China Acts on Food Safety after Pet Poisonings
China has vowed to crack down on contaminated food and drugs after a host of revelations surfaced concerning the safety of Chinese products. Some of this food even resulted in death.
This campaign was followed by an announcement that authorities had managed to detain managers from two companies that were linked to contaminated pet food that killed cats and dogs in Canada and the United States.
China disclosed that the disgraced former top drug regulator was to go on trial for charges of taking bribes to approve medicine that had not been tested. China has suffered much negative publicity because of its lax enforcement of drug and food safety. However, this present round has been exceedingly worrisome.
China faces criticism from both the European Union and the United States for what they consider to be unfair trade practices. The tainted food scandals could possibly lead to bans on food products that would put even a greater strain on the hard-pressed Chinese farmers.
This year Alabama and Mississippi have already banned catfish from China after certain tests revealed ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin. These are antibiotics that have been banned for use in the United States. Officials in Louisiana indicated that they would also begin testing seafood from China to see if it contained any of the banned antibiotics.
154 Brands Recalled
the Chinese government has a body that oversees food safety. This body indicated that it had detained a certain number of managers from Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd. as well as Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd.
The detaining of these managers came after the United States FDA cited these firms as being the source of pet food ingredients that were tainted with melamine which is a chemical that is used in plastics, flame retardants and fertilizers.
The United States inspectors indicated that the tainted wheat gluten was used in the making of pet food and caused the deaths of an untold number of cats and dogs. This sparked a pet food recall of 154 brands of certain types of pet food that were contaminated with this chemical.
Melamine is high in nitrogen but it has no real nutritional value. Adding it to feed makes the impression that it is higher in protein, thus bringing a much better price for the makers of feed for such animals as chicken, fish and pigs as well as companies that are in the business of making food for household pets.
The lawbreaking companies will be strictly dealt with as well as those responsible according to the results of China’s investigation. China indicated that the companies broke regulations by adding melamine, and then they broke the law by not labeling correctly the exported products in order to avoid inspection. Any calls people tried to make to these companies were not answered and police refused to comment on the matter.
Adopting standards
The State Council, or Cabinet, indicated that the nationwide crackdown on food safety would force companies to adopt the same standards that are used in food-importing countries. From here on out, test products will be used to make food for humans or animal feed. The Chinese government has to strengthen its investigations into various protein products especially regarding melamine.
China said that all classes of drugs and food would be the subject of more rigorous inspections. An emphasis would be placed on securing the food supply chain as well as boosting food safety in China’s vast and mostly impoverished countryside.
In Washington, the Food and Drug Administration’s commissioner and the Chinese ambassador spoke to two lawmakers and said that they would work together to improve inspections as well as to improve the overall safety of food products and drugs that are traded between the United States and China. The agreement made by the two gentlemen would most likely take the form of a note of understanding between the governments of China and the United States.
United States officials said that they didn’t believe that melamine was harmful to humans. However, they feel that there is too little data to determine how melamine reacts with other substances.
The FDA indicated that it is very concerned about the combination of cyanuric acid and melamine. Cyanuric acid is a chemical that is used to help keep swimming pools clean but it is also sometimes used as a feed additive. Some American scientists seem to feel that this combination may have resulted in some pet deaths because of kidney failure.
At four of China’s chemical companies, sales managers indicated that they were unaware of cyanuric acid being used as a feed additive. However, two other sales managers said they had heard of the practice, but they did not know how widespread it was.
Thus it is that China is doing its best to crackdown on the use of melamine in wheat gluten that is used in pet foods. We must keep a constant vigil for anything out of the ordinary that may show up in our pet food. Hopefully, this is the last we will hear about the melamine scare
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