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Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine
Marion Nestle, acclaimed author of Food Politics, now tells the gripping story of how, in early 2007, a few telephone calls about sick cats set off the largest recall of consumer products in U.S. history and an international crisis over the safety of imported goods ranging from food to toothpaste, tires, and toys. Nestle follows the trail of tainted pet food ingredients ba...more
Hardcover, 232 pages
Published
September 15th 2008
by University of California Press
(first published July 15th 2008)
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In early 2007, people began calling pet food companies to report their cats' kidney problems. Not long after, millions of units of pet food were recalled due to the discovery of melamine in the wheat gluten imported from China, which was used in hundreds of different pet food products. Americans were left questioning the safety not only of pet food, but of all Chinese imports, especially after consumer products such as toothpaste and children's toys were found to contain melamine as well.
In Pet...more
In Pet...more
Nestle is a respected professor of Nutrition and has written several books on human nutrition and the food industry (a couple of which, in particular, I'd love to read). Here she takes on the daunting task of unravelling what happened with the pet food disaster of 2007, where thousands of cats and dogs died because of kidney failure caused by the illegal addition of melamine into the pet food supply.
There are a lot of problems with pet food. While this book only looks at facts directly connected...more
There are a lot of problems with pet food. While this book only looks at facts directly connected...more
Simply Astounding!
Pet Food Politics is an account of the pet food recalls of 2007 and their implications for the health of dogs and cats, but also for the FDA, food safety policy in the United States and China, international food trade, and the pet food industry itself. What started out as a few cats sick with kidney disease ended up as an international food safety scandal. The book traces the origins of the scandal back to China, where pressures to produce food ingredients at the lowest possibl...more
Pet Food Politics is an account of the pet food recalls of 2007 and their implications for the health of dogs and cats, but also for the FDA, food safety policy in the United States and China, international food trade, and the pet food industry itself. What started out as a few cats sick with kidney disease ended up as an international food safety scandal. The book traces the origins of the scandal back to China, where pressures to produce food ingredients at the lowest possibl...more
My dog's name is Max. She is a fine person to spend time with. She follows me wherever I go, eats her vegetables, and is a fine example of what a friend should be. When I saw Pet Food Politics, it got me wondering about the nutritional value of her dog food.
Buying food for her is a very lengthy and involved process for me. I can easily lose an hour reading and comparing nutrition and ingredient labels. In the end, I find the bag of food that I think she'd pick if she were the one choosing. As i...more
Buying food for her is a very lengthy and involved process for me. I can easily lose an hour reading and comparing nutrition and ingredient labels. In the end, I find the bag of food that I think she'd pick if she were the one choosing. As i...more
Impressive recounting of the 2007 pet food catastrophe. She outlines the numerous supply and manufacturing problems that led to the deaths of thousands of pets, along with the evidence of how the Melamine-tainted Chinese wheat gluten also made its way into the human food supply as ingredients of fish and poultry food. Chinese suppliers added melamine to boost nitrogen content of their product since nitrogen is the test indicator for protein level. A handful of industrial pet food manufacturers c...more
My sister's dog turned 15 recently. I always suspect his longevity is a direct result of his diet. My sister only feeds him homemade ground meat and rice, and an occasional beef jerky. After reading this book, I am quite sure my suspicion is true. This book is an eye opener. It alerted us of the complexity of modern day food supply and how one contaminated source could affect an unimaginably broad variety of products. Let's not forget the revelation of the Menu Food recall was just the preview o...more
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Pet Food Politics is, on one level, the story of the 2007 pet food scandal in which adulterated pet food killed hundreds of dogs and cats in the United States and Canada. But this story has far reaching implications for the safety of our food supply in an era of globalized trade.
The culprit in 2007 was melamine, a waste by-product of plastic making which was substituted for wheat gluten and rice protein by Chinese suppliers of protein sources for pet foods. Melamine is a non-protein source of ni...more
The culprit in 2007 was melamine, a waste by-product of plastic making which was substituted for wheat gluten and rice protein by Chinese suppliers of protein sources for pet foods. Melamine is a non-protein source of ni...more
This was hard to read, both because it was appalling and because there was occasionally a large chunk of chemistry and/or statistics that confused me. Overall, though, it was very enlightening about the industrial food chain and how things can go so horribly wrong.
I think the market of "OMG, What America Eats is Killing Us!!" movies is completely flooded, but I would like to see a documentary based on this book. I think the way it examines the regulations, and lack thereof, in detail is a good c...more
I think the market of "OMG, What America Eats is Killing Us!!" movies is completely flooded, but I would like to see a documentary based on this book. I think the way it examines the regulations, and lack thereof, in detail is a good c...more
Mar 28, 2011
dara
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people interested in food safety
Shelves:
read-in-2011
"Pet Food Politics offers the most detailed account we'll ever get of the 2007 pet food recalls--even for those of us who closely followed the story." - Nancy Kerns.
