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| FDA food-safety czar Dr. Davis Acheson told reporters Wednesday that the three binding agents are used to make pelleted feed for cattle, sheep, goats, or fish and shrimp. Tembec allegedly added the melamine to enhance binding. Uniscope, presumably on heightened alert after numerous melamine-related recalls, tested product and reported its discovery to FDA. | | Submitted by fedup | 2008-12-28 15:26:59 | www.melaminepoisoning.info/meatingplace.php
More on melamine: China gets dead serious about food safety, executes former food and drug chief (Source MeatingPlace.com)
By Tom Johnston on 7/10/2007 for Meatingplace.com
In perhaps a demonstration of how serious China is about shoring up the safety of its food products, Beijing executed the former head of its State Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, the official Xinhua press agency reported.
Zheng Xiaoyu was sentenced to death May 29 for accepting bribes to approve untested medicine reportedly blamed for at least 10 deaths. A court carried out the execution Tuesday after China's Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, the International Herald Tribune reported.
Xinhua did not disclose how Zheng was killed, though IHT reported that the court police typically execute prisoners by shooting them in the back of the head, or in some cases by using lethal injections.
Zheng's execution was concurrent with a press conference at which China's top food and drug regulatory agencies vowed to crack down on counterfeit food and medicine. Beijing has been pressured to make vast improvements after a spate of health scares tied to sub-par products, including exports of tainted food and fake drugs.
"Corruption in the food and drug authority has brought shame to the nation," Yan Jiangying, deputy policy director of the State Food and Drug Administration, told reporters. "What we will have to learn from the experience is to improve our work and emphasize public safety."
More on melamine: FDA recalls feed made with tainted binders (Source MeatingPlace.com)
By Tom Johnston on 5/31/2007 for Meatingplace.com
In the latest twist of a saga that began unraveling in March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says a pair of companies are voluntarily recalling melamine-tainted ingredients used livestock and fish feed.
Unlike recent recalls involving pet food, this particular case involves companies operating in the United States: the Canadian-based Tembec BTLSR, which operates a chemical plant in Toledo, Ohio, and Johnstown, Colo.-based Uniscope.
The recall involves finished feed made with binding agents called Aquabond and Aqua-Tec II, both used in fish feed, as well as a product named Xtra-Bond, which is used in livestock feed. Tembec manufactures the Aquabond and Aquatec products at its Toledo facility, and distributes them overseas for Uniscope. Tembec also supplies Uniscope with ingredients used to make Xtra-Bond.
FDA food-safety czar Dr. Davis Acheson told reporters Wednesday that the three binding agents are used to make pelleted feed for cattle, sheep, goats, or fish and shrimp. Tembec allegedly added the melamine to enhance binding. Uniscope, presumably on heightened alert after numerous melamine-related recalls, tested product and reported its discovery to FDA.
"The bottom line is, know your suppliers," Acheson said. "I mean we've said that often on these calls with regard to imported products, but it's just as important for domestic."
Under investigation
"What Tembec knew, didn't know, what their activities were, is part of the investigation," Acheson said, noting that Uniscope first notified FDA of the problem on May 18. Thereafter, the agency tested the binders and confirmed the presence of melamine, though not at levels that pose a serious health threat to humans or livestock.
Fish may be another matter, though Acheson noted the amount of melamine in their feed was far lower than amounts found in wheat flour from China.
FDA is notifying foreign governments whose constituents may have received the affected products. Meantime, the investigation continues, with FDA yet to determine the full scope of the problem.
USDA clears more poultry for processing amidst melamine investigation (Source MeatingPlace.com)
By Alicia Karapetian on 5/18/2007 for Meatingplace.com
USDA on Friday announced that testing on poultry fed rations supplemented with pet-food scraps containing melamine is safe for human consumption. As a result, the agency cleared about 80,000 birds held on farms in Indiana for processing.
As in previous testing done by USDA (See USDA clears hogs for processing on Meatingplace.com, May 16, 2007), the agency confirmed that melamine is quickly eliminated in the body, and the poultry appear healthy.
USDA clears hogs for processing (Source MeatingPlace.com)
By Tom Johnston on 5/16/2007 for Meatingplace.com
With tests confirming that humans can safely eat meat from swine that have eaten feed supplemented with salvaged pet food containing melamine, USDA has cleared thousands of hogs for processing.
A 132-pound human would have to eat more than 800 pounds per day of pork or other food containing melamine and its compounds to risk health effects, scientists concluded, reiterating that the risk to humans is very low.
