If you're a pet owner, you really MUST go hang out at Pet Connection and read their blog posts. They're consistently fast to consolidate the information coming out about the contamination of food.
Key notes:
-the recall has expanded several times. The FDA's current list has over 5,500 items on it. Check and check again to make sure your pet food is not on the list. Don't trust the stores; in many cities, people are finding recalled foods on the shelves.
-three different ingredients are implicated: wheat gluten, rice protein concentrate, corn gluten. IMO, until all routes of contamination are traced, it is advisable to avoid foods with these ingredients.
-new contaminants have just been identified, including cyanuric acid.
-some of the contaminated ingredient was sold as hog feed.
Even if you're not a pet owner, you should go read the Pet Connection site & then you must ask yourself about the safety of human food. What exactly are we putting on our tables? The ingredients for many processed foods in the human food chain are imported from countries with lax regulations and extensive environmental pollution. They are not tested upon importation. We don't know there's a problem until there is a spike in illness. The possibilities for accidental or intentional contamination are very real. This is a huge vulnerability of our society.
Imagine a slow acting toxin. Something that doesn't kill you after the first bite, but after a couple months of consumption, begins to build up in your liver and kidneys. Imagine that its effect on people varies, so patients will be coming in a variety of symptoms depending on their age & general health before exposure to the toxin. Imagine the contaminant was in an ingredient commonly used in the production of baked products such as cookies and breads. Imagine that the ingredient was widely sold and distributed throughout North America over an extended period of time, and that the major brands of snack foods and breads have all been contaminated, because it turns out they're all made in 5 plants throughout North America.....
OK, so I've been plotting a suspense novel & I can imagine these things quite easily. What do you think? Totally implausible or really terrifying?
3 comments:
So, the slow acting toxin you're describing is partially-hydrogenated cottonseed oil or something of the kind, right?
Totally plausible and terrifying. Emily wants to be in the book, but she wants to survive because her owner reads Whole Dog Journal and doesn't buy dog food with wheat or corn in it (although the rice stuff is a possibility--will look into that).
I began feeding our dogs homeprepared foods before the concerns over imports hit. Anyone wanting to read some good info and advice from "dog parents" who've been doing this for years, check out "the whole dog forum" If you type "the whole dog" into your search engine they'll give you other sites too so be sure this is the one! Both of my furkids were having chronic physical problems even though I had been feeding them high quality "natural" foods from the petstore. After some months on a raw diet they are both doing great...much better than before. Ida had been on steroids and antibiotics and we thought we'd lose her...she was so miserable before we changed to raw!
A couple easy guidelines:
Feed human grade foods. No dairy, no grains, no cooked foods. No fruits or veggies are needed.
Balance raw bone/muscle/organ meat so they get the nutrients they need every day. Think of how they'd eat in the wild...Ida wouldn't be sitting by a campfire cooking her meat on a spit...she'd eat it raw.
Typical chicken day:
raw thigh (hang onto the end of the skin until your dog is used to eating w/out gulping) Feed 1/10 raw chicken liver or gizzards.
Typical beef day:
Mix some ground beef w/water to make it a soft mushy consistency (this helps get some liquid into the dog as when you stop feeding prepared dry foods w/grains, the food they eat is already hydrated so they drink less); 1/10 beef or calves liver or kidneys; On beef days since I haven't been able to afford beef bones, I either give them 1/2 a crushed egg shell or a chicken back (again, holding the end so they don't scarf it down to fast w/out crunching the bone).
Some people on the site also feed other kinds of meat...Ida does best w/chicken and beef and its affordable and readily available, so that's what we stick with. No more hours of scratching herself raw, no more bald doggy, no more skin infections or meds...so nice to have her feeling good again! Even avoiding the foods that appeared on her blood test as allergens didn't help her. Raw is the only thing that worked for her!
On the site you'll see people who are "professional" dog handlers who feed this way too...not a fad...I've seen this way described as SARF or "species appropriate raw food"
Love this blog you have going! I found you when I was surfing looking for suggestions on what kind of couch fabric/leather/cotton/etc...is best for dogs who live on our furniture! Ida's Mom
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