pet connection

Lots of little stuff I’ve been meaning to mention, completely unrelated:

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No-kill flamethrower Nathan Winograd goes through some old boxes and finds a postcard from 1994:

Mr. Winograd:

1) We do not advocate “right to life” for animals.

2) There are always exceptions.

Ingrid Newkirk

More here, on Winograd’s blog.
Winograd said the exceptions Newkirk was referring to was in reference to her point that PETA policy supported the extermination of feral cats.

You just can’t make this stuff up! Points for consistency, if nothing else, from this gang of loons who are now grousing at President Obama for killing a fly but who think it’s just fine to kill more than 90 percent of the pets that come into their care.

Why is anyone still listening to PETA?

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Yes, VPI is one of our sponsors, but I’d mention this anyway. It’s a nice move:

Due to depleted funds from the increased number of pets helped this fiscal year, the AAHA Foundation had to temporarily suspend grants from the AAHA Helping Pets Fund in April. The generous gift from VPI Pet Insurance [$25, 000]  will enable the AAHA Helping Pets Fund to resume granting funds immediately.

As the benevolent arm of the AAHA Foundation, the Helping Pets Fund helps those in need access quality veterinary care for their sick or injured pets. The Foundation awards grants supporting veterinary care for pets that have been abandoned or whose owners are experiencing financial hardship.

Thanks to the generous support of AAHA members, individuals and corporate donations since its inception in 2005, the AAHA Helping Pets Fund has awarded more than $800,000 in grants to help more than 3,000 pets receive much needed veterinary care.

You can donate, too. Information here.

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Plea details revealed for Chem Nutra pair linked to pet-food recall: probation and a fine that’s less than a nice new car. VIN News, here. Also from VIN News, Evanger’s says their problem with the FDA is a matter of paperwork, and food irraditation is suspected in neurological problems in Australian cats. … Funny piece on the people you see at a dog show on Frogdog. … Houlie’s husband dishes the dirt on “Did a Cat Shit in Here?” (be sure to read the comments) … Fugly reports on wacky made-up horse registries, just like in dogs! … YesBiscuit! on pet snobbery and the poor. … The UK’s Dogs Trust launches an eZine. …  Wayne Pacelle of the HSUS notes that Gourmet magazine (of all things!) is calling for changes in the food industry with regards to meat.  Michael Pollan  got there first, and so did Slow Food. And so, too, did I.  Compassion, sustainability and support of small family farms: It’s not just for vegans anymore. … I once spent part of a day in the company of a roomful of sun conures. Honestly, I’m surprised I still have my hearing. This are really fun, lively and stunningly beautiful parrots, but I’ll stick with my relatively quiet Caique, thanks. Here’s why, funny story courtesy of Best in Flock. … Saturday addition: Pet Connection BFF Dr. Patty Khuly on how veterinarians feel about Merial using Cesar Millan as the company pitchman for Frontline. Short take: They’re not happy. … Got anything interesting? Aggravating? Head-exploding? Toss it in the comments.

NPR calls them “driveway moments” — those pieces you have to hear the end of so you stay in the car even after you get home and keep listening. Usually this is because the piece is especially interesting or compelling, but in the case of the interview with the new FDA boss, I stayed in my car just hoping she’d say something, anything with some substance.

It was not to be.

The interview had been teased with a mention of the pet-food recall, which NPR characterized as having “sickened” pets, which is true only if you grant that most organisms “sicken” before, you know, actually dying, which is what thousands of pets did, NPR’s glossing over aside.

New FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg batted away the question about the pet-food recall’s core issue — the fraudulent substitution of melamine by foreign companies in order to game the protein readings — by acknowledging the challenges the agency faces with globalization and her intent to modernize.

To be fair, Dr. Hamburg has a good reputation and she just started the job. And of course, this is just one interview. But frankly, I would have liked to have seen a little more  determination, a little more acknowledgment that the FDA as it exists today is a shadow of the consumer-protection firebrand it once was — if not an outright servant of the industries it’s supposed to regulate — and how she was going to change that.

