I'm a contributing editor with Universal Press Syndicate's Pet Connection, a nationally syndicated pet feature that's in over 75 newspapers nationwide. We have been covering the pet food recall on our blog for more than a month now - and we got a shout out at the Senate hearing on the recall from Dick Durbin for the job we've been doing.
I cover the late night shift on this story, and so I've gotten a fair amount of the midnight press releases in which bad corporate news is usually dumped. And tonight I got another one, and I can't quite believe what it said.
In the release, Wilbur-Ellis, the company that shipped rice protein concentrate possibly contaminated with melamine to pet-food manufacturers, announced they have voluntarily recalled the concentrate. (For those who haven't been following the story, yes, that's rice protein concentrate, not wheat gluten - the recall hasn't just spread to more pet foods, but to another suspected contaminated ingredient.)
They've shipped it, they said, to five pet food manufacturers around the United States. They urged those companies to recall their products made with that concentrate. And really, I think they should and hope they do. But that's not what's on my mind tonight.
Presumably Wilbur-Ellis knows what manufacturers those are. I'm sure the FDA does. So why are we begging the companies to name themselves? Why aren't we just being told? By, oh, I don't know, the federal agency charged with protecting the human and animal food supply and the public health, the FDA? Call me crazy.
I listened in on the FDA press conference a few Fridays ago, in which we were assured that they’d let us know anything they found out as soon as possible. They didn't that day (another recall was announced later that evening), and they aren’t now.
The pet food recall story is, of course, about sick and dying dogs and cats, and broken human hearts. But that's more the energy that is fueling the story, rather than the story itself. The actual story is how the dismantling of government regulation as relates to the safety and inspection and protection of our food supply has led inevitably to this day.
I'm a liberal. (I used to say "I'm a progressive" because there are many ways in which that's a better description of what I am, but I got really tired of the word "liberal" being used as a slur, so I decided to go back to it.) But I'm a sort of pro-capitalism, semi-libertarian, isn't-there-a-simpler-way-to-do-this, don't-save-me-from-myself kind of liberal.
I'm not a fan of the nanny state. I don't need to be taken care of. I'll make my own decisions about what to eat and what to feed my pets. But to do that, I need accurate, honest information. I need inspections that have teeth. Regulation that is streamlined, effective and meaningful. I need corporate and government transparency and accountability.
Don't lie to me, manipulate me, calm me, restore my trust, or soothe my fears. Inform me. Give me facts and let me make up my own mind. I want accurate labels on my food and my pets' food. I want country of origin labeling, so I can decide, based on my evaluation of those countries' food safety laws, if I want to eat that food or feed it to my pets. I want veterinarians brought more fully into the human public health system, including the tracking of animal illness on a national level.
Oh, and don't put poison in my food. Thanks.