From foodconsumer.org
Reader's response: What we need is an "origins of food act",
By a reader
May 9, 2007 - 10:32:14 PM
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I am writing about you article:
FDA: Tainted feed for pigs and chicken poses no risk to humans
By Sue Mueller
This article has several points which are contradictory and make no sense.
The main one is::The assessment notes that melamine is not metabolized, and is rapidly excreted in the urine. Thus, it is not believed to accumulate in the body of animals.
Yet the animals that died did so because the filter organ, the kidney, failed. The failure means no filtration and the plasticizers remained in the blood.
Another issue is that you say:
But officials notified state authorities, according to the FDA, that swine fed adulterated products will not be approved to enter the food supply chain for human consumption. The chances are very low that people become ill after eating pork from swine fed the adulterated product.
Then at the end:
There is very low risk to humans from eating pork, chicken and eggs from animals fed animal feed supplemented with pet food scraps that contained melamine and related compounds, according to an assessment by federal scientists.
What we need is an "origins of food act", which will require the labels to indicate the geographic origins of the ingredients.
Wilson S.
Editor's response: Thanks for writing. The article was written mostly based on the FDA's news release, which could be the problem.