After all, we know tobacco kills, and that shouldn’t be news to the anyone including the FDA, which just got handed the task of regulating tobacco products. What we shouldn’t have to worry about killing us or our pets is the food we buy.

Here’s the interview.

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Dr. Marion Nestle always stresses what we have said on this blog from the first day of the pet-food recall: This isn’t about “pet food” vs. “people food”: It’s about safe food, and it all comes from the same places.

On her “Food Politics” blog, Dr. Nestle talks about the problems with multi-nutrient supplements:

It’s hard not to think of multivitamin supplements (which also include minerals) as perfectly safe, since the amounts of specific nutrients rarely exceed recommended levels.  But according to recent reports, formulation mistakes get made and these don’t always get caught by quality controls.  Here are two examples.

According to FoodProductionDaily.com, 25% of Adverse Event Reports (AERs) sent into the FDA last year concerned multivitamin supplements. This, says one supplement trade association, should not be interpreted to mean that there is anything wrong with the supplements.  Maybe not, but how about checking?

She then puts these findings in context of the recent recalls of Nutro. More here.

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Finally and also food-related, Pet Connection BFF Dr. Patty Khuy writes about prescription pet diets on her Dolittler blog:

The concept of a “prescription only” diet has merely been a marketing success for pet food companies who label their products as such and somehow manage to have engendered a belief that a product labeled as a “Prescription Diet”… requires a prescription.

But this is NOT TRUE! There is no legal basis for requiring a prescription for a product that is NOT regulated by the FDA as a drug. Shall I repeat that or was it sufficiently clear?

Nonetheless, it IS true that any private retail establishment has the right to require a veterinarian’s say-so before you can buy ANYTHING from them. Sure, PetSmart is not about to require a written script for leashes and kitty litter, but if it wants to do business with pet food behemoths like Hills and Iams, then they’re darn well not going to tick them off by failing to follow manufacturer requirements for sale of Prescription Diets.

More here.

I went into San Francisco’s Pet Food Express today, as always on the lookout for treats that Kyrie can and will eat. (Don’t tell me to cook, dudes; I’m already making their food, I just want to buy some freaking cookies!)

And there was a big sign on the door when I walked in, announcing that a number of Nature’s Variety foods had been removed from the shelves (I’ve added a couple of paragraph breaks to improve readability):

Nature’s Variety has withdrawn one lot of their freeze-dried beef and one lot of their freeze-dried chicken products due to a discrepancy between their specifications and those of the products as produced.

As of today, we still have no word as to what the specific problem is or how it could affect pets, only the manufacturer’s assurance that it does not pose a hazard. We are concerned, ho waver, that because Nature’s Variety coats all of their kibbled products with a “bio-coating,” which includes freeze-dried chicken and beef, that whatever problem may exist in the withdrawn products could also affect their Prairie and Instinct dry food lines. Therefore, we have elected to remove all of the Nature’s Variety dry foods from our shelves until we can be confident that they are safe.

Additionally, the Nature’s Variety Raw Chicken and Beef diets are identical in composition to the freeze dried diets except that the moisture has not been removed. Therefore, we are also placing a hold on their sale until the situation is clear. Their canned products are not affected.

The specific products being withdrawn by Nature’s Variety are Nature’s Variety Freeze Dried Raw Beef Formula, 12 oz., UPC 769949602514, and Nature’s Variety Freeze Dried Raw Chicken Formula, 12 oz., UPC 769949601517, with a “Best if used by” date of 05/25/10.

Now, kudos to Pet Food Express for stripping all products they thought could be affected off their shelves. That’s a prudent course of action, and they did a good job getting the word out; the warnings are all over the store and on their website as well.

And, I guess, half a kudo to Nature’s Variety for not using the “voluntary recall” spin that all the other pet food companies do, as if there was any other kind (FDA has no recall authority over any foods but infant formula). However, given that they apparently asked Pet Food Express not to call this a “recall,” and PFE complied, I’m thinking it’s more because they didn’t want anyone like, oh, me, to go on the Interwebz and say, “Nature’s Variety foods recalled.”

More information on the recall product withdrawal is here.

