The world’s bread basket imports wheat from China? Who knew?

As surprising as that fact is, it’s even more amazing that the rat poison they use on the wheat in China could be so potent that it kills animals when it gets into processed pet food.

With the death count at 241 and counting, there’s finally been a break in the Menu Foods case. A press conference will be held this afternoon, and it’s likely a chemical called aminopterin, which is illegal in this country, will be revealed as the source of the pet poisonings.

If, like me, you’ve been wondering with every can of dog and cat food you open if this is the one that will kill your beloved pet, here’s help. ABC deserves a public service award for posting all the brands of all the pet food in the recall, along with specific batch numbers. They also list the symptoms of you should watch for in your pet:

Uncharacteristic lethargy
Severe loss of appetite
Vomiting
Profound changes in eating and drinking
Increased urination

While this chemical might not be the problem, and there might be more tainted food than currently identified, it’s a start.

Once they get the bad food off the shelves and the dying stops, can someone please look into how this happened? Ever since the government under the neocons abdicated its regulatory role, food has been unsafe for both man and beast.