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Senate Approves Measure to Strengthen Food Safety

Pet Food Crisis Far From Over, ASPCA Warns

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 5, 2007

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The Senate has approved an amendment introduced by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to strengthen the country’s food safety system.

By a 94-0 vote, the Senate approved the measure that establishes an early warning and notification system for human and pet food, establish fines for companies that don't promptly report contaminated products, improves inspections and monitoring of imports, and provides more uniform pet food safety standards.

But one key piece from the original legislation is missing from the amendment--a proposal that would have given the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) power to issue recalls of contaminated or dangerous foods.

The FDA does not have that authority and must rely on the industry to voluntarily pull products. Durbin’s office told reporters the senator would address that provision later.

"With the passage of this amendment, we will make our nation's food safety system stronger on several fronts,” Durbin said in a written statement. “There is more work to be done to fix our food safety system, but today we have moved forward to address the growing concerns across our nation."

The FDA -- one of the federal agencies charged safeguarding the country’s food supply -- has come under fire in the wake of nationwide recalls of tainted pet food, spinach, and peanut butter.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate some 76 million people suffer from food poisoning each year, according to Durbin’s office. Of that number, approximately 325,000 will be hospitalized and more than 5,000 will die.

Under the new amendment, the FDA has authority to:

• Establish an early warning and notification system for human food and pet food products. The legislation directs the FDA to work with professional organizations, veterinarians, and others to release information about pet food contamination. In cases of both pet and human food contamination, the FDA will keep up-to-date recall lists on its Web site;

• Create an adulterated food registry for imported and domestically produced foods. This would improve the FDA's ability to detect problems and alert consumers of contaminants. The amendment requires the FDA to establish a registry to collect information about potentially dangerous food adulteration. Importers, domestic processors, and food manufacturers must submit information about actual or suspected food adulterations. This information would be included in the FDA’s database. Durbin’s office said the sources of the recent human and pet food contamination were wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported from China. Neither shipment was inspected by the FDA; in fact, the FDA inspects less than 1.5% of imports. A database would give the FDA better information to base inspections;

• Require companies to maintain records and make them accessible to the FDA. This would prevent delays that could keep the contamination from being traced as quickly as possible. When peanut butter was recalled last winter, an FDA report showed that inspectors were denied documents when they requested them;

• Establish uniform federal standards and better labeling of pet food. Today, the standards for the pet food industry are done on a voluntary basis by manufacturers and state departments of agriculture. There is no requirement for states to adopt these practices and they don't have the force of federal guidelines. Inspections are not coordinated state-to-state and some states have standards that are different than others.

Crisis Isn't Over

Meanwhile, an animal rights group has warned dog and cat owners that the pet food crisis is far from over. And pet owners need to continue watching their animals for symptoms of kidney failure.

The warning from The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) came on the heels of Menu Foods’ expanded recall of more than 200 varieties of dog and cat food.

Menu Foods took that action on Wednesday after learning those products were made at the same time its plants produced foods that contained adulterated wheat gluten imported from China.

The foods involved in this latest recall, however, do not contain any of the wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine.

The company said it took this action to prevent any cross-contamination.

“Menu Foods has received a report from a customer and has received study results, both of which indicate cross-contamination,” the company said in a written statement.

That announcement prompted ASPCA to issue its warning to pet owners.

“Given the fact that there is new evidence of cross-contamination in ingredients that may have been considered safe prior to this news, we need to be much more aware of where the ingredients in our pets’ food are coming from,” said Dr. Steven Hansen, a board-certified toxicologist and senior vice president with the ASPCA. He manages ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) in Urbana, Ill.

Hansen added: “We are strongly recommending that pet parents immediately investigate, via their pet food manufacturer’s Web site or by calling them directly, where the ingredients--specifically protein supplements--are sourced from.”

ASPCA recommends pet owners only feed their dogs or cats products that contain U.S.-made protein supplements.

“The continued expansion of the recall is extremely worrying,” said Dr. Louise Murray, director of medicine at the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital (BMAH) in New York City. “The magnitude of this crisis leaves us frustrated as to how to best protect pets and prevent any more illnesses or deaths.”

The FDA said this week that it’s received reports of 1,950 cats and 2,220 dogs dying from the tainted pet food.

The FDA also said it’s received more than 17,000 consumer complaints about dogs and cats becoming sick or dying after eating contaminated pet food.

Eighteen companies have recalled more than 5,300 pet food products since March, making this one of the largest pet food recalls in U.S. history. The companies recalled those products after learning they contained wheat gluten or rice protein tainted with two chemicals: melamine and cyanuric acid.

New Theory

A new theory surfaced this week that might explain why pets are getting sick and dying from the tainted foods.

Tests conducted at the University of Guelph’s Animal Health Laboratory in Ontario revealed melamine and cyanuric acid can react to form crystals that block kidney function.

"This is a piece of the puzzle, a significant finding," John Melichercik, director of analytical services for Guelph's laboratory services, told The Toronto Star. "We have found these crystals in cats that have suffered renal failure."

Analysis of those crystals revealed their chemical make-up is approximately 70 percent cyanuric acid and 30 percent melamine. The crystals are also insoluble—or can’t be dissolved in liquid.

Researchers were also able to replicate these crystals when they mixed melamine and cyanuric acid in samples of cat urine.

ASPCA says this new study offers some hope to veterinarians who are trying to save pets that have eaten the contaminated food.

“The fact that we have started to learn how the presence of melamine may be impacting these animals gives us a small glimmer of hope — that at least we know we are on the right track when it comes to treating the animals affected,” Dr. Hansen said. “These findings really start putting everything else we have seen into perspective.

“Now that we see that crystals are formed when melamine and cyanuric acid are combined in cat urine, it may be that the cause of renal failure is somehow related to the obstruction caused by these crystals.”

The study, he said, also explains why animals whose symptoms were detected early -- and rushed to their veterinarians and put on aggressive fluid therapy -- survived. This treatment may prevent additional crystals from forming and help flush out the existing crystals from the animals’ urinary tracts, he said. That would relieve the obstruction and reverse the effects of renal failure.

Some pet owners who contacted ConsumerAffairs.com, however, say their animals died before they could get them in for treatment.

That’s what happened to Helen K. of Los Lunas, New Mexico.

She didn’t know Ol’Roy had recalled some of its treats and accidentally gave them to her seven-year-old Golden Retriever and her three-year-old Pit Bull.

“The next day, the young Pit Bull had twitches, but on April 27, 200, my baby Sammie (the Golden Retriever) had massive seizures and passed away -- after much agony -- after 50 minutes,” she told us. “She had been drinking excessive amounts of water…my vet said to bring her in for more blood work. We didn't make it.”

Helen says the loss is devastating to her family.

“The guilt and enormous sadness has been felt by all. My 91-year-old father with dementia cannot put this out of his mind -- nor can I or our other dog or cat. It is like losing a child (almost).”

The United States, she says, should stop importing products from countries like China that have poor food safety standards.

The ramifications to our pets -- and potentially to humans -- are too dangerous, she says.

“It seems that if another country wants to undermine us, they will through our pets as this country has high esteem for all,” Helen says. “I feel that we should never import any food products from a country that has no regard for the health and well-being of all of God's creatures. It will not be long before we will not be able to eat our own meats because of contaminated feed.”

More about the Pet Food Recall ...

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