Chapter 7: The Political Economy of International TradeRecall that in 2007, 3,600 pets died due to...

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Chapter 7: The Political Economy of International TradeRecall that in 2007, 3,600 pets died due to contaminated pet food that came from China.Research and determine the cause of the deaths.Identify how the food safety of the pet food was compromised.Identify how many countries were affected.Assess what steps countries and companies can take to ensure that this does not recur.Assess what sanctions should be taken to punish the offending country or company.Write three pages on how this case highlights the uncertainty and safety concerns that accompany a high volume of free trade for a certain product (in this case, the product is pet food).

Robert · Accepted Answer

Food contamination mitigation 
Recall of pet food 
The pet food recalls that had taken place in 2007 was associated with contamination of pet 
foods. The pet foods recalled were made by the Chinese company with wet pet foods. The 
frequent complaint of customers regarding the contaminated food started the voluntary recall 
from Menu foods (Martin, 2007). After that may other companies had recalled the 
contaminated food. After the one month of recall, it was identified that contaminated rice 
protein was the source of kidney failure (Associated press, 2007) in pets. The investigation on 
this had revealed that there was a broader protein export contamination done by Chinese 
companies (Martin, 2007). The numbers of pets died due to this could not be assessed clearly 
due to absence of centralized data of USA government for animal sickness. US food and drug 
had affirmed only 14 cases but it can be assumed that actual deaths of pets may in thousands. 
The recall had negative impact on profitability and images of companies. The media coverage 
in the USA was extensive and reports were come out with possible intentional adulteration of 
Melamine by the Chinese companies (Martin, 2007).  
 Causes for the pets deaths 
Initially the Aminopterin was considers as responsible for pets illness. But later findings had 
suggested that melamine was the responsible factor for the pets’ illness (Martin, 2007). An 
unnamed company making pet food had reported that melamine that is an industrial chemical 
was used in the wheat gluten samples. Later Food and drug administration confirmed that 
melamine was responsible for contamination. Not only the wheat gluten but the rice protein 
also had the fair share of melamine. But the small amount of Melamine could not be 
considered to cause deaths for the pets. There was a missing link for illness of pets and later 
with many research conducted to identify the root causes revealed that the combination of 
Melamine and cyanuric acid were responsible for the illness of pets.  
Compromise of the food safety of the pets  
The food safety is compromised due to various factors that have escalated the problem of 
food safety further.

Chapter 7: The Political Economy of International Trade Recall that in 2007, 3,600 pets died due to contaminated pet food that came from China. Research and determine the cause of the deaths. Identify...

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