More Than Just Our Pets

It is estimated tens of thousands of cats and dogs nationwide died as a result of tainted food that had origins in China. But the truth is the poor regulatory environment for food products sourced from China may mean our fuzzy friends are the canary in the coal mine, and that our health and lives may be at risk as well from tainted products.

Today’s front page article of the Washington Post focused on the safety of our food supply. There was one particular passage though that while it did not address Wal-Mart specifically, did address Wal-Mart’s effect on suppliers:

The investigations are unearthing details of the food chain that were previously a mystery to most Americans, including the international dealings that determine how ingredients make their way into the food supply. U.S. companies are under relentless pressure to cut costs, in part from consumers who demand low prices, and obtaining cheap ingredients from China has become an important strategy for many of them.

The cold reality it is not consumers demand for low prices, but rather Wal-Mart’s push for global outsourcing to lower prices that has began to ripple into the food chain. Wal-Mart “always” pushes its suppliers to move as much of its production to China, no matter what the cost, be it to the American farmer, the health of consumer’s pets, or the health and safety of the consumer and their family. The consumer themselves buys these products with the assumption that they come mostly from domestic sources and that there is oversight by federal agencies to guarantee safety. However, as Wal-Mart pushes more food production outside of the United States, the ability of these agencies to produce meaningful oversight becomes limited in the era of free trade, and the public becomes exposed to the same risks that plagued the early industrial era in the United States. Many substances that have been effectively regulated out of the domestic food production, because of the health hazard they pose, may be finding their way back into our food supply through sourcing from China. In fact while our foodstuffs may be nicely packaged, with the increased outsourcing to China for production, we face the same risks documented in Upton Sinclair’s the Jungle, and the next national health crisis may not involve our pets, but rather ourselves.

Wal-Mart’s opposition to Country of Origin Labeling may in fact stem from the fact the public may become legitimately concerned about where their food originates. Since Wal-Mart has placed so much pressure on its suppliers to move food production to China, Wal-Mart may face a true backlash when consumers demand the food they buy is sourced where the safety of the food supply can be effectively regulated. Wal-Mart may say consumers are not concerned about where their food comes from, but the reality is they are concerned about whether their food is safe, and that is directly tied to where the food is coming from.

Posted by Research Team on Wednesday, April 25, 2007

COMMENTS

All,

What a way to start the day--an article from the WMW Research Team made with their two key ingredients --speculation and spin!

For the record I’m yet to find that one consumable item in my pantry that was manufactured in China (and I would say about 20-25% of my consumables are purchased at WM).

Does anyone know of any particular brands that are truly outsourcing their production to overseas factories (and no, Asian ethnic foods do not count)?

Names, please!

Jim Bunch in
Wednesday, April 25 at 10:19 AM

jim I dont know but I would never have ate something from china. they have no respect for mother earth they continue to damage the enviroment dont you see the people wearing a mask while biking across town.

rowdt rrooo in wisconsin
Wednesday, April 25 at 10:31 AM

For the record I’m yet to find that one consumable item in my pantry that was manufactured in China (and I would say about 20-25% of my consumables are purchased at WM).

What’s happened to you, Jim? You sound like a complete fool. Check your pantry again and see how many products contain wheat gluten.

Del Monte Foods has confirmed that the melamine-tainted wheat gluten used in several of its recalled pet food products was supplied as a “food grade” additive, raising the likelihood that contaminated wheat gluten might have entered the human food supply.

You might want to take a little more time reflecting before you post here. Unlike your blog, people actually read this one. Why do I care? Because I believe in the quote from Kinky Friedman:

Judge a man by his enemies.

...and you are a miserable excuse for an enemy.

