Vitamins from China...

[garypen]

Mike, There's nothing irrational about these viewpoints. And, these viewpoints are not ravings. The fact is that China has a history of poor food safety laws and weak enforcement of the laws they do have. They also use chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides that have long been banned in other parts of the world. Chinese companies have put other poisons into food to make them look more desirable. And, they have sold items that weren't even what they said they were! (Substituting cheaper types of fish for more expensive ones, etc.) Their food suppliers are totally untrustworthy. Period. End of story. To deny it is to deny reality.

As for how many sources are responsible for these contaminated ingredients, you make a point about it being from the same source. The same source would be CHINA. Different suppliers in China, who got the grains from different growers in China. And, being a Communist country, almost all those growers would have the same parent company... CHINA. And, being a communist country, one merely has to bribe a gov't official to look the other way while they adulterate the food. And, being a communist country, the gov't can easily cover up this whole sordid mess.

Should people also avoid other food products, vitamins and supplements, and even drugs from China? Damn friggin straight. We bought 3 bags of frozen vegetables at a Japanese market, the other day, and didn't notice they were products of China until we got home. We threw them away. Then, we decided to check other frozen items in our freezer, and found a few Trader Joe's items that were products of China. In the garbage they went. Over-reacting? No f-ing way. That was just logical caution.

[Cindy Nevarez]

This is absolutely true, Mike. You should read the article I posted yesterday by the Washington Post describing numerous "mass poisonings" of their own people, babies, and school-aged kids. It's one of the most horrific things I've read about modern times mind you.

[Sarah]

Mike you are totally wrong in every way to brag up China the way you do.  When even the government of China says there is no way to control what the farmers do, don't you think the government would know?  The FDA inspects just 1% of foods coming in to this country.  Of that 1%, most of the foods from China check bad - poisoned, contaminated, just plain filthy.  And all of the other bad stuff is getting by the FDA and in us.  God help us all.
Sarah

[Cindy Nevarez]

Yeah, there was another article that came out today that Canada's equivalent to our FDA is halting ALL food shipments into its country from China to test EACH one before they are released to the public.

How much you wanna bet that if they find the 'one' tainted product they're looking for, Canada won't let anything in from China anymore.

[bk283]

BASF is a chemical company, like Dow, DuPont, and Union Carbide. Personally, I would avoid vitamin or food products from any of those companies, regardless of country of origin. Also, I doubt if there's any easy way to know for sure if BASF sources their raw materials from China.

yeah... seriously, didn't basf make floppy disks in the 80s? 
I would not trust them to make vitamin or food products either....

[garypen]

Mike you are totally wrong in every way to brag up China the way you do. 

I just read that Chenango Valley Pet Foods has recalled some products due to tainted Chinese ingredients. Doesn't Chenango manufacture for Mike's company? It doesn't mean that Back to Basics has any of those ingredients. But, I'm just saying.

[Beowulf]

Hey Guys,

Indeed, we are proud to have Chenango Valley Pet Foods, Inc. as our sole manufacturer. Before you lend to any confusion in the way you reference my defense of China being generalized as some evil empire and the fact that CVPF acquired a small amount of RPC from Wilbur-Ellis (China import), let me just put out a few facts:

Chenango Valley Pet Foods recalled the FOUR of it's over 100 lines of food as per the recommendation by the FDA for anyone who received even the smallest amount of suspect ingredients from Wilbur-Ellis. The foods recalled are not affiliated with Back to Basics and are run on seperate lines as are most brands.

Of the recalled foods, ZERO have tested positive for melamine.

Back to Basics uses NONE of the ingredients under investigation for contamination.

We have sent product samples to a 3rd party testing laboratory (Central Analytical Laboratories) to have our end product tested for melamine and other contaminants. We've done this completely as an assurance to our customers and are not even considered by the FDA for mandatory testing. Our end product tests negative and thus, no matter what the ingredient, source, supplier, or manufacturer... there factually and beyond doubt are no non-specified agents in our food.

100% of our ingredients are sourced from Human-Grade US food suppliers and not one thing that goes into our food comes from outside of the US. I defend China only from a personal view and have absolutely no reason to from a company perspective.

