[Vision2020] Quarantine:Melamine Contamination In Human Food

[Ted Moffett]

All-

If this info has already been posted to Vision2020, excuse the redundancy.

This recent development might help promote the local (are there any local
ones after SaraJoes stopped their organic pig meat operation?) organic pig
or hog farmers who monitor more closely what their animals meant for human
consumption eat.  Not to mention they might treat their animals with more
compassion than many of the large hog (this farm quarantined is a 1500
animal operation) or pig farms.

This is just as should be expected, given that some of the contaminated
products that were in pet food might have been (how can we know for sure how
many animal operations fed contaminated feed?) fed to animals meant for
human consumption:  a hog farm has been quarantined after melamine was
discovered in the hogs urine, melamine being one of the substances
that contaminated pet food.  "...evidence suggests a minimal  health risk to
persons..." the article below states.  This "suggestion" will not stop my
hesitation to purchase animal food products unless I know more about where
they came from and how they were fed:

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/12615606/detail.html

California agriculture officials placed a hog farm under quarantine after
melamine was found in pig urine there.

The 1,500-animal farm operates as a "custom slaughterhouse," which means it
generally does not supply meat to commercial outlets.

"Mostly it is not so-called mainstream pork. This is an operation that sells
to folks who come in and want a whole pig," Lyle said.

Officials urged those who purchased pigs from American Hog Farm since April
3 to not consume the product until further notice.

Dr. Mark Horton, state public health officer, said so far "evidence suggests
a minimal health risk to persons who may have consumed pork" from the farm.

A man who answered the phone for American Hog Farm late Thursday declined to
comment and referred calls to state officials. Phone calls to Diamond Pet
Food's Lathrop facility and Meta, Mo., headquarters were not immediately
returned.

So far, melamine's been found in both wheat gluten and rice protein
concentrate imported from China.

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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