TIME: "FDA is an agency under siege with no money and no resources"

[pnwmom]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1607483,00.html

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"The FDA is an agency under siege with no money and resources," says Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at New York University, who is writing a book on pet food. "They're not going to make pet food the priority when they have so much to do to make human food safe." That's disturbing news to animal lovers, since many furry pals are part of the family. The FDA requires that pet food must be pure, wholesome, sanitary and safe to eat — but the agency has no obligation to approve the food before it goes to market. "The FDA doesn't inspect the plants or the food, but leaves that up to AAFCO , which is a body that has no regulating power," says Friedrich of PETA. "So it really becomes self-policing."

Critics of the pet food industry point to two factors that may contribute to unsafe food: the centralization of the process for making food and the use of unsanitary material from rendering plants. The recall brought to light that the wheat gluten, which was eventually recalled, came from a single Chinese company but ended up in over 100 brands of pet food. ChemNutra Inc., based in Las Vegas, bought 873 tons of gluten from the Chinese company, farmed it out to three pet food makers and one distributor that services the industry. A highly centralized process may be cheap, but "at that size and scale if something goes wrong it goes wrong big time," says Nestle.

Rendering plants, which boil down dead animal carcasses from slaughterhouses into fats and proteins, sell cheap material that often ends up in pet food. The "meat" in your cat's kibbles could be any kind: there's no law against even using rendered material from cats and dogs in pet food. Plants can mix in anything from road kill to supermarket deli meats, and investigations by KMOV-TV in St. Louis and the Los Angeles Times have suggested that pets killed in animal shelters just might make it into the slop. The Pet Food Institute, whose members create most of the dog and cat food sold in the U.S., told the Times that pets are not allowed in their products. But the FDA has admitted to finding "very, very low levels" of sodium pentobarbital — the chemical used to euthanize animals — in some brands of dog food. Wayne Pacelle, President of the Humane Society of the U.S. said the allegations need more scrutiny. "The pet food industry is not the most transparent of industries and it has been really difficult for the public to obtain information," he says.

What Should You Feed Fido?
Besides staying away from recalled products, pet owners might want to consider using natural food from smaller companies.
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[Kagemusha]

1. I've gotta say... how did it take THIS LONG for someone to state the obvious?

Based on what I - hardly an expert on the matter - knew about the FDA, none of this was a surprise at all so how did it take so long for professors of nutrition to get quoted by the media? I don't expect the FDA to alter the centralization of the process of making pet food. I can wonder about these funding levels and the haphazard response to the scare.

[pnwmom]

2. A "haphazard response." Doesn't that remind you of FEMA?

Something tells me that no matter how good the career employees might be there, they're being managed by a bunch of nincompoops at the top. Bush appointees who seem almost to have been selected just to demonstrate how government can screw things up.

[kestrel91316]

4. You've got it exactly right. The rank-and-file FDA employees are

almost certainly hard-working and dedicated scientists. That doesn't matter, if the folks at the top are running interference.

Remember what Grover Norquist said: we want to shrink government down so small we can drown it in a bathtub.

They have got FDA underwater and are holding on tight. Can't have ANY interference with those ever-increasing quarterly corporate profits.

[kestrel91316]

3. Mission Accomplished. Way to go, Bushie!

[soothsayer]

5. the prob is that the FDA calls big pharma 'clients'; WE are their clients!

dammit