U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
FDA Consumer magazine
March-April 2002
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of Contents
Great Magazine! I look forward to each issue! Say, I recently purchased a grocery item with questionable information on the "Nutrition Facts" label. Who would you recommend I contact to clarify the information? Is there FDA monitoring to ensure Nutrition Facts are correct? This particular product, smoked herring, is telling me there are 13 grams of fat and 19 grams of protein in the whole 92-gram container. The remaining 60-something grams are unaccounted for.
A. J. Gilliam
Simpsonville, S.C.
A reply from the FDA's Center
for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition:
Manufacturers are responsible for
the accuracy of the Nutrition Facts
labels on food products, and must
ensure that they comply with the
requirements set out in the FDA's
nutrition labeling regulations. The
FDA monitors the accuracy of these
labels through inspections of manufacturers,
which sometimes include analysis
of food samples collected by an FDA
investigator to confirm that the
nutritional components of foods match
those listed on the labels.
Regarding the missing grams: The label undoubtedly lists other nutrients, which would account for what's not taken up by fats and proteins. All Nutrition Facts labels must list at least several basic nutrients: Calories, total fat, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron. Additional information can be found on the FDA's Web site at www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/foodlab.html.
Finally, if you are concerned about whether a food label is correct, you can contact the FDA district office in your region and discuss the problem with the complaint coordinator.
I was reading the article "Pet Food: The Lowdown on Labels" (May-June 2001 FDA Consumer) at the Feline Rescue Web site. The question I have is in regard to the remarks about cats and human food made by Steve Hansen, D.V.M. The article states, "And cats, in particular, have a body chemistry quite different from ours, and so are susceptible to poisoning from a number of human foods." Not a single thing is cited, however. How can I find out what things are dangerous for cats?
Thanks for any help you can give me!
Kathleen Fulwiler
Seattle
Steve Hansen, senior vice president
of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control
Center, responds:
Cats fed high proportions of seafood
or raw fish are uniquely susceptible
to problems. Cats are more sensitive
to environmental mercury, especially
methylmercury in seafood. And some
types of raw fish, including carp
and herring, contain enzymes that
cause thiamin deficiency in cats.
Other raw fish may also cause thiamin
deficiency.
Although Easter lily is not a human food, cats that consume this plant can die of renal failure if not aggressively treated early.
Additionally, there are many common human foods that are toxic to both cats and dogs, including onions, onion powder, chocolate (baker's, semi-sweet, milk, dark), alcoholic beverages, yeast dough, coffee (grounds, beans, chocolate covered espresso beans), tea, salt, macadamia nuts, hops (used in home beer brewing), potato leaves and stems (green parts), tomato leaves and stems (green parts), rhubarb leaves, and moldy or spoiled foods.
Cigarettes, cigars, snuff, and chewing tobacco also may be dangerous for pets, if eaten. Other "home hazards" for pets, including plants and pesticides, can be found in the Poison Control Center pages at www.aspca.org.
The article "Alternatives to Hysterectomy: New Technologies, More Options" (November-December 2001 FDA Consumer) states that there are medications that will temporarily shrink fibroids. The FDA has not approved any medication to shrink fibroids. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists are approved only for the pre-operative treatment of anemia resulting from heavy bleeding associated with fibroids. Although this treatment does temporarily shrink fibroids by stopping estrogen production, it does not provide any sustained benefit and is only recommended to improve anemia before surgical treatment.
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2002-FEB-27.