical called melamine contaminated so much pet food in the United States might come to this heavily polluted city in Shandong Province in the northern part of the country.

Here at the Shandong Mingshui Great Chemical Group factory, huge boiler vats are turning coal into melamine, which is used to create plastics and fertilizer.

But the leftover melamine scrap, small acorn-sized chunks of white rock, is then being sold to local entrepreneurs, who say they secretly mix a powdered form of the scrap into animal feed to artificially enhance the protein level.

The melamine powder has been dubbed "fake protein" and is used to deceive those who raise animals into thinking they are buying feed that provides higher nutrition value.

"It just saves money," says a manager at an animal feed factory here. "Melamine scrap is added to animal feed to boost the protein level."

The practice is widespread in China. For years animal feed sellers have been able to cheat buyers by blending the powder into feed with little regulatory supervision, according to interviews with melamine scrap traders and agricultural workers here.

But now, melamine is at the center of a massive, multinational pet food recall after it was linked earlier this month to the deaths and injuries of thousands of cats and dogs in the United States and South Africa.

No one knows exactly how melamine - which had not been believed to be particularly toxic - became so fatal in pet food, but its presence in any form of American food is illegal.

U.S. regulators are now headed to China to figure out why pet food ingredients imported from here, including wheat gluten, were contaminated with high levels of the chemical.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned imports of wheat gluten from China and ordered the recall of over 60 million packages of pet food. And last week, the agency opened a criminal investigation in the case and searched the offices of at least one pet food supplier.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also stepped in Thursday, ordering more than 6,000 hogs to be quarantined or slaughtered after some of the pet food ingredients laced with melamine were accidentally sent to hog farms in eight states, including California.

Scientists are now trying to determine whether melamine could be harmful to human health.

The huge pet food recall is raising questions in the United States about regulatory controls at a time when food supplies are increasingly being sourced globally. Some experts complain that the FDA is understaffed and underfunded, making it incapable of safeguarding America's food supply.

"They have fewer people inspecting product at the ports than ever before," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington. "Until China gets programs in place to verify the safety of their products, they need to be inspected by U.S. inspectors. This open-door policy on food ingredients is an open invitation for an attack on the food supply, either intentional or unintentional."

The pet food case is also putting China's agricultural exports under greater scrutiny because the country's dubious food safety record and history of excessive antibiotic and pesticide use.

In recent years, for instance, China's food safety scandals have involved everything from fake baby milk formulas and soy sauce made from human hair, to instances where cuttlefish were soaked in calligraphy ink to improve their color and eels were fed contraceptive pills to make them grow long and slim.

China's government disputes any suggestion that melamine from the country could have killed pets. But Friday, regulators here banned the use of melamine in vegetable proteins made for export or for use in domestic food supplies.

Yet it is clear from visiting this region of northern China is that for years melamine has been quietly mixed into Chinese animal feed and then sold to unsuspecting farmers as protein-rich pig, poultry and fish feed.

Many animal feed operators advertise on the Internet seeking to purchase melamine scrap. And melamine scrap producers and traders said in recent interviews that they often sell to animal feed makers.

"Many companies buy melamine scrap to make animal feed, such as fish feed," says Ji Denghui, general manager of the Fujian Sanming Dinghui Chemical Company. "I don't know if there's a regulation on it. Probably not. No law or regulation says 'don't do it,' so everyone's doing it. The laws in China are like that, aren't they? If there's no accident, there won't be any regulation."

Most local feed companies do not admit that they use melamine. But last Friday here in Zhangqiu, a fast-growing industrial city southeast of Beijing, a pair of animal feed producers explained in great detail how they purchase low-grade wheat, corn, soybean or other proteins and then mix in small portions of nitrogen-rich melamine, whose chemical properties give a bag of animal feed an inflated protein level under standard tests.

Melamine is the new scam of choice, they say, because urea - another nitrogen-rich chemical that works similarly - is illegal for use in pig and poultry feed and can be easily tested for in China as well as the United States.

"If you add it in small quantities, it won't hurt the animals," said one animal feed entrepreneur whose name is being withheld to protect him from prosecution. [my comment: **** YOU]

The man - who works in a small animal feed operation that consists of a handful of storage and mixing areas - said he has mixed melamine into animal feed for years.

He said he was not currently using melamine, which is actually made from urea. But he then pulled out a plastic bag containing what he said was melamine powder and said he could dye it any color.

Asked whether he could create an animal feed and melamine brew, he said yes, he has access to huge supplies of melamine. Using melamine-spiked pet food ingredient was not a problem, he said, even thought the product would be weak in protein.

"Pets are not like pigs or chickens," he said casually, explaining that cheating them on protein won't matter. "They don't need to grow fast."

The feed seller makes a heftier profit because the substitute melamine scrap is much cheaper than purchasing soy, wheat or corn protein.

"It's true you can make a lot more profit by putting melamine in," said a second animal feed seller here in Zhangqiu. "Melamine will cost you about $1.20 per ton for each protein count whereas real protein costs you about $6, so you can see the difference."

Few people outside of agriculture know about melamine here. The Chinese media, which is strictly censored, has not reported much about melamine or the pet food recall overseas. And no one in agriculture here seems to believe that melamine is particularly harmful to animals or pets in small doses.

A man named Jing, who works in the sales department at the Shandong Mingshui Great Chemical Group, said Friday that melamine scrap prices had been rising but he was not aware of how the company's product was being used.

"We have an auction for melamine scrap every three months," he said. "I haven't heard of it being added to animal feed. It's not for animal feed."

David Barboza reported from Zhangqiu and Alexei Barrionuevo reported from Chicago. Rujun Shen also contributed reporting.