Where Does The Problem Begin

We have all heard about the <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKN0326662720070506?pageNumber=1">pet food recalls and contaminated wheat gluten from China</a> that has caused it. The story has continued since some of this contaminated gluten has been fed to hogs and chickens and now raises questions about these animals. <br />n<br />nThe hogs and chickens that have all ready made it into the human food chain that ate this contaminated gluten have been given the <a href="http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2007/04/0121.xml">blessing by the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> and the FDA</a>. What else could they do? The real funny thing about this is that the animals that haven't been slaughtered yet are being <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PET_FOOD_RECALL?SITE=MTBIL&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT">held off the market</a> and more than likely are going to be destroyed rather than allow them into the human food system. Why are the ones all ready slaughtered okay but the ones still alive are not? Simply because the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> and FDA fumbled the ball and are trying to cover their ass now. They couldn't do anything about the ones all ready slaughtered but they can stop more from being slaughtered to contain the potential problem.<br />n<br />nSo let's do something I normally don't like to do here. Play the blame game. Where does the blame lie for this problem. Lets start with the producers in China who supplied this product to the US. I've talked about the <a href="http://nowherethoughts.net/sarpysam/archives/2566-Food-Safety.html">food safety system in China</a> and how it is non-existent. They put their own people in jeopardy and, as shown by this episode <a href="http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=104&sid=1133841">and others</a>, people across the world. Definitely there is blame to be laid here. Can we as Americans do anything about it? Not directly, but more about that later.<br />n<br />nWho's next to blame, the business that imported the product into the US? They imported it because it was cheaper than can be produced in the US and there is a demand for it so they can make money on it. By shopping around for the cheapest product in China, they opened the door for this contamination. There is an old saw, you get what you pay for and by buying the cheapest product, the probability there is a problem with it is greater. Should the company have demanded stricter checking and tracking of items used in the manufacturer in China? Should they have tested the product more thoroughly when they got it? In hindsight we could say yes to both these questions. So the importer shares some of the blame for this problem.<br />n<br />nNext in line would have to be the US Government. The <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> and the FDA have not been inspecting imported food at the levels necessary to prevent this. Are they to blame? Truthfully, the blame does not fall on the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> and the FDA for this. Congress has never tasked these agency, nor given them the funding to do this task, so it has remained undone. Congress needs to shoulder some of the blame for this for not providing sufficient funding for this task and also the president for not asking for the money to inspect the food stuffs that are coming into the US. Would the wheat gluten that caused this whole problem been caught by sufficient inspection? A question I can't answer, the gluten was destined for animal feed and not human consumption so would it have been inspected as close as human food stuff should be? I doubt it, so even with increased inspections this might have slipped through.<br />n<br />nLast but not least in the blame game would have to be the American consumer. Their desire for the cheapest food stuff for themselves and their pets led this to happen. This caused the company to import the cheapest items they could which undercut American producers driving them out of business. American companies have to put up with the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> and FDA watching what they are doing so they can't provide products as cheap as China can. So <acronym title="Wal-mart">Wally World</acronym> and similar places drive businesses to import unsafe or substandard products to feed to the American public and critters all because THAT IS WHAT THE AMERICAN CONSUMER WANTS AND DEMANDS. In my opinion this is where most of the blame lies.<br />n<br />nHow many of you out there buy the cheapest pet food you can buy for your animals? You say it's good enough and feed them the crap because you delude yourself into thinking its all the same. This shows that it is not. In all the pet food that was recalled in this, how many of the high end, more expensive products were there on the list. Not many I noticed. So there is a difference. Hell, even my barn cats get name brand food instead of the cheap stuff. I can't stand the thought of feeding even my barn cats that cheap crap. I've never been able to prove it till now but I've always known it wasn't as good and acted that way.<br />n<br />nThe same thing goes for the food you eat, how many of you buy the cheapest stuff available or even worse,<acronym title="Wal-mart">Wally World</acronym> brand stuff? I will tell you a little something My Darling Wife and I discovered about food and the quality of it. We have to be very careful with the quality of food we feed our boy. It has nothing to do with the sugar content or anything else in the food, it has everything to do with the quality of it. The higher priced it is the better. If we feed anything that is a store brand/generic food, he becomes uncontrollable. He literally starts spinning and bouncing off the walls. The cheaper the food item is, the worse he gets. People never believe me when I tell them this but it's the truth. As an example, if you feed him a cake from a store brand cake mix, he will be uncontrollable. If you use a name brand such as Betty Crockers, he will spin up some, but not as bad the no name mix. The best is to use high quality flour, Wheat Montana, and make the cake from scratch. Then it has absolutely no affect on him. This is just one example of many I could name about the foods that affect the boy. The cheaper the food, the more it affects him.<br />n<br />nThere is a difference in the quality of the food you buy. When you demand the cheapest food you can buy, that is what you get. A cheap, unappealing product. American's desire for the cheapest food has opened the door for the contamination problem we have experienced and that is who I blame mostly for the problems we are experiencing now with the contaminated wheat gluten. Think about this when you are in the grocery store buying your food. Is price or quality your primary concern? For my boy's health and happiness I choose quality. Should you short your family on quality just so you could afford another Starbucks coffee? You need to think about this so your not part of the problem, you can be part of the solution.<br />n<br />n<strong>Quality means doing it right when no one is looking. Henry Ford</strong>