Is YOUR Food Safe?

[Belle]

It was just a matter of time.....

ChemNutra Announces Nationwide Wheat Gluten Recall

FINALLY, they released the name of the US Supplier of the imported gluten! WHY was this company "protected" from exposure for so long??? WHY won't they tell us who all they shipped the gluten to? Why don't we know who all received this gluten? Too many people trying to CYA while pets, and possibly humans, are affected by this??

The Food and Drug Administration said it’s beginning an “across the board” investigation into human foods that contain wheat gluten.

Tainted wheat gluten that triggered a massive nationwide pet food recall also ended up in processing plants that prepare food consumed by people, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday. While agency leaders offered assurances that the nation's food supply remains safe, they said they cannot yet completely rule out contamination of human food by the suspect wheat gluten

(click on quotes for links to sources)

Here's my post from an earlier thread before ChemNutra was identified. I still maintain the companies involved and the FDA are not doing enough fast enough.

*********

Wheat gluten is used in a majority of human processed foods as well and this wheat gluten was sold as "food grade", not "feed grade" meaning it was deemed acceptable for human foods as well. You'd be surprised at how much "human" food also has wheat gluten in it.

They cannot guarantee that contaminated gluten was not used in any "human" food and I wouldn't take their word for it, either based on how much this recall continues to expand. <_<

"Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine said the FDA is not aware of any contaminated gluten that went into human food but said he could not confirm this "with 100 percent certainty." Wheat gluten is a common food additive used as a thickener, dough conditioner, and meat substitute. It is widely used as an additive in commercial bakery items and special purpose flours." (source)

Humans vary our diet on a daily basis and our systems are much larger and much more durable in the face of contamination than a small dog or cat who eats the same thing every day, so it *could* just be a matter of time before there's even more bad news to come down the pike.

There are at least 17 companies in China who supply wheat gluten to the US. BUT Menu Foods got this gluten from a US DISTRIBUTOR who bought the gluten from the Chinese distributor:

"The head of Menu Foods, the manufacturer of the recalled pet food, said today it had dropped

the U.S. supplier of the imported ingredient

. Paul Henderson also suggested his company would sue the unnamed supplier."

Source

"The FDA announced today that it has traced the contaminated wheat gluten to a single processor, Xuzhou Anying Biological Technology of Peixian, China, but

has not released the name of the U.S. distributor who supplied the product

to Del Monte, Menu Foods, Nestle Purina, and Hills Nutritional."

Source

Who else does this US DISTRIBUTOR ship the wheat gluten to? This wheat gluten is used in everything from human food and pharmaceuticals to cosmetics.

Here is a sampling of things that contain gluten.

I use Bil Jac and recommend it. (WW, I switched from Eukanuba after they sold out.) Frankly, right now, Bil Jac is just about the only thing I do trust outside of cooking my own food from scratch - I wouldn't even trust baby food for my fur-baby right now. Bil Jac doesn't use any gluten in their products.

Here's a great list of alternative safer foods for your pet.

And another site with good information.

I like to think that I'm not an alarmist, but in this case, I am very carefully considering my own diet as carefully as I am considering Vixen's. It's not just that I don't trust the FDA (I don't), but I have zero confidence in their ability to investigate and act quickly when/if they are alerted to any additional danger.

Edited April 4, 2007 by Belle

[RainbowsGirl]

Thank You Belle,

This is well put together and great information!

I hope it doesn't become a necessity to know this all and avoid so many food products and still wonder if that is enough!

Kind of ironic and terribly sad that our pet suffered and died in a way to warn us perhaps!

Love You, Belle, RG

[ChasUFarley]

Thanks for the info Belle - GOOD TO CYBER SEE YA, GIRL!

I agree that we can't be too safe.

[waysider]

UMMM.------------

Is there any wheat gluten in beer?

No particular reason for asking.-------Just wondering. :unsure: :unsure:

[waysider]

Sorry Belle.

I was just having a little fun.

Thank you for posting that thought provoking information.

Good to see your posts again.

edited for spelling.

Edited April 4, 2007 by waysider

[Belle]

Waysider there IS gluten in beer.....usually. BUT, people who can't have gluten still deserve to par-tay with the best of them, so they have finally come out with gluten-free beer!

Gluten Free Beer Festival

Anheuser-Busch Redbridge

Which means I can still safely enjoy a brewski (or ten) during NASCAR.

[Abigail]

Thanks for continuing to watch and update us on this Belle. Thankfully, we do not consume a lot of wheat products, unless I make them myself from flour - I am concerned about the wheat flour, though the bag I have right now predates this mess. Cereal and bread pretty much covers it. We will be switching to rice and oat cereals that are wheat and gluten free and continuing with the Passover tradition of matzahs instead of bread for a while longer.

[Mister P-Mosh]

This is where organic food used to be beneficial. Unfortunately, within the past few years the government (after being paid off by big agri-business, of course) redefined organic to basically make that label meaningless. As a result, there's no way to know if the tainted food is in organics or not.

[Belle]

Yep. I agree, P-Mosh. I'm pretty much shifting from any processed food to whole foods and buying most of my produce from the local farmer's market on Saturday mornings. *shrug* It's healthier to eat that way, anyway and the produce at the local market is fresh, local and usually cheaper than the grunchy store.

Sounds good, Abigail. I think limiting gluten in our diet, like yours seems to be, is a good thing anyway. They have found that a gluten free diet helps with ADHD/ADD and other behavior problems and most people don't even know they're allergic to it:

DIET AND ITS POSSIBLE ROLE IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS

Eating to Learn: How Grains Impact on Our Ability to Focus, Comprehend, Remember, Predict, and Survive

Diet, ADHD & Behavior

Autism & Diet

And so on....

Thankfully, it's easier to cut it out of one's diet these days. Even just a year ago, it was darn near impossible to find "normal" foods without gluten in them.

[Belle]

Sorry