FDA proposes rules to make animal food safer

Cross posted from LBN for visibility

Source: AP-Excite

By MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON (AP) - Amid incidents of pets dying from dog treats, the Food and Drug Administration is proposing long-awaited rules to make pet food and animal feed safer.

The rules stem from a sweeping food safety law passed by Congress almost three years ago. Like rules proposed earlier this year for human food, they would focus on preventing contamination before it begins.

The announcement comes as the FDA says it hasn't yet determined a cause of almost 600 dog deaths believed to be linked to pet jerky treats imported from China. The agency has been trying for six years to determine what exactly is causing those illnesses.

The proposed rules would require those who sell pet food and animal feed in the United States - including importers - to follow certain sanitation practices and have detailed food safety plans. All of the manufacturers would have to put individual procedures in place to prevent their food from becoming contaminated.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20131025/DA9LB8HG1.html

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As I said in the other thread, Korea needs to do this as well. I'm going to drop a line to the KFDA urging them to start putting stronger restrictions on Chinese animal products.

My wife orders our cat food via a vendor on the internet. We use Royal Canine because it is one of the best. They often send us complimentary stuff like toys, snacks, etc. This last time we got a big box of this food that my wife said was chicken flavored cat food. I had thought she bought it, but didn't realize it was something the seller gave us. Anyway it turns out she didn't read the box and had been feeding this stuff to our cats. The shit was made in China. We noticed they were throwing up and we stopped feeding it to them. I scolded my wife and said she needs to be more careful about those things as she's the one that buys and handles the cat food. We agreed that she will tell them not to send any more of that crap to us.