Closer Look At Pet Food Scare

Hello all,

There has been variable weather here on the mountain in recent weeks. The urge to get to stringing fence and making some paddocks to take advantage of the spring growth has faded as the temperatures have dropped and the greenery has been put on hold. Rain and snow intermingling, sometimes in the same hour, have finally given way to some warmer temperatures and plain rain, and it's getting greener. Early trees are starting to bloom in the woods and the turkeys are starting to gobble in earnest. So are the hunters.

In addition to the Spring chores, trying to keep abreast of the breaking news and scientific investigations concerning the on-going pet food contamination story has been a full time job – or at least a busy part-time job!

While none of the small animals in my care appear to have been affected by this situation – a distinct advantage of having clients who feed home-prepared diets – there certainly have been a bunch of calls from other folks about the situation. People who would never have considered it before are now considering feeding home prepared diets to their animals.

The numbers of animals involved in this situation are growing – and the "real" numbers seem to be far above the official numbers. Growing, too, are the foods and products involved with the recall, in North America and elsewhere. This week I received correspondence from a colleague in South Africa saying there have been foods recalled there.

One of the big revelations to many is the manner in which pet foods are centrally manufactured and how many of them, both high and low end labels, share the same ingredients and the same site of processing.

The "culprit" appears to be melamine contaminated grains and grain extracts exported from China. While there have been several proposals regarding the presence of this non- food product in these materials, ranging from accidental contamination to deliberately adding the melamine to boost the protein content of the grains/grain extracts, a compelling explanation about the dynamics of the situation has been offered by Michael W. Fox, a veterinarian and author.

In an editorial, Dr Fox discusses the various contaminants found in the gluten, compounds which include aminopterine (commonly used as a rat poison), cyromazine (an insect growth regulator) and melamine (a type of urea-based plastic).

He writes:

“As for the actual origin of the melamine, this chemical is the parent of a widely used crop insecticide… This could be the source of gluten contamination, and was why the gluten was not considered fit for human consumption.”

From where I stand, though, Dr Fox’s suspicion that these gluten products may have been derived from genetically engineered grains to be most worrisome:

“The wheat gluten imported from China was not for human consumption, because, I believe, it had been genetically engineered. The FDA has a wholly cavalier attitude toward feeding animals such ‘frankenfoods’ but places some restrictions when human consumption is involved (yet refuses appropriate food labeling).

“So it is surely incumbent upon the FDA to determine if this imported wheat gluten from China was genetically engineered. It possibly was, since it was not bought for human consumption; maybe an experimental crop with anti -fungus blight and viral disease genetic insertions that could have gone haywire as a result of spontaneous mutation and 'overexpression.' Other endogenous toxins not yet identified could well have resulted in so much sickness, suffering and death in companion animals across North America.”

I urge you to read the full editorial at:

http://tedeboy.tripod.com/drmichaelwfox/id74.html

Meanwhile, what's this got to do with us?? We raise cattle, Sue, I hear you saying,

Well – we still eat. And our families and friends and customers still eat. And many of us eat products that contain ingredients from sources that are not clear to us: gluten perhaps, but also spices and other items. Also meat and veggies and grains and milks.

What is the source of these foods? How were they raised and prepared? Unfortunately, not every one raises stock that is completely fed and finished on grass. What about their feed sources?

And what about some of the mineral and supplement products commonly used by many farmers which contain glutens and wheat middlings and other carriers and binders. What do we really know about the sources of these products?

Within the last few days there have been reports of melamine in the urine of hogs, and of hogs being fed the same pet foods that have been recalled. The current explanation is that these animals ostensibly received the food before the recalls were made.

Be that as it may – and I've yet to see a clear timeline on that – there are a whole lot of interesting questions that might be asked here. What sense is there in feeding contaminated food to hogs? Sure, we have been assured that these animals are not going to reach the human food chain – but what might happen to them? Rendered for pet food, perhaps?! Or perhaps for use as a soil amendment or a protein source in some other supplement or feed?

And that brings up another concern – that being the use of cottonseed meal in the cattle (and hog and poultry) industry, both as a feed source and as a base for some supplement products. Think about it: cotton is one of the most heavily pesticide- and herbicide-laden crops in this nation – and we're feeding that cottonseed meal to animals that are intended for our tables?! It makes not a whit of sense to me.

Once again it seems that animals are acting as the canaries in the mine, alerting us of dangers, providing the opportunity for us to examine some of the current agricultural, business and manufacturing practices, and showing us that there is room for change as we ask ourselves "How do we want it to be?”

Take care,
Susan Beal