The Conservative Cat

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April 12, 2007

Pet Food News - The Melamine Pet Food Saga Continues

I subscribe to a pet news email service. In general, the stuff they send me is worse than useless. A recent story on music for cats contained so many unconfirmed suppositions that even CBS would find it unacceptable. Today they sent out a special newsletter warning that the pet food recall is expanding to new brands, but neglected to provide a list of the new brands or even a link to a related web site. I was so upset by this that I had to have two cheese snacks before I could calm down enough to think straight.

The operative strategy remains this: stay away from anything containing wheat gluten. There are, however, some developments, though nothing is even vaguely certain.

According to the International Herald Tribune, there is now some evidence that the alleged manufacturer of the wheat gluten-- Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development-- deliberately added melamine to the gluten in order to increase the protein content. As evidence, the Tribune cites postings on commercial web sites in which individuals claiming to be from Xuzhou Anying state they are buying melamine.

In the TV-movie version of events, an evil executive would deliberately mix in the melamine in order to get higher profits even though he knows the stuff is toxic, and the whole thing would be exposed by the diligence of a young homeless girl seeking justice for her pet cat. In reality, a deliberate mixing of melamine with wheat gluten would have been based on the fact that melamine was found to have only minimal toxicity in lab tests.

Part of the problem is the Chinese economic system. Food-poisoning scandals are fairly common, but China is a mercantilist country, and the needs of the Chinese people will always take second place to the needs of China's export partners. If nothing else, this escapade draws into sharp relief the superiority of democratic capitalism. Please feel free to point this out to your liberal friends who think we're doing a bad thing in Iraq.

There is, however, still a major unresolved problem with this whole story: we believe that melamine is the culprit because it shows up in the offending pet foods and in the kidneys of the affected cats. There is still, however, no adequate medical explanation of why melamine is causing kidney dysfunction, which means way may still be barreling down the wrong track.

There is, however, one unequivocal conclusion that nobody can deny: do not EVER mess with America's cats. While it's true that we don't vote, all the smart voters listen to our advice. We've been here since the days of the Mayflower, and it's no coincidence that we also live in the most prosperous nation in human history.

Respectfully submitted

Ferdinand T. Cat

# At Thu 2:09 PM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (1) | More Pet Food News | Tags: capitalism cats China health risks Iraq melamine Menu Foods mercantilism pet food pet health Xuzhou Anying

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Posted by: D. Ox at April 13, 2007 1:08 AM