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Are people safe from pet food scare?
USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), July, 2007
In the most extreme risk assessment scenario, when researchers assumed that all the solid food consumed by a person in an entire day was contaminated with melamine at the levels observed in animals fed contaminated feed, the potential exposure was about 2,500 times lower than the dose considered safe. In other words, it was well below any level of public health concern.
The risk assessment is a new science-based component of the continuing Federal joint investigation into imported wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate from China that contained melamine and related compounds. It was conducted by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (both of the Department of Health and Human Services), Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Agriculture.
In the course of the investigation, it was discovered that pet food was contaminated and scraps distributed to farms in various states and added to the feed consumed by swine and poultry. Exposure levels, however, were low. When they are higher, as was the case with cats and dogs, it causes the formation of crystals in the kidney systems, resulting in severe damage. However, the hogs and chickens known to have been fed contaminated feed appear to be healthy.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Society for the Advancement of Education
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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