Weekly Update on the Pet Food Recall—7/30/2007

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 is, however, an excellent article from CNNMoney.com on assessing the actual costs of outsourcing production to China realistically. I hope some corporate CEO’s read it.

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