Chews Wise

Water Bottle Watch: Canada Scrapping BPA

Canada is expected this week to become the first country to ban a potentially toxic chemical used in packaging, known as bisphenol A (BPA), while a US government report for the first time linked the substance with cancer. BPA is found in the liners of cans, in hard plastic containers and infant formula packaging. The Toronto Globe and Mail Reports:

Major retailers across the country yesterday began clearing their shelves of products made with a compound that Health Canada is expected to declare a potentially dangerous chemical as early as today.

Canada's imminent action contrasts with the US government, which until now seen little risk from the substance. But a report by the National Toxicology Program acknowledged for the first time that the chemical, detected in the urine of 93 percent of the population over 6 years of age, may be linked with cancer and other diseases. Advocacy groups such as EWG have been warning about the substance, but companies such as Nalgene - the water bottle maker - insist it is safe. The Globe writes:

Governments are reviewing the safety of BPA because its molecular shape is similar to estrogen, which allows it to mimic the female hormone in living things. It is also biologically active at extremely low concentrations, just like natural hormones, leading to concerns that the tiny amounts leaching from food and beverage containers could be a health threat.

Dozens of studies by independent researchers have linked low exposure to BPA in animal and test-tube experiments to illnesses, such as cancer, that are thought to have an origin in hormone imbalances, although industry-funded studies haven't been able to find the same effects.

WaPo has a piece on how to avoid exposure to BPA, noting "recycling code #7 may mean the product contains BPA." And this family health blog offers a cheat sheet on BPA-free bottles and sippy cups.

Macabre Medical Mystery at Minnesota Meat Plant

The Times had a truly weird medical story today on a disease affecting workers at a Minnesota pork plant, apparently caused by a high-pressure air hose blasting the brains out of pig skulls. No, it's not mad cow. But you wouldn't want this neurological illness. The stuff you find out when you begin to look at the food system is beyond bizarre. (Thanks Clare for the "heads up" - so to speak).

Another View of China

Jeff Yang had an insightful Op-Ed in the Washington Post this weekend, about the spillover effect of rising concern over Chinese food imports. There's a tinge of xenophobia. Check out "A Taste of Racism in the Chinese Food Scare."

China Culinary Conundrum

From Rob Rogers in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opinion pages.

China Organics

The New York Sun has an interesting piece raising the right questions about organic food from China. It's short on answers, however.

Salad Safety

Natural Selection Foods, the company at the heart of the spinach e. coli outbreak last fall, is now testing product intensely. And it continues to find dangerous microbes regularly. Check out my report on NPR.

Shuffling in the Pet Food Pantry

“Because of the recall, people are asking more questions, wondering what is in this bag of food"
- Jen Buhler, manager of The Pet Shop Girls

This quote appeared in a New York Times story on the rise of organic pet food sales, following the huge recall last month. It was predictable. Just about every food scare in the past has produced a spike in sales of organic food, though this is the first time it has occurred with pet food. A scare over the pesticide alar, on apples, gave a major boost to the organic food industry in 1990. "A Panic For Organic" headlines read. More recently, Mad Cow disease in Europe led to a dramatic rise in demand for organic meat.

What sets off this reaction? The desire of consumers for a higher bar of food safety and a mistrust of a system that is anything but transparent, as expressed in the quote above.

But these food-scare reactions do not last. The story fades and eventually - as in spinach - people return to what they ate before, unless there's an underlying sense that an alternative is better. Some will switch to raw pet food, still others to homemade concoctions (recall that pets ate table scraps for thousands of years before the invention of the pet food industry).

But many consumers will want the convenient alternative they can pour into a bowl. Organic pet food sales were already one of the fastest growing categories before this food scare, and I expect that will continue, even after this story fades.

- Samuel Fromartz

What's Wrong With My Pet?

One of the most surprising aspects of the current recall of contaminated pet food was how many brands were involved. Sixty million packages, representing about 1 percent of all dog and cat food supplies, have been pulled off store shelves. They were manufactured by one company. (Reuters story). Hundreds of unlucky pets ate the food and suffered kidney failure. The number is expected to rise.

This is another wake up call about the risks of centralization in the food supply. Although the cause of the current outbreak has not been identified (wheat gluten is suspected), a bad ingredient in a massive batch of food can become a national issue. This is reminiscent of the e. coli crisis in spinach last year that killed three people and sickened 200 throughout the nation. It was traced to one field.

Lists of affected pet food brands are on http://www.menufoods.com/recall/.