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1:59 a.m. • 2-11-12

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N.C. Hog Farm Quarantined


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N.C. Hog Farm Quarantined
N.C. Hog Farm Quarantined

A farm in western North Carolina has been quarantined after a chemical blamed for more than a dozen pet deaths was found in its hogs, state officials said Wednesday. None of the hogs has entered the food supply.

The farm received a shipment of contaminated feed last week, said Mary Ann McBride, assistant state veterinarian for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It was the only farm in the state that received the feed.

"It is important to note that all animals that may have consumed the infected feed have been accounted for," McBride said. "We have no reason to believe that there is any risk associated with the North Carolina pork supply at this time."

State officials took urine samples from 13 hogs, and all tested positive for melamine, a chemical used to manufacture plastics and foam, McBride said. The farm, which wasn't identified, has about 1,400 hogs, she said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service has said fewer than 10 hog farms in six states received contaminated feed. The feed came from a Diamond Pet plant in Gaston, S.C., and contained a rice concentrate that has been recalled by its manufacturer in California.

Investigators found melamine in at least two imported Chinese vegetable proteins used to make pet foods. Pet food companies have recalled more than 100 brands of food since the first reports of animal deaths a little over a month ago.

Officials were trying to determine whether hogs in New York, South Carolina, Utah and Ohio also might have eaten the tainted food.

North Carolina is the nation's second-largest hog producer, with 2,300 operating farms. Most are in eastern North Carolina: Duplin and Sampson counties are the largest producers, with more than 2 million hogs each. Bladen County is the third largest, with more than 840,000 hogs.

RELATED TOPICS: Bladen County

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53 Comments


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Hmmm. Wide open trade agreements with little or no oversight from countries with serious issues. Illegal people in our country working on farms and processing food cause "Americans don't want to do it."

I can't fathom why we might start having problems with our food supplies

I think people are just being prejudiced because they are pigs. If it were cows or chickens, no one would care! It's not fair!

People have being trying to do harm to the US long before Bush arrived in the office and if the Dems. take over againg we are going to see a lot of worse things happen. Also, the pigs were not eat the bad cat and dog food, but bad feed that's for pigs.

Trade policies with China: It apparently didn't seem important to Am. trade negotiators - or they got suckered in -to include strict quality controls re: any imported foodstuffs (including animal feed)or other products (dog fur trim on coats)when trade agreements were made, or if so, to keep check on the products imported. Chinese prisoners produce some goods,sml.unregulated farms others.The Chinese have been astute business men for centuries: Buyer beware. Other countries do not have Am. food and safety standards;some are more particular. Some of our meat has been refused for decades by European ountries ks. of growth hormones, antibiotics, etc. Communist China does not have to spend money on mounting an army; all they have to do is poison us, first using our pets as experimental animals to see if the poison works. Actually, this was another case of the stupid Americans being taken.

i think theres a bigger issue to all this "tainted food", i think the government is hiding the fact that this is possible terrorist related....come on, how often did we hear of this happening before 911? not like it is now. and also, look at the employees working in alot of these factories, doing the jobs that bush says "americans WONT do"....i think its a bigger issue and i wont be convinced otherwise, thats just my opinion. and just FYI-i'm not bashing bush nor am i bashing any race or ethnic group WHAT SO EVER....

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