We’re in the middle of the first live, largescale test of the security of our food supply and, honestly, we’re not doing very well. Here’s a chronology of the situation so far
| December 2007 | Menu Foods begins to receive customer complaints on its 800 line1 |
| January 2007 | Veterinarians at Banfield’s, a large national chain of veterinary hospitals, begin to see a larger than expected number of cases of kidney failure in cats and dogs2 |
| February 20, 2007 | Date Menu Foods reports it began receiving complaints from customers to FDA3 |
| February 27, 2007 | Menu Foods begins new tests4 |
| March 2, 2007 | First lab animal death5 |
| March 16, 2007 | Menu Foods announces recall6 |
| March 23, 2007 | New York Department of Agriculture and Markets announces the presence of aminopterin, a rat poison, in the recalled foods7 |
| March 27, 2007 | ASPCA casts doubt on aminopterin as cause of deaths.8 |
| March 30, 2007 | FDA announces presence of melamine, a material used in plastics (and as a fertilizer) in the recalled foods9 |
| March 31, 2007 | Del Monte announces that wheat gluten in which melamine was found was food grade10. Confirmed via email.11 |
Whether aminoptermin, melamine, or some other contaminant is the cause of the problems remains unknown. NYSDAM continues to contend that aminopterin is the cause on the grounds that their findings have been replicated by another laboratory and there is doubt over the toxicity of melamine. They also note, correctly, that neither aminopterin nor melamine has any place in foods for either humans or pets.
As of today the situation has been ongoing for more than three months; the nature of the contamination or adulteration is unknown;the cause of the contamination or adulteration is unknown; the numbers and locations of deaths are unknown, estimates ranging from less than 20 to thousands or tens of thousands;whether the adulterated wheat gluten has entered the human food supply is unknown.
For the owners of the pets who have died or been injured due to contaminated food this is a tragedy and, as a committed pet owner myself, my heart goes out to them. However, it is possible that some good can come from this terrible series of events. We should be treating it as an opportunity.
More later.
My last post on this subject:
1ChronicleHerald, March 31, 2007 (cache only)
2USAToday, March 23, 2007
3CBS News/AP, March 20, 2007
4Ibid.
5Los Angeles Times via Chicago Tribune
6Menu Foods Press Release, March 16, 2007
7New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Press Release, March 23, 2007
8ASPCA Press Release, March 27, 2007
9FDA press Release, March 30, 2007
10Del Monte Press Release, March 31, 2007
11David Goldstein’s blog, Huffington Post, April 1, 2007
Dave,
I know you’re not getting a lot of comments, but I’m really glad you’re working on this. I never realized how “globalized” food production had become. I feel kind of bad for menu foods now – without extensive testing of all batches of incoming ingredients it would be impossible to catch this poisoning ahead of time, particularly since there is still debate as to what the poison actually is.
Keep up the good work, no one else seems to be following this story.
For the uneasy relationship between pet food, PETA and wheat gluten, see >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2007/04/peta-pet-food-and-wheat-gluten.html