Is Asian Rice Flour Really Safe?

[ptkds]

I was just reading (again) about the recent pet food recall because of melamine (sp?) in the wheat, but it also said it was in the rice protein. I buy Asian Rice flour all the time that is imported from places like Thailand, Asia, and China. I know lots of other people on here do too. So, have these products ever been tested for quality? I am starting to wonder if it is really safe to buy this Asian rice flour.

Any thoughts, ideas, info??? If it has never been tested, who can we contact to have it tested for quality?

[Fiddle-Faddle]

That's a good question. I have been wondering, also, whether rice flours sold by companies with American health food stores cachet are actually made by those companies, or if they are just repackaged Asian rice flour. I'm especially curious about the rice flours used in bread and cake mixes--they don't say where their ingredients come from.

In addition, many companies, such as Bob's Red Mill, make gluten-free AND gluteny products. Our Giant Eagle puts the "Vital Wheat Gluten" right next to the brown rice floor on the shelf.

I think I'm gonna stick with the Asian rice flours for now.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

  ptkds said:

I was just reading (again) about the recent pet food recall because of melamine (sp?) in the wheat, but it also said it was in the rice protein

What nobody made a big fuss about (and should have) was the fact that there was wheat gluten in the pet food in the first place. Dogs' and cats' stomachs are not meant to consume grains--they don't exactly harvest them in the wild, do they? They are carnivores, and should be fed meat protein. Wheat gluten is a cheap way of upping the protein on paper--but it's not protein that the pet can digest, and, in fact, can harm the pet, melamime or no melamime.

Dogtorj has a lot of info on it on his website: www.dogtorj.com.

[missy'smom]

Your concerns are understandable and making educated decisions is important. I don't want to say anything bad about any particular country but the situation in China is different from what I see. Assuming that what is reported is true. My husband watches the Japanese news all the time and shows me what they report about food products coming out of China. The problems have been well known in Japan for quite some time.

I have no intention of maligning China by saying this. I respect the people and their culture. I also mean no disrespect to anyone posting or reading with the following statement. We have to be careful not to put all Asian countries together in the same basket. Each one is unique.

I buy and regularly use flour from Thailand and Japan and Korea and have no problems with it and am very sensitive.