Pet Food Recall ~ Safety before profit

There are lots of theories on how to succeed in business. But here's one that never occurred to me: Poison your customers.

This strategy sounds counter intuitive, since the dead don't do much buying, but some people think it accounts for periodic outbreaks of food-borne illness. They say you can't trust the private sector to keep pathogens out of our food, making it incumbent on the federal government to protect us. The recent episode of lethal pet food is Exhibit A in this case. Adulterated wheat flour made its way from China to factories in the United States and Canada that produce food for dogs and cats. The contamination killed or sickened thousands of animals and led to the recall of more than 100 brands of pet food.

Many liberals insist the only remedy is more regulation. "If we expect to have our spinach uncontaminated, our pet food safe, Congress has to give the FDA more resources," says Donald Kennedy, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Read the rest of Steve Chapman's article in The Chicago Tribune