HT/Research by Pat S.
In an effort to determine exactly what has happened regarding the poisoned wheat gluten and rice protein from China used in pet food, the FDA wanted to go right to the source of the problem. That’s not going to happen, however, because our friends the Chinese, who insist this is all a big accident, won’t let us in to investigate.
This is what happens when you do business with the depraved.
Industrial chemical found in second ingredient
A lawmaker said Wednesday the Chinese have refused to grant visas to FDA inspectors seeking to visit the plants where the ingredients were made. An FDA spokesman later said the visas were not refused but that the agency had not received the necessary invitation letter to get visas.
“It troubles me greatly the Chinese are making it more difficult to understand what led to this pet food crisis,†Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told The Associated Press after meeting with the FDA commissioner, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach.
A message left Wednesday with the Chinese Embassy in Washington was not immediately returned.
A new revelation from another company which imports from China, Wilbur-Ellis Co in San Francisco and the source of the Diamond Foods/Natural Balance poisoning, is especially troubling:
…Thacher [of Wilbur-Ellis] said an April 4 delivery from Futian Biology included 146 1-ton bags of rice protein concentrate. All were white except for a single pink bag, which was stenciled “melamine.â€
Wilbur-Ellis isolated the entire shipment at a Portland, Ore. warehouse and sent out samples for testing. The pink bag’s contents tested positive for melamine while the two white bags tested were negative, Thacher said.
He said Futian Biology said “bags had gotten damaged and they replaced them with clean bags and certified the product was all fine.â€
The Las Vegas importer of the contaminated Chinese wheat gluten, ChemNutra Inc., that led to the original pet food recall has suggested that spiking a product with melamine can make it to appear to be richer in protein during tests, thus increasing its value.
So that’s the W-E standard–take the Chinese word for it. Some argue that seeing a bag labeled “melamine” from China means that they simply re-used a bag, causing a horrible accident in the process. I suppose we should never think that the melamine spiking was deliberate, with various tons spiked with melamine to affect the testing, and therefore the price that these American import companies woul dpay. All the while taking the Chinese word that all was “certified.”
Sheesh. Personally, you can make a choice that will send China a message–do not travel to China and let the Chinese tourism office know that you are boycotting travel to their country. The 2008 Olympics will be in China. In the event you were considering going, perhaps now is the time to change your mind. Let them know you will also boycott whatever other products from China you can as a result of this food poisoning. Tell them you would also like the Chinese c=government to cooperate with our Senate investigation.
Links:
China National Tourist Office / USA
Embassy of China Contact page
(Interestingly, the actual “Contact Us” page for the site has been deleted. I am using a link to a contact number buried elsewhere on the site.)
Senator Dick Durbin’s official page
Wilbur-Ellis in SF are refusing to reveal the other companies that received their tainted rice protein. Ask Senator Durbin’s office to use pressure to get that information.
Anything less than a complete ban on all foodstuffs from China is unacceptable. But we know that under the whoosified foreign policy that nothing will be done.
Ths will most likely be an unpopular thought, but I would assume that the Chinese really don’t care about our pets. Reason #1: They are a society that is not very far removed from eating cats and dogs. Reason #2: they are a growing society, going through the pains we went through 100 years ago, even though as a country, they have been around much longer than us. Reason #3: I have a feeling if the world could actually see inside the plants in China, none of us would ever buy anything that says “Made in China”.
Note, though, that the “pink bag” came in on April 4th and the recall was over two weeks before. They may well have imported tainted rice before that and the labeling of the bag a happy accident/mistaken revelation, but the damage that led to the discovery of the problem was before W-E discovered it themselves. It’s not clear from the article that W-E sold the tainted rice from the “pink bag”.
I personally already boycott things Chinese, but how do you do that when ingredients in otherwise American-made products are sourced in China?! Companies should be required to divulge the sources of all ingredients in foodstuffs. Since this may not be practical on a can label, it’s certainly feasible on a corporate website.