Does anyone need more proof of the serious dangers of manufactured food than the incident earlier this year, in which about 4,000 U.S. dogs have died, probably as a result of melamine (serves as a fake protein) inclusion in manufactured food?

The incident has been blamed on unscrupulous Chinese ingredient suppliers but surely the american importers and the manufacturers doing the buying share the blame? The need for a massive supply of cheap ingredients fuels such possible iniquities. The large scale manufacturing capability and the rapid distribution system ensure widespread damage from any error.

It is believed melamine may also have been included in some human foods.

This and the recent Sudan 1 carcinogen scandal, which contaminated chilli powder and which caused the recall of approaching 450 human food products (at a cost of about £100 million in the UK alone) show the power of food manufacturing to multiply any problem to a massive scale in a very short time.

These considerations are quite apart from the general health concerns associated with the feeding of processed foods.