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Neshane
04-19-2007, 07:58 AM
I have been keeping up with this dog food recall and when John Thacher, CEO of the San Francisco based supplier refused to tell where the concentrate was sold to other than diamond dog food company, I thought then it might be to our own food supply. Then I read this on line this morning and wonder maybe it's true and they didn't want to panic the public!!!!!


34 more hospitalized in latest Chinese food scare



www.chinaview.cn 2007-04-18 18:15:26

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FUZHOU, April 18 (Xinhua) -- In the fourth mass food poisoning incident to hit China in a week, thirty-four students were hospitalized with suspected food poisoning after eating lunch at a factory cafeteria in Fujian Province on Tuesday, local food safety authorities said Wednesday.

The food watchdog is analyzing food from the cafeteria of the Guanda Garment Company in the provincial capital Fuzhou after receiving reports that more than 30 students from two technical secondary schools had fallen ill on Tuesday.

The officials suspect that mushrooms in the meal might be the source of the poisoning.

The students, who were doing field work in the firm, developed cramps, vomiting and diarrhea and were taken to hospital in Tuesday afternoon and diagnosed with suspected food poisoning.

All the students have been discharged after being treated.

The exact cause of the food poisoning is still unknown and an investigation is in progress.

The incident follows hot on the heels of three other mass poisonings in the country this month.

On Monday, more than 60 migrant workers in Shanghai were hospitalized with food poisoning after eating supper at a construction site cafeteria.

Also on Monday, 19 middle-school students were hospitalized with suspected food poisoning after eating lunch in a school cafeteria in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province.

On April 9, more than 200 people fell ill and one person died in Harbin in northeastern China after they ate a hospital breakfast suspected of being contaminated with rat poison.

With food poisoning cases frequently reported to have caused deaths and injuries in China, the government is expected to issue a comprehensive plan to track and trace food products.

According to authorities on standardizing market economic order, the national guidelines for food and drug safety have been approved by the State Council and will be soon promulgated.

China will in the next five years enhance the safety assessment of food and drug and the monitoring of drugs and medical equipment, and better handle safety incidents in the field, the authorities said.

Food and drug safety has become a major concern of Chinese people. According to a survey by the State Food and Drug Administration, 65 percent of the respondents worried about the food safety situation in China.

Besides food poisoning cases, several drug safety incidents occurred in China last year, the most notorious one causing the deaths of at least six patients and severe side-effects in more than 80 others.

Da Brat
04-19-2007, 09:04 AM
It will never cease to amaze me how people can refuse to give out information like that!! Our judicial system is so screwed up..

LexieLuvr
04-19-2007, 11:24 AM
HOLEY MOLEY - China is having some major food issues!! Please don't let it cross the ocean to us!?

quavec
04-19-2007, 11:34 AM
I forsee an embargo on certain items - food type items.

CNN did say that the FDA is looking towards Rice Protein as a source of contamination now. I reread Cricket's ingredient list and so far, so good. :pray:

Jen
04-19-2007, 11:49 AM
Wow, people are getting that sick and its not headline news here? What is wrong with the world?!?!?

Patt
04-19-2007, 09:37 PM
Here's the low down from FDA on rice protein

Wilbur-Ellis Voluntarily Recalls Rice Protein Concentrate
Contact:
Ann Barlow
415-438-9826; 925-200-6539
Deborah Brown
212-931-6113

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- San Francisco, CA -- April 18, 2007 -- Wilbur-Ellis Company is voluntarily recalling all lots of the rice protein concentrate the San Francisco company’s Feed Division has shipped to pet-food manufacturers because of a risk that rice protein concentrate may have been contaminated by melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers that can lead to illness or fatalities in animals if consumed.

Wilbur-Ellis noted that it obtained rice protein from a single source in China and shipped to a total of five U.S. pet-food manufacturers located in Utah, N.Y., Kansas and two in Missouri.

Last Sunday, April 15, Wilbur-Ellis notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that a single bag in a recent shipment of rice protein concentrate from its Chinese supplier, Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd., had tested positive for melamine. Unlike the other white-colored bags in that shipment, the bag in question was pink and had the word “melamine” stenciled upon it. Wilbur-Ellis separated that bag and quarantined the entire shipment for further testing and since that time, no further deliveries of rice protein concentrate have been made. Samples from the white bags tested negative for melamine. However, subsequent and potentially more sensitive tests by the FDA came back positive for melamine, leading Wilbur-Ellis to voluntarily issue the recall.

Wilbur-Ellis began importing rice protein concentrate from Binzhou Futian Biology Technology in July 2006. A total of 14 containers holding 336 metric tons of rice protein concentrate were sent from Futian to Wilbur-Ellis. Wilbur-Ellis has distributed 155 metric tons to date.

On Monday (April 16), a pet food distributor issued a voluntary recall of its pet food, believing the source of contamination to be rice protein concentrate supplied by Wilbur-Ellis. As an additional precaution, Wilbur-Ellis is urging all pet food manufacturers using rice protein concentrate supplied through Wilbur-Ellis to recall any pet food that may be on supermarket shelves.

Consumers with questions about the pet food they use should visit the FDA Web site at www.fda.gov.