There’s still no news from the FDA or the USDA on the actual cause of the deaths of cats and dogs who consumed foods earlier this year that were produced by Menu Foods and other manufacturers and sold under a variety of brand names including some of the best-known brands in the country. By the FDA’s own reckoning they received more consumer calls on this recall than on any in the agencies history. They don’t know what did cause the deaths but they’re sure it’s not melamine, however contaminated the recalled foods might have been with that substance. IMO the FDA couldn’t have diminished public confidence in the government if they’d deliberately set out to do so than by its handling of this matter.
It remains unclear to me how one can be confident that we’re being protected against something thas has unquestionably caused pet deaths and injuries numbering as high as the tens of thousands if we don’t know what the heck to protect against. Nor do I see why we need a huge federal agency to tell us that everythings’s okay—after all, we have the Chinese government to do that for us.
There’s been a new recall of pet food, this time of some Natural Balance products. The contaminant this time is good old-fashioned homegrown botulism. The recalls if of five canned varieties (listed in the link).
There are still plenty of news articles, editorials, and op-eds arguing for tightening trade with China. Here’s an article you might be interested in on the prospects for a trade war with China. As of today Google finds 675 entries when I search for “China trade war”.
