Given that 3 million people haven't dropped dead, it is clear that the threat to health is minimal. But the potential for mass poisoning is appalling:
People have eaten millions of chickens that were given feed tainted with recalled pet food, federal officials said Tuesday, though they said the threat to human health is minimal.
The announcement came after an investigation of chicken farms in Indiana found that 38 of the facilities had given contaminated feed to poultry raised for human consumption, and that 2.5 million to 3 million people ate them.
The officials added that they expect to discover that chickens on possibly hundreds of farms in other states were also given tainted feed.
Last week, as part of its investigation into the nationwide pet food recall, the FDA ordered that all vegetable protein imports from China used in human and animal food be detained.
The products include wheat gluten, rice gluten, rice protein, rice protein concentrate, corn gluten, corn gluten meal, corn byproducts, soy protein, soy gluten proteins and mung bean protein.
Going forward, the FDA will be providing a list of who hasn't eaten tainted foods. It's a far shorter list.
And as I predicted, the phrase "Guaranteed free of food products from China" is on its way to becoming a sales and marketing tool:
Representatives of Perdue and Tyson Foods -- two of the largest U.S. chicken producers -- said Tuesday in letters to supermarkets that they do not use protein ingredients from China in their feeds.
Feel free to steal this badge.
Check out what Canadian bloggers have written about the pet food recall
Results will open in a new window.
Check out other entries from the Pet Food Recall category
Results will open in a new window.
Check out other entries from the True Crime category
Results will open in a new window.
