Pet-food recall: New job at FDA, and Tuesday open thread
By Gina Spadafori
May 1, 2007
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We are all behind the eight ball with our deadlines here. Will update as we can, following last night’s FDA developments. In the meantime, here’s today’s open thread.
Update: In a page one story, the Washington Post looks at the larger issue of the food supply safety:
The task of guarding against contaminants in imports has become far more complicated because an increasing portion of the tens of billions of dollars in Chinese food and agricultural imports involves powders and concentrates for the processed-food industry — including the wheat gluten and rice protein at the center of the pet food scandal. Animal feed imports alone grew sevenfold from 2001 to 2006, the Commerce Department says.
Such products pose three problems: Their makeup is not obvious by mere visual inspection; they can be easily and invisibly contaminated or intentionally spiked with chemicals that are not on the FDA’s standard battery of tests; and their origins are often vague, because they have been through several stages of processing and trade.
Now an increasing number of legislators, scientists and others are saying it is time to modernize FDA’s authority to trace the sources of food imports and punish scofflaws — legal powers that experts say have barely evolved over the past 70 years.
Here’s the rest.
Update: The FDA has just announced the creation of a new position, Assistant Commissioner for Food Protection. Dr. David Acheson will take the job. From the release:
Currently, Dr. Acheson serves as chief medical officer and director of the Office of Food Defense, Communication and Emergency Response at the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN).
In his new role, Dr. Acheson will work with individual FDA product centers, as well as the Office of Regulatory Affairs to coordinate FDA’s food safety and defense assignments and commitments.
In addition, Dr. Acheson will serve as the commissioner’s direct liaison to the Department of Health and Human Services, of which FDA is a part, and to other U.S. departments and agencies on food safety and food defense related inter-agency initiatives.
[...]
One of Dr. Acheson’s first projects will be the development of an agency-wide, visionary strategy for food safety and defense. The strategy will identify and characterize changes in the global food safety and defense system, and identify current and future challenges and opportunities. It will also name potential barriers, gaps, and most critical needs in a food safety and defense system. The strategy will serve as the framework in helping the agency prioritize and address food safety and defense challenges.
As a CFSAN office director, Dr. Acheson currently has had the lead for emergency response, as well as outreach and communications to industry, state and consumers on issues pertaining to the center. He manages a staff of epidemiologists, biostatisticians and others in providing risk assessments, aid in epidemiological investigations of foodborne outbreaks, and other important center-wide functions.
Here’s the rest.
For those of you going crazy trying to follow developments and discussions within the limitations of a Web log format, remember Itchmo has a threaded forum open.
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I can’t find much on the news of the gluten/protein toxic matter and the increased pet deaths and illness announced by the FDA - wonder if they purposively released it last night knowing the news coverage would focus on the immigration-border issues?
Oh well, can’t have everything - sneaky little minions.
Comment by Linda — May 1, 2007 @ 6:51 am
Click-on-Detroit Rescue 4 has done a good job
Watch the video from their 11 pm news last night:
http://tinyurl.com/26ze22
(click more, then scroll down and click video)
View the mansions of the CEO’s and see inside a pet food plant. 8)
Comment by Kathi — May 1, 2007 @ 7:21 am
Senator Durbin now on Fox News speaking about Pet Foods!
10:26 AM ET
Comment by Pat — May 1, 2007 @ 7:25 am
We really need to close down our ports to all imports of food from any country and clean up the mess we have here first.
Something tells me since this has spread worldwide I look for all countries have to do the same.
Anything else is a stop gap. But at least it’s a start.
Comment by Pat — May 1, 2007 @ 7:28 am
Comment by Kathi — May 1, 2007 @ 7:21 am
Time For Criminal Indictments. Every last one of them.
Comment by Steve — May 1, 2007 @ 7:31 am
Gina and Christie, you have just been PHENOMENAL. Thank you for your tireless efforts.
Comment by Angelique — May 1, 2007 @ 7:35 am
Comment by Kathi — May 1, 2007 @ 7:21 am
For those of us unable to watch the video, can you share what they showed from inside a pet food plant - what plant was it?
Comment by slt — May 1, 2007 @ 7:37 am
showed from inside a pet food plant - what plant was it? Comment by slt — May 1, 2007 @ 7:37 am
Absolute Filth. (A Menu Plant)
Never imagined it would be that bad.
Comment by Steve — May 1, 2007 @ 7:42 am
Steve - more details please! Wish I could see the video.
Comment by slt — May 1, 2007 @ 7:47 am
The filth inside that Menu Plant was revolting, repulsive, and despicable.
Comment by Steve — May 1, 2007 @ 7:48 am
Tainted food finally made MSN front page!
Comment by shelly — May 1, 2007 @ 7:52 am
And those 20,000 Sq Ft Mansions these Menu execs live in are even more revolting.
Comment by Steve — May 1, 2007 @ 7:53 am
Direct link to the video:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/.....index.html
They did a great job!
Comment by shelly — May 1, 2007 @ 7:57 am
Comment by slt — May 1, 2007 @ 7:47 am
If I was a federal health inspector I’d order that Menu Plant shut down, demolished, and all the debris buried in an underground hazardous storage facility. Thats the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.
