Well, I think you know the answer to this one: unless we get better
regulations we simply don't know.

Ironically, the FDA has been cut back in funding every year for the
last 6 years with the insistence
1. that the industry will police itself and
2. that consumers won't buy tainted things.

Okay, the realities are

A. that the consumers don't have the data to know what could be or is
tainted, and

B. that the same politicians who say that industries will police
themselves are right now bring "unfair competition" charges against a
small beef company which had been checking every steer it killed for
bovine spongiform disease (Mad Cow). What did that small company do
that is being called unfair? Well, it actually checked the animals
instead of just checking the ones who collapsed and a few others who
might be questionable. That is being called unfair by larger companies
who want all to test only a very few of the animals.

Okayyyyyy...

Fun to be a consumer these days, isn't it? We're all in the same boat,
people, and it's got more than a few leaks.

So, the functional reality is that the cutbacks in funding for the FDA,
the lack of information getting to the public (though the FDA recall
site is helpful for what they do find despite cutbacks:
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html ), and the attempts to attack
companies that try to hold themselves to higher standards all indicate
that it's likely that what is really going on is that mega- agriculture
is getting the same degree of spoiling that some other companies such
as the oil industry are widely recognized to be receiving.

I think that these URLs may help with some of your other questions,
but honestly, there are huge limits on what any of us regular folks
can know of what is going on because the very governmental departments
that try to protect us have been ham-strung in recent years.

Professional consultation on balancing homemade diets with articles
by Dr. Rebecca Remillard, Ph.D., D.V.M., DACVN:
http://www.petdiets.com/
http://www.petdiets.com/Library/category.asp
FDA raw pet foods guidance:
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/Guidance/Guide122.pdf
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/CVM_Updates/rawdiet.htm
Increased meat digestibility from cooking (Just debunking a myth):
http://exploratorium.edu/cooking/meat/INT-what-is-meat.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/fullonfood_meat.shtml
http://forums.egullet.com/index.php?showtopic=40548

 (BTW, I was pretty horrified to learn -- from his own CV -- that a
prominent person claiming to be a veterinary doctor and nutrition
expert who makes income from promoting a certain raw diet actually has
a bachelors in vet med (something many people in the U.S. don't know
exists in some other countries), and that he has no higher degrees in
vet med and no degrees in nutrition at all. Now, I am not saying that
people can't learn after school and even learn a great deal because
hopefully we all do, but also hopefully we don't then try to be
addressed as "doctor" which is a term that means that a doctorate has
been earned.)

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5626]