More on the Pet Food Controversy
May 8th, 2007
Submitted By: Lindsay Yoshitomi
In regard to the recent deaths of many US family pets, I found an interesting LA Times article linking China to the pet food contamination. Investigations revealed that a mildly toxic chemical called melamine is the culprit. However, our family cats and dogs may not be the only animals being affected by this contaminant, as the FDA and US Department of Agriculture announced that the Chinese tainted wheat gluten in pet foods has also been found in chicken feed on 38 farms in Indiana. These chicken farms supply poultry for human consumption.
Melamine is usually used to make plastics or fertilizer. Do melamine dishes ring a bell? Anyway, supposedly, the chemical isn’t considered a human health concern even though there isn’t any scientific data to back up that claim. It’s also not known what happens to melamine when it’s combined with other compounds, and how it affects our health. But given the facts that it can kill cats and dogs makes you wonder if it really is safe. Adding melamine to food products is not illegal in China, but it is under American law.
Melamine, being nitrogen-rich, in turn raises the nitrogen levels of the feed to which it has been introduced. Nutritional value is not increased, but it fraudulently gives feed the appearance that it is higher in protein. That makes it attractive to the animal food industry in China because it boosts sales. One business, the Kalyuan Protein Feed Company in Shijiazhuang, admits they have been using the chemical additive for 15 years and with the proper quantity claims, “Our products are very safe, for sure.” Well, that’s reassuring as pets across America go through kidney failure. A spokesman for the Chinese melamine supplier, Sanming Dinghui Chemical Trading Company says, “As to whether melamine is toxic or not, I believe it won’t do any harm if there is only very small amount . . . otherwise, those companies could not do that.” Well, of course, but tell that to the thousands of American hogs who ate melamine contaminated feed, and were destroyed so tainted meat wouldn’t reach consumers.
As we import more and more food products from China, and that includes food for human consumption, how can we regulate what practices are not illegal there, but are illegal here? If the introduction of melamine to food has been an ongoing and open practice for years in China, how could we have not known? Or did cheaper products outweigh the safety issue?
4 Comments Add your own
1. Steven Rodger | May 9th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
It looks as if China may be realizing that unsafe food has severe consequences, as they have detained 2 of the managers who are potentially connected with the recent American pet deaths. Chinese pet food manufacturers claim that they were not aware of the damaging effects of melamine, and that they did not know that it was ‘against the rules’ to use it as an additive. Nevertheless, China is stepping up their inspections, but these inspections have not yet found any melamine traces. The US and Chinese seem to be working together to fix this problem.
Meanwhile, there is a new concern in Asia about Formaldehyde which is being used to keep the foods of street vendors appearing fresh. While most of this food stays in Asian marketplaces, some ends up being exported to the United States. Toxic chemicals which act as preservatives, dyes and sweeteners are being used to make food appear fresh and delicious, when actually it may be a hazard to your health. How far will greed push people to make a buck?
For example, industrial dyes are used by street vendors to make their products such as, sugar cane and coconut drinks glow. Other vendors use the same chemical dye Sudan Red to fed their ducks to make their egg yolk red, selling these eggs at a premium. This is great marketing idea, except for the fact that this chemical is linked to causing cancer. Unfortunately as well, some of these Asian made goods containing toxins are now making their way into the US.
Being aware of such products is important as we travel to China. Perhaps we should seek adventure beyond our choice of foods and beverages.
2. Chris Carr | May 10th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Good post.
It is amazing how the food system, for humans and now even pets, has become global in sourcing and how we are vulnerable to what goes on throughout the world.
3. Mike Johannsen | May 17th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
here is a follow up to the pet food incident in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/business/worldbusiness/17food.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1179396048-S3iEwuFhQTgKKmsCg5ew6g&oref=slogin
It appears that the Chinese government is charging that this is an isolated incident and are pursuing measures to protect against further cases of adulterated food. The question that follows is how does China put measures into place to protect the food supply and how long until they are in place? More growing pains.
The next place to look to place the blame is the US firms that are sourcing ingredients from overseas. If US firms are sourcing ingredients from countries with minimum regulations on food, why are the buyers not checking their raw materials. I am by no means letting the suppliers off the hook for inflating protein levels, but I am amazed that the US buyers did not check the quality of their raw material.
4. Chris Carr | May 18th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Good comment, Mike.
What, in your org behavior course (how firms are structured and behave) and your econ courses (why do humans make the choices they do and what incentivizes that) shed light on why the US buyers did not check the quality of their raw material?
As a manager or CEO how would you prevent or tweak to prevent a re-occurrence?
In other words, I don’t see their failure to do so as surprising and this highlights how darn hard it is run a good company and a tight ship in business. Both an art and a science!
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