Worried US pet owners are tossing aside the can-opener to pamper their pets with home-made delights whizzed up in their kitchens, amid a rash of cat and dog deaths from contaminated animal food.
Sales of recipe books for home-made pet food have soared since US experts confirmed last month that they had found melamine in a range of foods manufactured by Menu Foods.
Panicked owners are taking matters into their own hands.
PHOTO: EPA
But those whose love for their animals doesn't extend to home preparation, are seeking alternative, costly brands of organic or holistic pet foods.
David White, manager of the Big Bad Woof store in Takoma Park, Maryland has noticed that 3 or 4 customers per day are switching to holistic foods in his store.
He said there were often dual reasons for the switch "whether out of fear of contaminated food or they are just sick of the way that these companies operate so they just don't want give out their money any more."
The Food and Drug Administration has received more than 8,000 complaints from consumers whose pets have fallen ill or died after eating contaminated food.
The outbreak of pet poisonings forced the Canada-based Menu Foods to recall pet products sold under 95 different brands in the US, Canada and Mexico. A further 20 products were recalled on Apr. 5.
The activist group People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has argued the source of contamination could be something completely different.
"An excessive amount of vitamin D3 in pet food may be to blame," said vice-president Bruce Friederich, calling for further FDA investigations.
Whatever the cause, it seems for the time being pampered pooches and pussycats will be getting a lot of cupboard love from their owners.
(staff writer with AFP)
受污染的動物食品引發一連串貓狗致死事件後,憂心忡忡的美國寵物主人將拋開罐器,改在廚房動手烹調愛心食品,嬌寵他們的寵物。
自從上個月美國專家證實在「菜單食品」生產的一系列食物中發現三聚氰胺後,自製寵物食品的食譜銷售量便竄高。焦慮的主人打算自己解決問題。不過,那些沒有替寵物親自準備食物的人正尋求其他替代方式—昂貴的名牌有機或純天然寵物食品。
馬里蘭州塔科馬帕克市內「大野狼」商店的經理大衛.懷特注意到,他店裡每天會有三到四個顧客改買純天然食品。他表示,這種改變通常有兩個原因︰「不是怕食物污染,就是他們受夠這些公司運作的方式,再也不想掏錢出來了。」食品藥物管理局接獲超過八千起消費者投訴,他們的寵物在食用受污染的食物後不是病倒或死亡。
寵物食物有毒事件爆發迫使加拿大「菜單食品」回收美國、加拿大和墨西哥市場九十五種不同品牌的寵物食品,其他二十樣產品也在四月五日回收。
活動團體「人道對待動物協會」認為污染源可能有完全不同的來源。
副總裁布魯斯.費德瑞奇表示︰「可能應歸咎於寵物食品中過量的維他命D3。」他呼籲食品藥物管理局進一步調查。
不論是什麼原因,短期看來,寵物主人似乎會自己下廚寵愛這些嬌生慣養的狗貓。
(法新社╱翻譯︰鄭湘儀)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into