That's true enough. I feel obligated to mention that some of those details are tediously boring. It does raise some valid points about our lack of effective food safety regulation.
Note: I didn't realize that discarded pet food is often fed to livestock. Another way livestock are fed livestock... interesting.
That's true enough. I feel obligated to mention that some of those details are tediously boring. It does raise some valid points about our lack of effective food safety regulation.
Note: I didn't realize that discarded pet food is often fed to livestock. Another way livestock are fed livestock... interesting.
FANtastic book. I don't have any pets, but I am interested in the regulations and processes that get food to the consumer. This book focuses on the massive pet food recalls back in 2007, when thousands of animals died of kidney failure after eating contaminated products. The author details America's rather complex trade relationship with China (which exported the contaminated food product) and regulations here and abroad. Really good book!
Great information, well-researched, nicely presented, and relevant whether or not you have pets! Marion Nestle always does a great job of investigative journalism in her books. My only issue is that as a journalist, she should know better than to use really unreliable sources, as she occasionally does here.
This was a shorter read than I expected, but it is a fascinating one that is chock-full of data. The author traces the incident of melamine contamination in pet food from 2007, including how the contamination was found, how it was handled, and how this episode is just a harbinger of what could happen to the human food chain if our food policies are not changed. She also gives a summary of other pet food recalls from the past few decades, as well as provides information about the known effects of...more
I read this book in one day. I teach a college level Nutrition course and often discuss the food industry and how we really don't know where most of our food comes from. I had not considered that the food industry also impacts the food for our four-legged friends.
This book was all about the malamine in the pet food that caused the recall for pet foods. It is very interesting. This was a good investigation into who, what, when, where, why and how.
The only thing it is lacking that I guess it doesn't need to be in a book about pet food politics is the transition into the baby formula recalls.
The only thing it is lacking that I guess it doesn't need to be in a book about pet food politics is the transition into the baby formula recalls.
Aug 08, 2011
Arash Bayatmakou
added it
not as interesting as it looks or sounds. it's actually almost a case study of one particular incident in 2007 complete with loads of unimportant details, dates and facts that i honestly couldn't care about.
Not really about pet food politics, should be titled "The story of the pet food recall". I would have liked to hear more about the rumors vs. the realities of pet foods.
Very interesting. A must read for anyone who seeks to understand the implications of globalization and the importance of quality control of what we eat.
Well-organized, readable account of the problems with pet food in the US, mostly focused on the pet food recall of 2007. Recommended for people into food politics.
Another thoughtful, reasonable book from Marion Nestle, largely about the 2007 melamine-in-pet-food disaster. Good charts and timelines spotlight the global nature of the human and nonhuman food supply.
This book made me feel really guilty for feeding my cat crappy food.
Well researched look at the pet food industry. Must read for all pet owners.
In China you might get executed for screwing up WATCH OUT
Excellent stuff, will have to write a longer review later.
Reads like a thriller, and Marion does a fantastic job of connecting the issues of dog food to the wider food distribution chain. The more I learn the more I question the wisdom of our food system.
Reads like a thriller, and Marion does a fantastic job of connecting the issues of dog food to the wider food distribution chain. The more I learn the more I question the wisdom of our food system.
Jun 16, 2013
Beth
marked it as to-read
Jun 08, 2013
Jeremy
marked it as to-read
May 07, 2013
Tisha
marked it as to-read
Apr 23, 2013
Liz Babs
marked it as to-read
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“To speak only of food inspections: the United States currently imports 80% of its seafood, 32% of its fruits and nuts, 13% of its vegetables, and 10% of its meats. In 2007, these foods arrived in 25,000 shipments a day from about 100 countries. The FDA was able to inspect about 1% of these shipments, down from 8% in 1992. In contrast, the USDA is able to inspect 16% of the foods under its purview. By one assessment, the FDA has become so short-staffed that it would take the agency 1,900 years to inspect every foreign plant that exports food to the United States.”
—
4 people liked it
“Food safety oversight is largely, but not exclusively, divided between two agencies, the FDA and the USDA. The USDA mostly oversees meat and poultry; the FDA mostly handles everything else, including pet food and animal feed. Although this division of responsibility means that the FDA is responsible for 80% of the food supply, it only gets 20% of the federal budget for this purpose. In contrast, the USDA gets 80% of the budget for 20% of the foods. This uneven distribution is the result of a little history and a lot of politics.”
—
3 people liked it
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