Look at the wording in this WaPo story about melamine, hogs, and human food supply...

[LiberalHeart]

From the Washington Post re melamine-contaminated feed and the hogs that ate it:

Several hundred of the 6,000 hogs that may have eaten contaminated pet food are believed to have entered the food supply for humans, the government said Thursday. The potential risk to human health was said to be very low.

(Is "was said to be very low" the same as saying "it is very low"?)

The government told the three states involved it would not allow meat from any of the hogs that ate the feed to enter the food supply.

(But the article says they are believed to have already entered the food supply.]

No more than 345 hogs from farms in California, New York and South Carolina are involved, according to the Agriculture Department.

(No more than??? Isn't 345 a LOT?)

It appears the large majority of the hogs that may have been exposed are still on the farms where they are being raised, spokeswoman Nicol Andrews said.

(It APPEARS? They don't know squat, but all's well.)

The whole article is a masterpiece of weasle-worded reassurances:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042601544.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[Blackhatjack]

1. Here are some missing facts that should make you lie awake at night...

North Carolina is the largest pork producing state.

Our local news in Raleigh reported that one farm had been identified as having hogs contaminated with melamine, but that it was in the western part of the state and remained unidentified. (Far away from the border with South Carolina).

Same assurances that all pork products are safe, and weasel worded assurances that the affected hogs did not enter the human food chain.

So why did the WaPo not mention North Carolina?

Hmmm.....

[LiberalHeart]

5. They do mention North Carolina, but you have go to page 2...

NORTH CAROLINA: A farm with 1,400 hogs is under quarantine. It shipped 54 animals to a slaughterhouse, where they are on voluntary hold.
_________

On page two there are a number of states mentioned and the remarks about them are disquieting. I think there's a very weird disconnect between the assurances that all is safe and the facts they're tucking in between such statements.

Also, LA Times has a story up about the FDA's swell plan to protect our food supply. Only trouble is, nobody is implementing it.

[Blackhatjack]

7. The local paper News and Observer has documented the changing story re: North Carolina

At first there was a question whether any farm in NC was affected

Then there was word that a farm 'in the western part of the state' had been quarantined(which by the way is as far as you can get from the majority of hog operations in the state which are located in the eastern part of the state).

Then there was confirmation of urine tests showing contamination of hogs on this farm, but no entry to human food chain.

Then there was a question whether the hogs actually made it into the food chain....

...and it goes on from there.

[acmavm]

2. The WP is a joke. A horrible, lethal, lying joke.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. I like the wording in THIS story. It's from the Seattle Times, but the writer is WaPo.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2003680068_chinafood25.html

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.

Yes. The poor, put upon food companies, facing hordes of angry consumers DEMANDING that cheap, uninspected ingredients of dubious quality be put into things like BABY FORMULA, you know, so that it can be five cents cheaper. :eyes:

Give me a god-damn break. Who is writing this apologia? There is absolutely no corporate or government responsibility implied whatsoever. :shrug: What can anyone do? Consumers are putting relentless pressure on them to purchase cheap, shitty, shoddy food!

BULLSHIT. The widespread success of everything from organically farmed food to microbrews has proven that consumers WILL PAY MORE MONEY for BETTER QUALITY. The corporations, however, would much prefer to make the label say "better quality" and charge more for the same or even worse shit. That is not "relentless pressure" from consumers, that is relentless pressure from bottom-line minded CEO's who don't give a shit about the quality of their products.

[WinkyDink]

14. The fact is, MBA's from here are flocking to China to make their fortunes. It has nothing to do

safety or quality and everything to do with cheap production and labor costs.

[lazyriver]

15. Well said and I completely agree with your interpretation.

Walmart and all corporations demand ever higher profits every year, quarter, month, week etc. THEY put pressure on suppliers to provide lower and lower prices so they can increase their precious margins, drive up stock prices and inflate CEO compensation packages.

I worked in sales for a large outdoor recreation products company. They used to sell to Sam's Club and had to give them ridiculous discounts from wholesale just to get in the door. The products moved and the following year, the Sam's Club buyer demanded their cost be lowered by 5% despite the fact that due to energy costs rising, the cost to produce the product went up 11%. The company refused to sell to them any longer and Sam's Club sourced a cheaper knock off product directly from China.