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More pet-food news: Yesterday, the FDA suspended Illinois’ Evanger’s Pet Foods from being able to ship their products across state lines, due to several months of concerns that its processing procedures were not sufficient to prevent the growth of botulism in their foods:

In April 2008, Evanger’s was issued an “Order of Need for Emergency Permit” after the agency determined that the company had failed to meet the regulatory requirements to process a product that does not present a health risk.   In June, 2008, FDA issued Evanger’s a temporary Emergency Permit.  During inspections conducted between March 2009 and April 2009, FDA determined Evanger’s was not operating in compliance with the mandatory requirements and conditions of the Temporary Emergency Permit.

“The FDA is stopping Evanger’s ability to ship pet food in interstate commerce,” said Dr. Bernadette Dunham. “Today’s enforcement action sends a strong message to manufacturers of pet food that we will take whatever action necessary to keep unsafe products from reaching consumers.”

In order for Evanger’s to resume shipping in interstate commerce, the company must document that corrective actions and processing procedures have been implemented to ensure that the finished product will not present a health hazard.

Note that FDA didn’t make them recall the foods — which they have no authority to do — nor even stop them from making the foods. They’re just stopping them from shipping the foods across state lines. More info here.

It came pouring in through my Google alerts this morning, and Gina blogged it earlier: Stephen and Sally Miller, the owners of ChemNutra, pled guilty to importing protein concentrates contaminated with melamine from China. The concentrates ended up in pet food that sickened and killed thousands of dogs and cats, and led to the largest consumer recall in U.S. history and other pet food recalls worldwide.

The recalls, which began in March 2007, did more than that; they marked the beginning of a food safety scandal that has spanned the globe and pointed out huge weaknesses in our national security when it comes the importation and inspection of food.

Melamine and other contaminants, some not yet identified, have turned up in foods from China, including dairy products, candy, and infant formula; even non-food items like drywall from China have been found to contain dangerous contaminants.

And we still don’t have country of origin labeling on foods, not even those for humans. There have been no changes made the labeling requirements of pet foods, despite the discovery that at least one of the contaminated pet foods contained a protein concentrate that wasn’t listed on the label. And foods are still not being inspected upon importation.

The only thing that’s changed is that a few pet food companies have stepped up their product testing, and some consumers have either abandoned the commercial pet food market or at least, become highly suspicious of it.

The other day I was in Pet Food Express, a small, high-end chain here in the San Francisco Bay Area, browsing the treat aisle. Kyrie, my Borzoi, is on an allergy elimination diet, so I had to rule out all treats containing poultry or beef. I also didn’t want to touch anything with peanut butter, due to concerns over salmonella contamination, and I didn’t want anything that had any ingredients from China.

The only treat that fit the bill, an oatmeal and apple dog cookie that proudly proclaimed it was made in the United States from ingredients all produced in this country, had been tried and failed to pass the Kyrie Borzoi taste test the month before.

I left without buying anything at all.

I guess I would feel better if I had any confidence at all that the problems with rogue suppliers and the so-called regulatory system has improved at all. From the AP:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A company and its owners have agreed to plead guilty in connection with melamine-tainted pet food that may have killed thousands of dogs and cats 2007, according to a court document.

An attorney for Stephen S. Miller, co-owner of ChemNutra Inc., said his client had reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and would plead guilty plea at a hearing June 16, according to the papers filed in court last week.

Miller’s wife, Sally Miller, and Las Vegas-based ChemNutra also plan to plead guilty, the filing said. Attorneys did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment Tuesday.

[...]

The Millers and ChemNutra, along with two Chinese companies, were indicted in February 2008 on charges alleging they imported wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine, which was then sold to pet food makers. Thousands of cats and dogs reportedly sickened or died after eating the tainted food.

ChemNutra, which imports ingredients from China to the U.S. for the feed and food industries, and the Millers were charged with 13 misdemeanor counts of introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce, 13 misdemeanor counts of introduction of misbranded food into interstate commerce and one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Here’s the rest. They’ll be back in business in a year, whaddaya want to bet?