Made In U.S.A. Food Recall

Reports in the media are saying that stores in the U.S. have still not removed all the Castlebury Chili and canned food products that have been tainted with botulism, from their shelves, despite last weeks recall by the company and warnings from the FDA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The FDA is reporting that Castelbury has increased the products being recalled including both human food and pet food.

The source of botulism was poor product inspection due to the volunteer privatized food inspection process used in the U.S.

Chinese food products or additives were not identified as being involved as was the case in the recent pet food recall scandal.

And like the pet food scandal Castlebury is owned by an Income Trust.

Cans of chili contaminated with botulism could be in the homes of unwitting Canadian consumers despite a countrywide recall from Wal-Mart stores, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned yesterday.

Health officials are asking Canadians to scour their homes for two products - Great Value Original Chili With Beans and Great Value Hot Chili With Beans - after four people fell ill in the U.S.

Cans of recalled food are bursting, swollen with bacteria that cause botulism.

The bursting cans were among those being held by Castleberry's Food Co., which last week announced a massive recall that now includes more than 90 potentially contaminated products, including chili sauces and dog foods.

News about the bursting cans gives new urgency to warnings from federal health officials to get rid of the recalled cans from pantries and store shelves.

Spot checks by the Food and Drug Administration and state officials continue to turn up recalled products for sale in convenience stores, gas stations and family run groceries, from Florida to Alaska. The FDA alone has found them in roughly 250 of the more than 3,700 stores visited in nationwide checks, according to figures the agency provided to The Associated Press.

Yet food and other product recalls remain a voluntary process instigated by manufacturers. And there are no federal fines or penalties levied against companies whose products are subject to recall, said Amanda Eamich, spokesperson for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"There is no such thing as a mandatory recall," said Eamich. "However, no company has ever refused a recall for FSIS."

While federal oversight agencies cannot instigate a recall, they do have the legal authority to detain and seize products in order to protect the public from health problems or possible death. They also can enforce product safety requirements at the manufacturing plant, said Eamich.

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Fish Contamination

Not only do we have to worry about mercury in fish now we have to worry about Melamine too.

Tainted feed sent to Canadian fish farms, food agency says

And just like mercury we are assured that the melamine contamination is not harmful to humans. Yet.

Officials say risk is low from fish fed melamine-spiked food,

Once again human beings are subjected to the outrages of the primitive accumulation of capital, criminal capitalism by any other name, as China joins the world market.

China Zeroes In On Food And Drug Safety

But China is not alone, the deregulated market place in America is their model;

Food czar: Inspections flawed, lack resources

China issues draft rules for pig slaughterhouses

And you and I and our animals end up being poisoned.

The neo-con fetish for privatization,deregulation,reductions in pulic sector cleaning and housekeeping staff and contracting out, have led to major health crisis's; SARS, BSE, etc. in the past decade.

A social cost they did not anticipate in their reinventing of government.

Proving once again that capitalism is not sustainable, it is killing us.





SEE:

Criminal Capitalism: Pet Food Scandal

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Criminal Capitalism: Pet Food Scandal

Ah the joys of capitalism, which is to get away with making a profit at any cost, as long as you don't get caught. In the era of globalization this is what happens....

Xuzhou is the home of Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development, a small agricultural products trader that U.S. regulators say was the source of the wheat gluten, distributed to major pet food suppliers in North America, that was at some point adulterated with a toxic chemical that sickened or killed the animals.

Of particular concern are indications that Xuzhou Anying, whose main office consists of two rooms and an adjoining warehouse here, may have purchased melamine, the chemical linked to the animal deaths. The company has distanced itself from the pet food contamination and recall, saying it neither manufactures nor exports wheat gluten, but only acts as a middleman trading agricultural goods and chemicals.

Now, regulators with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are examining the possibility that melamine was intentionally mixed into the wheat gluten in China as a way to bolster the apparent protein content and to meet pet food requirements, according to a person briefed on the investigation.

Stephen Sundlof, director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the agency, said at a news conference last week that the agency had found unusually high concentrations of melamine in some batches of wheat gluten, as much as 6.6 percent. The agency said the concentrations were high enough to have led to kidney failure in some pets.

ChemNutra, a Las Vegas company, said it had purchased the wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying and then shipped it to pet food makers in the United States and Canada. ChemNutra said Xuzhou Anying had provided chemical analysis indicating that there were no impurities or contamination in the product.

ChemNutra also says it was led to believe that Xuzhou Anying operated its own manufacturing facilities.

In recent months, Xuzhou Anying appears to have posted several requests on online trading sites seeking to purchase large quantities of melamine.

In one March 29 posting on a trading site operated by Sohu.net, a Chinese Web site, people who said they were with Xuzhou Anying wrote, "Our company buys large quantities of melamine scrap all year around." There were also postings on several other online trading sites, like ChemAbc.net.

See
Not In The Dog House

Corporate Crime

White Collar Crime

Criminal Capitalism

Productivity

Wealth

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Not In The Dog House

Reports of animal illnesses and deaths were first reported to Menu Foods in February as this video of the Menu Foods Press conference shows. Coincidence? I think not.....

The chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund sold nearly half his units in the pet food maker less than three weeks before it announced a massive product recall, according to insider trading reports.

The reports show that Mark Wiens sold 14,000 units for C$102,900 ($89,700) on February 26 and February 27. As of Monday's close of C$4.46, the units would be worth C$62,440.

After the sale, Wiens owned 17,193 units and had options to buy 101,812, the trading reports show.

On March 16, the Mississauga, Ontario, pet food maker recalled 60 million containers of "cuts and gravy" style pet food amid reports of pet deaths due to contamination.

CEO

Stock Options

Corporate Crime

White Collar Crime

Criminal Capitalism

Productivity

Wealth


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