When it was made in China, American citizens, the media and the politicians were all over the dangers of imported food for humans and our pets. It was so easy to start ramping up the trade protectionist rhetoric and threatening legislation. Even US farmers got in the act by using the well-timed problems (what a coincidence!) to advocate for the disastrous farming bill. I can still hearing Joe Farmer saying how important it was to reward US agriculture for keeping our food supply safe. In the past few days we’ve had a human food scare of shigella from baby carrots packaged in the United States and a pet food scare of salmonella from Mars Petcare (of candy bar fame and one of the great American companies). And where is the outrage or media hype? Is food safety only a concern if it comes from China? I’d love it if all food was safe in the United States and all over the globe. Unfortunately, that is not the case and we need to deal with the problems when they arise. But let’s try to keep this whole thing in perspective - it is a health issue - not a convenient political opportunity to increase protectionism.