Chinese Pet Treats & What Farm Bill

Chinese Pet Treats & What Farm Bill plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

It appears that the House is going to play political games instead of getting their work done. Now even the talk of an extension on the Farm Bill is being downplayed in favor of, well, doing nothing until after the election. As of Monday - House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has chosen to cancel all votes in October. The sound you just heard was 960-thousand farmers changing their votes. But no one really knows what is in Congress’ head so only time will tell.

Chicken turkey treats made in China are being blamed for the deaths of 350 dogs and one cat according to the FDA. A report released last week says they've received 2,200 reports of illnesses linked to the treats including the deaths. The FDA says product samples have been tested for contaminants known to cause the symptoms and illnesses reported in pets, and they are now expanding testing to include irradiation byproducts and they are consulting with NASA experts about it. An online petition has been launched by a concerned pet owner, urging the FDA and manufacturers of chicken jerky treats imported from China to "immediately halt all sales until the treats can be safely sourced and proven to no longer be dangerous to our companions."

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

Last week Beef Products Incorporated, the company that produces lean finely textured beef, announced that it was filing a defamation lawsuit against ABC News for the major part it played in misleading consumers about LFTB and insinuating that it’s unhealthy and unsafe. BPI claims the closure of three BPI plants and the layoff of 700 workers due to lost sales contracts for LFTB were the result of ABC’s misleading reports. Many of those contracts were with schools that had used LFTB in their lunch programs and stopped using the product due to parent concerns and fears. Other retailers that pulled their contracts for LFTB stated they didn’t do so out of safety or quality concerns, they did so primarily because of the bad press, and consumer fears over the use of ammonium hydroxide in the LFTB production process; a process that meets federal food safety standards and has been used for decades in meat production. As it stands now, BPI is facing the monumental task of trying to rebuild the market for LFTB as a result of the negative publicity that the misleading media reports generated.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.