Some 56,000 hogs that ate melamine-tainted feed were held on farms in California, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, Kansas, Utah and Illinois, though tests of meat showed that melamine and its compounds don't accumulate in pork and are filtered through urine. The animals appear healthy, USDA said.
The agency said it will provide compensation to producers for costs incurred as a result of voluntarily holding the animals. Almost 100 million swine are processed annually in the United States.
Meantime, nearly 80,000 chickens are still being held at farms in Indiana while USDA develops a validated test for detecting melamine in poultry meat. The test is expected to be ready later this week.
Minnesota officials investigate E. coli infections linked to ground beef
By Ann Bagel Storck on 5/9/2007 for Meatingplace.com
Health officials in Minnesota are investigating seven cases of E. coli infection that have been traced to ground beef purchased at Lunds or Byerly's grocery stores in the Twin Cities metro area.
Five adults and two children were sickened between April 21 and April 28. Three were hospitalized, but all have been released.
The Minnesota Health Department found the illnesses were all caused by E. coli 0157:H7 with the same DNA footprint. All involved ground beef purchased at Byerly's stores in St. Louis Park, Minnetonka and Chanhassen and at Lunds in Edina. The stores bought their ground beef from PM Beef in Windom, Minn., according to state agriculture officials. Meat from other stores may be involved because Lund Food Holdings, the stores' parent company, uses only one processing plant for its ground beef.
Health officials have directed consumers who bought ground beef from any Lunds or Byerly's after April 7 to discard the product or return it to the store. For a complete list of affected products, click here.
FDA Officials Reiterate Positions on Tainted Feed
By Tom Johnston on 5/4/2007 for Meatingplace.com
U.S. food-safety officials on Thursday reiterated that the chances of human illness from consuming meat from chickens or hogs that ate feed tainted by melamine are slim to none.
Dr. David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food protection at FDA, again told reporters during a press briefing, many of them skeptical that melamine found in an expanding pet food recall and subsequently in feed for poultry and hogs poses no threat to humans, that the substance is so diluted by the time a human would eat it that sickness would be "very remote." (See USDA, FDA explain decisions in melamine investigation on Meatingplace.com, May 2, 2007.)
Acheson further explained that wheat gluten, one of two pet-food ingredients found to contain melamine, enters the United States in one of two ways, via pet food or human food. "None of the contaminated wheat gluten ended up in the human food chain as a direct ingredient," he said, noting that the same goes for rice protein concentrate, the other pet food ingredient found to contain melamine.
The second such press briefing this week followed an announcement that Canadian manufacturer Menu Foods expanded its pet food recall, the original version of which involved more than 60 million cans and pouches of moist dog and cat food. The latest recall, which reportedly represents less than 5 percent of the products already recalled or withdrawn, involves any pet food made at any Menu Food plant when contaminated wheat gluten was present.
FDA Explain Decisions In Melamine Investigation
By Tom Johnston on 5/2/2007 for Meatingplace.com
USDA and FDA officials briefed the press Tuesday afternoon, explaining why they didn't issue a recall of poultry and pork processed from chickens and hogs believed to have eaten feed partially consisting of salvaged pet food containing melamine.
The press conference occurred a day after the agencies' investigation into the nationwide spread of melamine and melamine-related compounds expanded to the poultry industry (See For the birds: Contaminated feed now found on chicken farms in Indiana, Meatingplace.com, May 1, 2007.), and the same day FDA imposed broad limits on Chinese food additive imports. Officials initially traced the chemical back to two Chinese plants.
Reporters largely questioned why the agencies have resolved to depopulate some 100,000 breeder chickens and 6,000 hogs believed to have consumed feed laced with wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate, but decided not to issue a recall of meat derived from animals that may have ingested melamine.
Dr. David Acheson, who was named FDA's assistant commissioner for food protection on Tuesday, and Dr. Kenneth Peterson, USDA's assistant administrator for field operations for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, said the agencies are legally bound to depopulate any animals found to have consumed adulterated feed, and that the dilution of the contaminants makes it extremely unlikely they would sicken humans.
They explained that a small percentage of rice protein or wheat gluten contain melamine, and those ingredients are a very small component of pet food. Then, a very small portion of that pet food is used in feed for the likes of poultry and hogs, which excrete the matter through urine. Also, meat from chicken and hogs only make up a portion of a human's diet, limiting exposure.
"Along with the fact that there is no evidence of harm, we made the decision that no recall is being issued," Peterson said.
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