Most of us are aware that any time we purchase a product, other than automobiles, there’s a good chance it was made in China.
Most of us, however, were not aware that China is playing an ever-larger role in supplying food, medicine and animal feed to other countries. According to the Washington Post, China is the world’s No. 1 exporter of fruits and vegetables by value. China’s agricultural exports to the U.S. hit a high of $4.26 billion last year – more than 20 times the $133 million of 1980.
Certainly most pet owners would not have guessed that a pricey, allegedly higher-grade pet food, such as Hill’s Science Diet, was manufactured at the same factory as cheaper brands, or that they shared ingredients – tainted ingredients from China, it turns out.
The Food and Drug Administration has confirmed only 14 pet deaths due to the contamination, found in more than 100 different brands of pet food. The FDA has disclosed, however, that it has received reports, which it has yet to confirm, that as many as 1,950 cats and 2,200 dogs have died. Reports this week reveal that the salvaged tainted pet food was fed to thousands of hogs in several states and to chickens on 38 Indiana farms.
On Tuesday, the FDA appointed Dr. David Acheson as the agency’s “food safety czar.” He will help the FDA determine whether contaminated pet food ingredients imported from China made their way into foods meant for human consumption.
Acheson has been ordered to develop a “visionary strategy for food safety and defense.”
The Post reports that the U.S. currently subjects only a small fraction of its food imports to close inspection, but each month rejects about 200 shipments from China, mostly because of concerns about pesticides, antibiotics and misleading labeling. In February, FDA inspectors blocked peas tainted by pesticides, dried white plums containing banned additives, pepper contaminated with salmonella and filthy frozen crawfish. Imagine what made it in.
Why is the richest nation in the world, one that produces an abundance of wheat and rice and most anything else exported from China, doing so much food business with a country lacking the most basic controls and standards?
According to the Post, it’s because U.S. companies are under relentless pressure to cut costs, in part from consumers who demand low prices, and obtaining cheap ingredients from China has become an important strategy for many of them.
It’s long past time for pet- and human-food producers to commit to not using unregulated, cheap ingredients from China or other unreliable sources. Consumers will have no problem with this.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