I firmly believe the buyers for these large retailers who deal in food operate no differently. They put the pressure on the suppliers. Walmart started this downward spiral of prices and value. They took the easy way out and sold cheap crap at ridiculously low prices to build their company. So many others followed by choice or necessity and we are all paying the price now and many years to come.

[rec_report]

4. Yup, that's the PentaPost for you. K&R, btw.

Polar Bear

[lonestarnot]

6. Those little piggies can just stay home. I'm not eat'n 'em!

[myrna minx]

8. Could someone please translate these two paragraphs from BS to English for me?

"Since mid-March, pet food companies have recalled more than 100 brands of dog and cat food and treats; more recalls were announced Thursday. An unknown number of cats and dogs have fallen ill or died after eating products made with contaminated rice protein concentrate or a second tainted ingredient, wheat gluten.

Some pet food, while unsuitable for sale for that purpose, was still considered safe for animals to eat as it had not been recalled at the time it was forwarded to hog farms. Its use at hog farms raised the possibility that melamine entered the human food supply."

:crazy: OK, so this food was unsuitable for dogs and cats, but it was safe for "animals" to eat that would enter the human food supply?!

[WinkyDink]

16. Yes, the idiot writer is distinguishing between "pets" and "animals". WTH??

[loudsue]

9. This proves, once again, the DANGER of our media.

THIS is what the Dems need to investigate! The media is so full of lies and obfuscation, it might as well BE the republican party.

Oh yeah. It is an arm of the republican party.. :freak:



:kick::kick::kick:

[marions ghost]

10. you can smell the fear

around this story everywhere.

NPR reported that there is evidence that the melamine was deliberately added to the gluten in China in order to boost nutritional values when tested. But nobody wants to go there.

We are dependent on Chinese imports and there's just too much at stake.

WE are the pigs at the end of the trough. I would like to see consumers up in arms over this.

[robinlynne]

12. and farmers. Why would anyone import wheat? well we know why, but if I were a

farmer, I would go after the wheat importing part of the outrage. We are the number one wheat producer in the world (and exporter, i think). importing rice is understandable. wheat is not.

[robbyrob79]

13. Isn't it strange though

That we're the second or third biggest wheat producer in the world, yet all of this wheat based animal feed is imported from China? Does anyone else think this is kind of strange? There are warehouses and silos all over the country overflowing with grain, sometimes even to the point where it is stored on the ground and left to rot, and yet we're importing this stuff from China? What's wrong with this picture?

[WinkyDink]

17. China owns us. LITERALLY. We're being eased into that reality.

[marions ghost]

11. kick

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[mhatrw]

18. Kick. Important story. n/t

[SoCalDem]

19. They used to send people to watch nuke tests in nevada.. with picnic lunches

just saying :eyes:

[Shallah Kali]

20. Tainted Hogs Have Been EATEN!

Chemical found in state hogs

April 20, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/158442.html

The farm sells to both private individuals and others whom the state declined to identify, saying it is still investigating what happened to the pork. The state Health Services Department is urging people who bought pigs from the farm not to eat the meat until further notice.

So far, "evidence suggests a minimal health risk" to people who have consumed it, Dr. Mark Horton, the state's public health officer, said in the same press release.

Alert to pork plant customers
State says hogs slaughtered by Bar None of Half Moon Bay may have eaten melamine.
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/160086.html

State investigators are warning people who bought pork this month from a custom slaughtering plant -- Bar None of Half Moon Bay -- not to eat it because the hogs may have eaten pet food with melamine, the chemical linked to cat and dog deaths and illnesses nationwide.

Last week, the California Department of Food and Agriculture quarantined American Hog Farm, a 1,500-hog operation in Ceres in Stanislaus County, after learning that animals there had been fed pet food contaminated with melamine starting April 3.

The department began notifying about 100 private customers who bought hogs killed and packaged by American Hog Farm that were fed tainted pet feed.

In addition, state and federal investigators began tracking down live hogs that American sold to four other slaughtering plants between April 3 and 18.