Food Politics

Hillary Clinton introduced legislation to require country of origin labels on dairy products. Given the fact that milk products have become a bit of a commodity, it would likely be difficult to implement, but I support the bill.

I think food labeling is the great equalizer — whether it’s calories on menu boards, genetically engineered disclsoures or FDA mandates for front of box nutrition information. People vote with their wallets and if a product scares people, they will not buy it. That is probably as powerful as any law can be.

I don’t support the villainization of China though. I think it’s a bit much.

Rick Tannenbaum
http://www.foodrecalls.blogspot.com

I think that if China’s food safety is a 100 years behind that it is not ready for prime time. I have no problem villainizing China. If they want to do business with the US then they need to step up to the plate safety wise.

Who are you willing to sacrifice while we wait for China to catch up: your children? your ailing parents? your pets?

Sorry I just don’t agree with this don’t be hard on China. But we also need better food inspection for imports.

The New York Times just published an enlightening article about Melamine issues in the USA. The bottom line is: as long as the public thinks that China is the only culprit, nobody will notice the problems in our own food industry. Here’s the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/opinion/17mcwilliams.html?scp=2&sq=melamine%20&st=cse

Maria is right. China is not the only culprit when it comes to food safety. Other countries are guilty as well.

What about the Chilean salmon issue? Last year, the salmon anemia virus made a small wave of headlines, which caused MILLIONS of salmon to die. No one noticed. Prices did not go up. There was no salmon shortage; yet 1200 salmon workers from Marine Harvest, Costco’s vendor, were laid off.

How could that be? Costco must had sold the infected salmon to consumers.

The melamine problem: when Menu pet foods
were recalled in March 2007, I estimate over 350,000 cats and dogs were sickened with renal failure. I estimate this by the number of patients I saw in one week, as a part time veterinarian (3), multiplied by the number of veterinarians in the US. I keep seeing 4500 as the victims of this melamine/cyanuric acid intentional adulteration of our pets foods and believe it to be grossly inaccurate. In fact “confirmed cases” as measured by laboratory testing is much lower than 4500. The cost of confirming the diagnosis has always been a stumbling block for our veterinary clients, as they are limited by their own financial constraints. More would have been confirmed had the testing been free to clients/vets. And the actual number of pets that were sickened was many times higher.
Two weeks ago I saw a cat in my hospital. She had been ill from kidney failure she was stricken with in March of 2007. She was cradled in her owners arms, nearly lifeless, jaws limp, and semi conscious, The owners crying pitifully as they requested humane euthanasia. Their cat had only been given more time because the owners had invested thousands of dollars in specialist care. She had been diagnosed with cyanuric acid crystals in her kidneys very early on. It was very difficult for me to euthanize her, but I put on my professional face and did my duty. So sad.
I remember being so angry when the pet food recall happened that I decided to take action in the only way I thought I could make a difference. I wrote a home made pet food cookbook HOW TO COOK FOR YOUR PET, so pet owners could make safe foods for their pets. I included two pages of foods and food ingredients that I call the No No List that counsel owners away from foods people commonly consume that when fed to dogs and cats are toxic, indigestible, or provoke illnesses. I have self published the cookbook a year ago and have sold many copies. Now a publisher will be publishing my second edition in February 2009. I did not do this for profit, I did it to help the animals that I have been caring for as a veterinarian for 30 years. Early in my career I noticed illnesses pets had, that were cured by better quality, more digestible foods. I have studied pet nutrition extensively too.
The reason I am writing you this evening is because I saw your interview on VIN today, and I was so moved by your caring attitude towards pets, as witnessed by your books esp. …the chihuahua in the coal mine. It is a well known fact that pets and the people they live with often have very similar illnesses, and often the pet will get it first (diabetes, cancer, allergies, etc.). I will be purchasing the book shortly to read.
Just as the canary warned coal miners of dangerous gas fumes in the mine (by dieing), we should take seriously the warning we have been given by thousands of pets who died. Let us not ignore this warning, or they have died in vain.
I hope that you will continue to help people understand the importance of wholesome foods both for people and for pets, and push our government to improve the FDA’s functions to protect both people and pets.
Sincerely, Dr Amy Cousino, Sebastian, FL