Comment by Steve — May 1, 2007 @ 7:58 am
One other thing… I think petconnections, itchmo etc are getting so much flack is because others for their own agendas such as impeach Bush, a buncha other extremely radical positions are using this food emergency and off the backs of the poor people who had pets die, are very sick, poisoned some not showing symptoms but will no doubt live out what could have been a much longer life before this tragedy.
These people are being used even by the mouthpieces of the Chinese government for their own purposes…
No matter how bad things get here I would much rather live in Anerica.
911 showed for a glimmer of time we could unite.
The people hurting because of their pets are now being raped by those who blame one party or one branch when in truth both parties and branches are to blame.
The FDA was a mess before Bush say in Clinton’s administration and on back. Let’s hope finally because the death of the innocents someday we may be able to stop importing food and produce our own.
Could happen.
Do we as a country all factions joining together make this happen? We have in the past during World War II.
YES! But will we???
Remains to be seen.
Let’s hope we are not too late. I’d like to think so.
Comment by Pat — May 1, 2007 @ 7:59 am
I just emailed the Detroit News4 this email. There is a link at their site where the video played where anyone can email them. This is what I said to them:
“Excellent piece on the pet food recall. So glad you made it available on the web. Excellent job! Keep it up, please keep this in the news! Tainted food is also in our food supply, we are talking about it at petconnection.com and itchmo.com. They are open blogs, come see the things we find and post about, we really do some sleuthing. You are always welcome. Thank you again.”
Comment by shelly — May 1, 2007 @ 8:03 am
Anyone who sees that video would never buy a Menu product again that’s for sure. That was disgusting.
Comment by shelly — May 1, 2007 @ 8:04 am
Seeing that Menu Plant made me want to projectile vomit.
Comment by Steve — May 1, 2007 @ 8:13 am
I’m going to email the link to the Wysong company, since they seem to be so supportive of Menu…
Comment by Joyce — May 1, 2007 @ 8:26 am
http://www.spockosbrain.com/
Comment by shelly — May 1, 2007 @ 10:04 am
I cannot help but wonder if Dr. Acheson has ever been in the pay of “Big Food” or allied corporations. It always seems to be a factor particularly at the FDA where vitamins are always condemned, but “Big Pharma” can do no wrong. Does anyone know his history?
Also, from the other thread, I posted this.
See the full article at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/20.....ws/fda.php
However, you might hurry as the IHT pulled a critical article of Chinese practices over the weekend and I haven’t seen it in full again.
NEW YORK: Early in the 20th century, the safeguarding of food at American ports often amounted to inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration prying open containers of molasses or sugar and examining them for mold or insect parts.
The FDA has come a way since then, but not much more.
Last year, inspectors sampled just 20,662 shipments out of the more than 8.9 million that arrived at American ports. China, which in one decade has become the third-largest exporter of food, by value, to the United States, sent 199,000 shipments, of which less than 2 percent were sampled, former officials with the agency said.
Now, as the agency’s inspectors travel to China to investigate the source of contaminated pet food that has killed at least 16 dogs and cats and sickened thousands of others, critics in Washington are warning that the agency is woefully understaffed and underfinanced to keep America’s food supply safe.
Another excerpt:
“Emulsifiers” or “stabilizers” found in chewing gums and candies, for example, increasingly come from sub-Saharan Africa and Pakistan, Hubbard, the former agency official, said.
Imports of milling industry products like wheat gluten, while still small, have more than doubled in value since 1996. Food processors use glutens to raise protein content and thicken everything from candy bars to pet food.
“In the same meal these days, we may be eating food from several regions of the world,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal, the director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington lobbying group. “But you get what you pay for in terms of food safety. These food processors may be looking for a cheap new source, but they may pay for it down the line.”
I have e-mailed them regarding the updated numbers available from the FDA. Hopefully, this “urban legend” of so few deaths will go away at some point.
Comment by Jay — May 1, 2007 @ 10:20 am
In the NY Times article the chinese were using urea as an additive to raise nitrogen (protein) levels in the product, they stopped whn it was making the animals sick. They have been using the melamine additive for a while now and probably did the same thing, keep adding the melamine to the product until the customer complaints start(animals dying). I wonder if the lesser amounts of melamine that they have been adding has been causing the increase in kidney disease in cats for the last 15 years or so, and have just reached the lethal levels in the last batches?. The lack of inspections and inspectors at FDA has been good for business interests profits, but has probably allowed our pets to get sick!
Comment by Peter — May 1, 2007 @ 11:47 am
I heard directly from the NY Times reporter who’s been following this and directed him to the FDA import alert where they admit they’ve counted the number of deaths reported to them and quote numbers.
I’m hoping to get those numbers in the NY Times.
Comment by Kathy — May 1, 2007 @ 1:00 pm
In the WDIV video on undercover story, the factory they showed was in Detroit. If you listen to the video again Kevin Dietz specifically says “….this one in Detroit”. Doubt there was any way for them to get into MF
Comment by VJ — May 1, 2007 @ 3:28 pm
**** Is anyone having trouble loading the FDA Live Weblog page?
I keep getting an “IE has encountered a problem….” This is the ONLY page that I’m having trouble with. I’ve been able to load numerous other pages, just not this one. I’ve even rebooted.
Thanx!
Comment by katandbryant@yahoo.com — May 1, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
ABC News actually had a good indepth report. Had an interview with NYT writer David Barboza — one author of the “mystery article” on Sun.
Comment by katandbryant@yahoo.com — May 1, 2007 @ 3:49 pm