Adding Understanding

Las Vegas company ChemNutra announced yesterday a recall of all wheat gluten imported from one of the company's three Chinese suppliers. The wheat germ was shipped by ChemNutra from their Kansas City warehouse to pet food manufacturers. None of the wheat germ is believed to have entered the human food supply chain.

The recall, the latest in a recent string, brings to light some perils of the global food supply. All is fine when things are good but a small disruption can cause major consequences across the globe. While the stories on the news today will focus on the conflict over Iraq there won't be a major media outlet discussing the effects of a food supply chain dependent upon WTO partners and the need for a local supply of food as a matter of homeland security.

Fresh on the heels of the Menu Foods and related recalls for contaminated wheat gluten, another brand of dog and cat treats has been recalled. All lots of Dingo CHICK'N JERKY treats for dogs, cats and ferrets have been recalled because of contamination with Salmonella.

According to Time the FDA has been unable to find rat poison in samples of Menu Foods. The contaminate appears to be melanie, used in plastic manufacturing instead of the rodent poison.

It never ceases to amaze that there are people who are vegetarian because they feel or at least in part because they feel animals are treated poorly in our modern food chain. The closer one looks the more frequently it is uncovered that these people are cat owners. Not cat owners on the big ranch who let the critters loose on the natural fauna of the farm, but cat lovers in suburbia or the urban core who are responsible and keep their pets indoors and take great care of them.

Here's the rub. Cats are obligate carnivores. This means they must eat meat protein. Dogs can get away with more grain or carbohydrates in their diets but Cats don't get anything from them. And the ultimate irony that whether one feeds human grade food or pet food the animal protein comes from the very same supply chain, the very same slaughter houses, the very same farms.