It was The Reg that got me thinking about this by pointing out that the greed that started the mel.a.mine scare has managed to hurt more people, pets and industries than any one single terrorist act.

And it’s true. While it may all have started with C—ese company Xu.zhou An.ying advertising a miracle “protein powder” booster, North American pet makers bought into it in a big way by lapping up their claims and using the magical E.S.B. “protein powder” as, firstly, a pet food extender. Consequence: remember that massive pet food recall, was it last year?

But it was still a good product for boosting protein levels even though: (a) it had absolutely no nutritional value despite its masking effect as a protein and, (b) ahem, led to kidney problems that could kill the user. And, besides, C—a had a growing surplus of mel.a.mine and, like all good budding capitalists, was probably wondering what to do about it in order to turn a profit. Enter Xu.zhou An.ying. (For more details on casual mel.a.mine substitution in feed, see these articles from the New York Times.)

(So one tip, right off the bat, is to watch out for any meat products originating from C—a too, even though the FDA says:

“Based on information currently available, FDA and USDA believe the likelihood of illness after eating pork from swine fed the contaminated product would be very low.”

But, then again, you already know how cynical I am.)

Back to the story. Really, this mel.a.mine saga began as an intro to the blog, but is getting so interesting in its own right, that it might just take over completely.

So, rightly suspicious, the FSIS and USDA (Food Safety and Inspection Service & U.S. Department of Agriculture, respectively), after a couple of events, like a bag of mel.a.mine being repackaged as a bag of food-grade wheat gluten, decided — way back in 2007 — to begin testing a variety of imported wheat-related food products coming into the US from C—a. And good on them, I say. If we depended solely on “self-regulation” and the “free market” and “enlightened self-interest”, then we’d all be dead, to be blunt.

While this was a laudable move, the ingenuity of the C—ese once more sidestepped a potential containment of the problem by moving to … in.fant formula! Well, I mean, it’s a win-win people. You get rid of your “mel.a.mine scrap” surplus AND boost a food’s protein level at the same time. I mean, where’s the downside? Oh yeah, people can die. But profits can soar. What are you, some kind of damned socialist?

Continued next blog…

* Oh yeah, you’re wondering about the dots, dashes, spaces and strange formatting, aren’t you? I know that certain terms together can’t get past C—ese internet filters, but am not sure which ones they are. I’m making a guess that it could be C—ese and mel.a.mine together. And I know I have at least one reader in C—a, so I’m hoping this will get through. For some strategies in circumvention, go here.