No worries! China says all is OK now! Whew!
By Gina Spadafori
January 14, 2008
Thanks to all who sent me the link. From Reuters:
China on Monday declared its four-month campaign to ensure food safety a complete success, with all objectives being met months before Beijing hosts the Summer Olympics.
[...]
“The tasks of the rectification campaign have been fulfilled completely and its objectives have all been reached,” the State Council Information Office said in a news release. “The illegal practice of using non-food materials and or recycled food to produce and process food has been basically eliminated. The illegal practice of abusing food additives such as preservatives and colouring has been effectively held back.”
The People’s Daily said last month the latest campaign, spearheaded by Vice Premier Wu Yi, had been a valuable experience, and praised the hard work of the inspectors.
“It effectively guarantees food safety for consumers in the market,” it added.
Not for this consumer, sorry. Almost a year after the deaths of thousands of pets in this country alone from tainted Chinese ingredients, I now know where almost the food for me and my animals comes from. (Hint: Local.) And I’m planting a garden, too, so there.
Chickens? Likely. Stay tuned. Fresh eggs, anyone?
Related: Iams issued a release that their foods now have the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval:
Good Housekeeping is recognizing Iams and Eukanuba with the food Housekeeping Seal, a mark of excellence that stands for the Good Housekeeping Institute’s rigorous evaluation process as well as an additional limited warranty against defects.
“Being the only pet food manufacturer to earn the Good Housekeeping Seal is a source of pride for Iams and Eukanuba that we’re happy to offer to our consumers,” said P&G Pet Care general manager Dan Rajczak. “Dogs and cats are important members of our family households, so it’s only right that we provide families with the ultimate assurance that we stand behind our pet food products.”
Here’s the entire media release.
Clara is so cute in that grocery bag!
Comment by Katherine — January 14, 2008 @ 10:41 am
And if they’re wrong - they’ll just execute the next guy in line. Move on, move on, nothing to see here!
Comment by 2CatMom — January 14, 2008 @ 10:45 am
As usual, the jokes on us. Gee I feel safer already.
Comment by Carol — January 14, 2008 @ 11:51 am
Here ya go…
http://tinyurl.com/2yrlgx
Comment by Therese — January 14, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
Thank, T!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 14, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
ok here’s what Goodhouse Keepings own website says about their seal of approval - Since 1909, the Good Housekeeping Seal has been a highly recognized statement of the magazine’s renowned Consumer’s Policy. The Good Housekeeping Consumer’s Policy, published in every issue of the magazine, states that if a product bearing the Seal proves to be defective within two years of purchase, Good Housekeeping will replace the product or refund the purchase price.
The Seal may be carried only by those products whose ads have been reviewed and accepted for publication in Good Housekeeping.
see website - http://tinyurl.com/2a2adu
So to me this means basically that if you pay to advertise with them, you quality for the good housekeeping seal….seems like you can just buy one - Gives me lots of faith in them…..
Comment by Deb — January 14, 2008 @ 1:04 pm
BTW - according to the info above from Good Housekeeping - if the pet food kills my pets because it’s defective they will replace the pet food or refund the purchase price….
It justs gets better and better - doesn’t it - Don’t deal with the real issue just ignore it and try to find a way to gloss over the whole thing - let’s spend a fortune on new packaging and advertising instead of putting the money where it needs to be - in the product and taking care of the pets you poisoned last year……
Comment by Deb — January 14, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
“China says all is OK now!”
Yes, and I’ve got an island in paradise I’ll sell you for a dollar.
Comment by Lynn — January 14, 2008 @ 5:13 pm
Gina -
Clara certainly is cute! But, I hope that the “handles” on that plastic bag are cut. There is nothing scarier than a cat running around frantically trying to get the “monster” who has them by the neck off of them. I had a cat who nearly strangled herself doing so when the bag got caught on a piece of furniture. Fortunately, I was right there and was able to free her, but she was truly panicked as I did so. Just a caution!
Comment by Mandycat — January 14, 2008 @ 10:54 pm
From NewsInferno.com
…“In response, to the safety scandals, Chinese officials initiated inspections of over 3,000 toy exporters and suppliers, and revoked 600 export licenses. China’s food and drug safety agency revoked the license of a company responsible for making tainted leukemia drugs that caused leg pains and partial paralysis in dozens of patients and Chinese officials seized thousands of tainted products and put many unregulated shops and eateries out of business, netting nearly three million pounds of substandard food and 945 tons of pork which had been slaughtered illegally or came from pigs which had died of disease. Inspectors also shut 192,400 unlicensed food producers and pulled 29,800 products from the shelves and 100% of stores in larger towns and cities now have a quality-label system in place allowing them to trace products back to suppliers.”