Ken V in Texas
Wednesday, April 25 at 12:13 PM

Jim,
In the case of the pet food contamination, it wasn’t the end product that was made in China but one of the intermediate products that was used in the manufacturing of the food, wheat gluten. I have been seeing more human food products coming from China lately, such as candy (the candy itself, not just the packaging), and dried fruit (cranberries, apricots). It wouldn’t surprise me to find out if any ingredients in processed human foods are coming from China or any other low-wage country with lax environmental laws though. There are so many food products that give no country of origin but say ‘distributed by...’ or ‘manufactured for...’; it makes me wonder just where some of this stuff is actually being made. I do know that it appears anything Corporate America can do to maximize profits, no matter how little, they will.

I’m all for country of origin labeling of every product, food or not, and against the efforts of any corporation to eliminate them. I can only vote for a product or business with my money, and I like to make informed decisions.

Jason in
Wednesday, April 25 at 12:19 PM

Jason,

The point I was trying to make is that food products are typcially labeled “Product of ______”. I double-checked my pantry, and the only things I could DIRECTLY identify as originating from overseas were bags of dried apricots and mangoes (that were branded/purchased-from Costco) that originated in the Philippines.

In light of the recent pet food fiasco, the USDA desperately needs to provide better guidance/oversight as to what’s coming into this country and entering our food supply system, as regardless of who sells the stuff in the end (Ken - WM is but one of a hundred selling this stuff), the USDA is the front line on all food/animal products entering this country.

Ken,

I said “manufactured” in China—obviously, I wasn’t referring to all the sub-ingredients that go into a single product (does anyone really know where everything comes-from? I doubt it).

Since you had to go and come-off like SDV on me, maybe he’ll teach you how to grow your own stuff.

Jim Bunch in
Wednesday, April 25 at 12:34 PM

The contaminated wheat gluten was “manufactured” in China.

How can you be so obtuse? ~ Andy Dufresne (Shawshank Redemption)

Ken V in Texas
Wednesday, April 25 at 12:40 PM

Ken,

True, the wheat gluten you speak-of, which was contaminated with melamine, and the subject of the recent pet food recall, was indeed made in China—I am not disputing that.

In deference to you, I did check-out what I ate for lunch, and while the container did say it contained wheat gluten, the product, itself was “fully-assembled” in Parsipanny, New Jersey.

That said, assuming (just for the heck of it) all wheat gluten coming out of China has the potential to be melamine-contaminated means I will either get cancer from the gluten, or maybe from the fact it was assembled in New Jersey (and was probably sitting-near a Superfund site).

I know, it sounds pretty ridiculous, but no more than what we usually read, here, right?

Jim Bunch in
Wednesday, April 25 at 02:27 PM

Jim,

[JB] “The point I was trying to make is that food products are typcially labeled “Product of ______”. “

I assumed that’s what you meant. The problem is that companies like (but not limited to) Wal Mart are trying to eliminate the “product of...” information as well. I understand that there is produce, such as coffee beans and tropical fruits, that it makes sense to go ahead and process in the countries that they’re grown in, but I question why a bag of frozen soybeans in the pod (Whole Foods Market) is being processed in China when the U.S. is the world’s largest grower of them. I also question why big-box retailers are so adamant about eliminating country of origin labels when it shouldn’t add any cost to the product.

[JB] “In light of the recent pet food fiasco, the USDA desperately needs to provide better guidance/oversight as to what’s coming into this country and entering our food supply system, as regardless of who sells the stuff in the end...”

I couldn’t agree with you more on that. The problem is that oversight costs money, and the present administration has been cutting funding to departments such as the USDA.

The elimination of the country of origin labels is not really a current issue because I remember reading about it 3-4 years ago, except in the context of the Bush Administration.

Jason in
Wednesday, April 25 at 02:54 PM

[me] “The elimination of the country of origin labels is not really a current issue because...”

I meant that it’s not a new issue; it is a current issue though...my bad.

Jason in
Wednesday, April 25 at 04:02 PM

One account I read reported that introducing melamine into wheat gluten results in higher protein tests thereby raising the price.

The point being there is a very good chance the gluten was adulterated on purpose and since it was categorized as “food grade” its use is not limited to pet food.

Ken V in Texas
Thursday, April 26 at 03:01 AM

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