This is why it's important to keep a steady head when reading through the plethora of lists and announcements... otherwise sweeping generalizations are made about the efficacy of entire coutries, companies that are unaffected by an event get lumped in through mere association, and worst of all... fervor runs rampant potentially destroying fact and replacing it with public gossip.

We'll be putting detailed information about our manufacturer, manufacturing process, ingredient sources, etc. up on our website in the coming weeks and invite anyone who wants to base their decisions on facts to check out our efforts to increase transparency and increase awareness about the pet food industry.

And for the record I've never "bragged" up China. To make a statement as such would be similar to say that if I don't support a war, that I am unpatriotic. I am only doing my best to defend generalizations against an entire country based on your opinions of the efficacy of certain of their operations. Take a good, long look at our own regulatory systems and checks before you pass judgement on another's... in regards to capitalism (even everything that has gone wrong) China may as well be a carbon-copy of the US.

Mike you are totally wrong in every way to brag up China the way you do. 

I just read that Chenango Valley Pet Foods has recalled some products due to tainted Chinese ingredients. Doesn't Chenango manufacture for Mike's company? It doesn't mean that Back to Basics has any of those ingredients. But, I'm just saying.

Nothing in what you've said above was misquoted or wrong, but contexting statements together in the way you have has dangerous potential for creating misinformation into a reader's mind.

My intention is to be a voice of at least one aspect of the industry that I feel the public is be eager to question. I've offered nothing but facts about the industry, export/import, manufacturing, low-grade ingredient vulnerability, etc. but rather than being "questioned" about these things, I'm frequently told that I'm just plain wrong by people whose only experienece in the industry is what they read on other forums.

My personal opinons seem to be against the tide of thought here, and the facts I offer in regards to ingredients and the industry seem to be casually swept aside in favor of the latest thing that's been heard, with little to no consideration for it potentially being the truth.

I guess honestly my original thought was that if I came out and jived with the public it would serve as stark contrast to the companies who hold their secrets close to their chest thus affording us a higher credibility and support, rather I seem to have put myself in the crosshairs of many who would quickly shoot down anything I say as corporate defensiveness or plugging.

I think I'm gonna take a break from this for a while.
I wish all of you nothing but the best inb your search for a safe, quality pet food.

-Mike

[garypen]

Hey Mike. You're one of the good guys. Don't take people disagreeing with you as some kind of personal attack. China is indeed an "evil empire" for many reasons, including food safety. But, I'm sure most people here would choose your food over any of the mainstream brands. I know I would.

But, you might want to take into account some of the things written on these forums. In subjects ranging from garlic, Chinese food safety, meat sources, carb levels, etc, many valid points have been made. You may want to do some additional research into those areas, as well. It's not just "fact du jour". Many of these things have been known and accepted for some time.

It's always good to have an open mind, and consider new facts and information in addition to long held beliefs.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Mike, the problem is and always will be that anyone who sells pet food and also comes onto this forum, has an agenda to do just that. That is enough to corrupt or potentially corrupt anything posted here by those individuals.

Buenos Noches

[Beowulf]

Hey again,

Listen, I flew off the handle a bit yesterday and I apologize. I've been putting in close to 60 hours a week the last month because of this recall thing (good for business, just very strenuous assuring over 30,000 customers that we're unaffected and why we rock).

I've evaluated my own posts and am kinda shocked by how vehemently I was trying to defend China. I'm guessing it stems from my desire to have faith in humanity, regardless of geography or goverment. I also am a fan of good international relationships because there is a LOT to be had from the rest of the world... by confining ourselves we only deny ourselves.

BUT... though I openly admit to being a fan of a global trade progression in general, there are obviously important issues that need to be addressed before we can proceed toward that platform. Most importantly, regulation.

I still don't place any exuberant amount of BLAME on China as I cannot fathom that the people there responsible for making the decision to add melamine are any different than the people here that say they can reach similar levels of real food proteins by utilizing by-products in the pet feed industry... it's corner-cutting and it doesn't happen any more in China than it does here. We are apparently just a bit safer about it.

So in light of your very enlightening opinions and my own recent research, I take a new stand in that I agree that importations of food product from China SHOULD be halted until their regulatory process is updated to match at least our own (which could use some improvement).

And I'm not going anywhere (sorry to say to some , I was just over-worked and touchy yesterday... thanks for your support despite this, you guys rock.

[garypen]

No you rock.