…“The official People’s Daily said in December that the latest campaign, spearheaded by Vice Premier Wu Yi, had been a valuable experience and it praised the hard work of the inspectors. Pu reasserted that the foreign press had over-hyped the problem with hysterical reporting. “Some of the problems were dealt with in an appropriate and timely way by our close cooperation with related countries and regions, and had neither serious consequences nor seriously negative influences,’ Pu added.’”…
To think we’ve been importing these products above from China for years? (Anyone for sweet and sour pork?) And we wonder why we have a rise in unexplained maladies. Simply reading this blurb made me ill.
Pu has been playing in the poppies too long.
The entire article here:
http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/2373
Comment by Nadine L. — January 15, 2008 @ 12:01 am
ALERT!
This morning received an alarming email from a friend about flip-flops from China causing chemical rashes on feet. Gives clear reason to doubt the safety of any pet toys, collars and leashes, pet beds, pet clothing (and as we already know, food) coming from China. Walmart sold them and, as we know with the pet food, STILL HAD THEM ON THE SHELVES AFTER RECALLING THEM AND SOLD THEM TO A CUSTOMER.
Have any tests been conducted on pet products, not food, from China? I’ve become paranoid about buying anything for any of us in our family, or even gifts to others, unless it is marked “Made in the USA.”
Flip-flop story is NOT an urban legend, it is TRUE!
Link: http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/flipflop.asp
Comment by Nadine L. — January 15, 2008 @ 10:32 am
I hope that something “Made in the USA” is made from materials made in the USA! Am I being paranoid again?
Comment by Cathy Z. — January 15, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
Gee, doesn’t it give you the warm fuzzies?
China has wiped out all of the problems with contaminated ingredients, and IAMS has been awarded the Good Housekeeping seal!
Makes me want to go out and buy some…NOT.
Sorry, been through too much last year with losing my kitty to pet food poisoning.
I don’t believe any of it, and am not that easy to convince any more.
Comment by Marcy — January 15, 2008 @ 11:12 pm
But you know what’s REALLY sad? That a good share of the American Public WILL believe (especially when they see that good ol’ Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.)
Makes ya’ wanna cry!
Comment by The OTHER Pat — January 16, 2008 @ 7:10 am
One thing we pet lovers can do is BOYCOTT the Olympics that will be held in China - don’t buy products that “support” the Olympics, don’t watch them on TV.
Comment by perkysmom — January 16, 2008 @ 11:19 am
I take every opportunity I can to talk about it. At the grocery store checkout lane the other day - when the bulk of what I was buying was going into my homemade dog food - I commented on that to the cashier, as well as why. The guy who was bagging then spoke up about China, and I gave him a quick synopsis of the whole wheat gluten/melamine/kidney crystals mess, and how none of that would have happened if we hadn’t been taking China’s word on what they were sending us, and why that meant I was boycotting China as much as I could.
That’s two more people who are now aware of the story . . . . . . . . . .
Comment by The OTHER Pat — January 16, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
Yes the Chinese are on top of it……not at all! Under no circumstance can China gaurantee anything regarding exports or manufacturing..they never could. Just like here in America there is no one checking anything regarding manufacturing of processed foods. Clearly for us to think this problem only concerned animals…makes most of us clueless. This problem has been all over the human food products for many years and this is indicative of all the diseases showing up in what were at one time healthy humans. THe medical community says …we do not know how you got this disease…but here is a drug manufactured by China to fix your health problems. Manipulation of the food chain makes millions for the drug and pharmaceutical companies. These two industries go hand in hand when it comes to additives to processed food by chemists. Think you food is safe…think again… you are the commodity to be manipulated.
Tainted food means millions in drug manufacturing profits!
Obewan
Comment by Obewan — January 18, 2008 @ 9:43 am
Boycott, boycott, boycott! The Olympics in China. Tell the companies who “sponsor” the Olympics on their products that we are not going to buy the product and the reason is….why should they and China rake in the dollars over the dead bodies our pets? Do you really think we are stupid enough to believe that the Chinese have “fixed” their food safety problem? We will not forget.
Comment by perkysmom — January 30, 2008 @ 8:56 am