Bad Cat Food... Bad Human Food?

[dismayed]

You've probably heard about the whole poison-in-the-dog food (and cat food) thing that has been going on for the last couple of weeks. I was wondering if any of the rest of you caught today's latest developments?

Del Monte had a press conference and let everyone know that their animal 'jerky treats' are also effected. The scary thing is, Del Monte said that they use only human-grade products in their animal foods! The FDA was quick to crap all over Del Monte, but you know they wouldn't say such a thing at risk to their company unless they were certain.

The chemical that is being found in these food products is called melamine, it's a polymer used to make certain kinds of plastics. Melamine is used as a fertilizer in China, and apparently some of the wheat gluten we have imported from them was contaminated. In animals this can lead to kidney and liver failure, cancer, and death. In sufficiently high doses or prolonged exposure similar results are seen in humans.

Here's something else that's kinda sick: the two main components of melamine are urea (e.g. piss) and formaldehyde.

Is this freaking anyone else out yet?

[AFCM]

The dog/cat food is certainly bad for humans. Just ask this woman who helped herself to some dog food and, subsequently, got sick.

Pet lover ill after eating recalled dog food

[Easy180]

I think it's best if I know as little as possible about what makes up my favorite foods...If I did know I would likely switch over to Vegan

J/K...No amount of reports of piss in my food would make me go that hardcore

[sweetdaisy]

FYI, Eight In One brands has recalled their Dingo brand Chicken Jerky treats for dogs, cats, and ferrets due to salmonella.

Fortunately they are not tainted with melamine or rat poison, but a pain in the butt recall all the same.

[dismayed]

An interesting footnote... a friend was telling me yesterday that a coworker who is a retired veterinarian had an opinion on all of this. She said that every so often a cat would come in that had been completely healthy, and then one day out of the blue it died of either kidney or liver failure. She suspected that it was some form of poisoning but could never figure it out. She said she had seen it happening for years and years.........

Makes you wonder.