OPERATOR: Next question comes from Debbie (sic) Turner. Your line is open.
REPORTER: Thank you. This is Debbie Turner (sic) with CBS News. As it relates to pets, are you confident that you have confiscated and contained all the melamine adulterated or contaminated, whether it be wheat gluten, rice protein concentrate, and should we expect any additional voluntary recalls among pet food in the coming days and weeks?
CAPTAIN ELDER: There was a recall announced today (PetConnection note: That recall was actually announced the day before) involving the rice protein concentrate. It was announced by Chenango Valley Foods. And in this announcement it covered the product Smart Pac, product produced, marketed by the firm Smart Pac that we mentioned during the last call on Tuesday of this week, and it includes additional products distributed by a firm called Foster and Smith. These again were associated with the contaminated rice protein concentrate. We aren’t aware of any other potential recalls at this time involving either pet food produced from contaminated wheat gluten or from contaminated rice protein concentrate. As we say time and again, the investigation is open, we continue to follow the trail, but we don’t have anything else that we expect to emerge. However, with the caveat, the inspection is ongoing and we are going to follow the trail until it ends, and if another recall emerges through that investigation that’s what will be necessary to continue to protect animal health and we will make sure that we do that as expeditiously as we can.
The whole transcript is here on the USDA website
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As I think we all know by now, not only had there been a subsequent recall during or shortly before the press conference - the Costco one - but there have now been FIVE MORE tonight
What’s more, since Craig Wilson of Costco told me that it was FDA testing that found the melamine in their food in the first place (tests run by American Nutrition on the food were negative), what chain of events could have led to FDA saying that it “didn’t have anything else that we expect to emerge”? What did FDA expect would happen with the companies it had told had melamine in their foods?
More from petconnection.com Is the FDA really so clueless?
Personal note: Last night (and well into the morning hours) bloggers from petconnection.com, itchmo.com, thepetfoodlist.com, howl911.com and petfoodtracker.com all tracked down rumors of new recalls - and worked together to share and post information of these new recalls - before these recalls were announced by the companies and/or the FDA.
While it's good we were able to get and post the information, we shouldn't have had to do it.
Why are bloggers doing the FDA's job?
4 comments:
Thank you so much for all this information!
all i can say is i thank the higher powers for you guys, because otherwise i would be completely in the dark!!!!
thank you
thank you
thank you!!
I think it must be very apparent by now that the FDA never intended to do the job. The FDA is still trying to sell the 16 deaths and they are trying so very hard to sell it that makes me think that there is more to the story.
Political or Purina ties is my guess, or some unholy combination.
They are sure picking off the smaller companies and the timing_look at the timing.
Ah yes, the midnight recall watch - and the next day the FDA sent me a press release about all the recalls we'd already reported the day before, in response to a question from me asking why they hadn't known about those very recalls.
*bashes head into wall*
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