600 MILLION Cans Recalled

kat2220

kat2220

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 11, 2002
Messages
16,886
Points
0
Location
Marietta, GA
60 million containers of pet food recalled
Eukanuba, Iams and store brands tied to kidney failure, deaths


Updated: 44 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - A major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths.

An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, Menu Foods said in announcing the North American recall. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death, the company said.

“At this juncture, we’re not 100 percent sure what’s happened,” said Paul Henderson, the company’s president and chief executive officer. However, the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, since dropped for another source, spokeswoman Sarah Tuite said. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

The recall covers the company’s “cuts and gravy” style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches between Dec. 3 and March 6 throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Co., Safeway Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and PetSmart Inc., among others, Henderson said.

Menu Foods did not immediately provide a full list of brand names and lot numbers covered by the recall, saying they would be posted on its Web site — www.menufoods.com/recall — early Saturday. Consumers with questions can call (866) 463-6738.

Repeated calls to that number over several hours Friday night got only a busy signal. Attempts to reach a company spokeswoman for an explanation were unsuccessful.

The company said it manufacturers for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies, including Procter & Gamble Co.

P&G announced Friday the recall of specific 3 oz., 5.5 oz., 6 oz. and 13.2 oz. canned and 3 oz. and 5.3 oz. foil pouch cat and dog wet food products made by Menu Foods but sold under the Iams and Eukanuba brands. The recalled products bear the code dates of 6339 through 7073 followed by the plant code 4197, P&G said.



Like humans, cats and dogs need to eat right to stay healthy. Follow this guide to help keep your pet's weight under control.



Source: National Research Council • Print this


Menu Foods’ three U.S. and one Canadian factory produce more than 1 billion containers of wet pet food a year. The recall covers pet food made at company plants in Emporia, Kan., and Pennsauken, N.J., Henderson said.

Henderson said the company received an undisclosed number of owner complaints of vomiting and kidney failure in dogs and cats after they had been fed its products. It has tested its products but not found a cause for the sickness.

“To date, the tests have not indicated any problems with the product,” Henderson said.

The company alerted the Food and Drug Administration, which already has inspectors in one of the two plants, Henderson said. The FDA was working to nail down brand names covered by the recall, agency spokesman Mike Herndon said.

Menu Foods is majority owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, based in Ontario, Canada.

Henderson said the recall would cost the company the Canadian equivalent of $26 million to $34 million.


Click for related content
Salmonella found in frozen cat food
Americans lovingly stuffing pets with meds



© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 
they finally released the list

Recalled Dog Product Information
Recall Information 1-866-895-2708
Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority
Award
Best Choice
Big Bet
Big Red
Bloom
Bruiser
Cadillac
Companion
Demoulas Market Basket
Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog
Food Lion
Giant Companion
Great Choice
Hannaford
Hill Country Fare
Hy-Vee
Key Food
Laura Lynn
Loving Meals
Main Choice
Mixables
Nutriplan
Nutro Max
Nutro Natural Choice
Nutro
Ol'Roy
Paws
Pet Essentials
Pet Pride
Presidents Choice
Price Chopper
Priority
Publix
Roche Bros
Save-A-Lot
Schnucks
Springsfield Pride
Sprout
Stater Bros
Total Pet, My True Friend
Western Family
White Rose
Winn Dixie
Your Pet


Recalled Cat Product Information
Recall Information 1-866-895-2708
Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority
Best Choice
Companion
Compliments
Demoulas Market Basket
Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog
Food Lion
Foodtown
Giant Companion
Good n Meaty
Hannaford
Hill Country Fare
Hy-Vee
Key Food
Laura Lynn
Li'l Red
Loving Meals
Main Choice
Nutriplan
Nutro Max Gourmet Classics
Nutro Natural Choice
Paws
Presidents Choice
Price Chopper
Priority
Save-A-Lot
Schnucks
Sophistacat
Special Kitty
Springfield Pride
Sprout
Total Pet, My True Friend
Wegmans
Western Family
White Rose
Winn Dixie
 
Doggie and Maj-a-kitty are safe too. Lilly dog on Pedigree dry/wet, and Maj-a Kitty on Purina dry/Friskies wet.
 
Yeah well we're safe. My cat will only eat Fancy Feast Ocean White Fish and Tuna for his can food and Little Friskies Ocean White Fish for his dry. He will not eat anything else.
And the dog only eats dry and people food. She won't touch canned dog food. But she's addicted to chocolate milkshakes...
 
barelypure said:
Yeah well we're safe. My cat will only eat Fancy Feast Ocean White Fish and Tuna for his can food and Little Friskies Ocean White Fish for his dry. He will not eat anything else.
And the dog only eats dry and people food. She won't touch canned dog food. But she's addicted to chocolate milkshakes...
Click to expand...

BP have you ever heard that chocolate can kill a dog? I have heard that. You might check it out before you give her much chocolate.
 
Kat, this was posted on another board.

I just got off the phone with the 800 number that was provided yesterday. The website is down, but the operator said that they keep adding brands to the list of tainted foods.

The latest list DOES include Purina products.
Click to expand...
 
barelypure said:
Yeah well we're safe. My cat will only eat Fancy Feast Ocean White Fish and Tuna for his can food and Little Friskies Ocean White Fish for his dry. He will not eat anything else.
And the dog only eats dry and people food. She won't touch canned dog food. But she's addicted to chocolate milkshakes...
Click to expand...

I betcha I can teach both your cat and your dog to eat whatever I put in front of them!
Betsy:rolleyes:
 
tkj24 said:
BP have you ever heard that chocolate can kill a dog? I have heard that. You might check it out before you give her much chocolate.
Click to expand...

Too much chocolate will usually just cause diarhea. I looked up the numbers:
On average,
Milk chocolate contains 44 mg of theobromine per oz.
Semisweet chocolate contains 150mg/oz.
Baker's chocolate 390mg/oz.

Using a dose of 100 mg/kg as the toxic dose it comes out roughly as:
1 ounce per 1 pound of body weight for Milk chocolate
1 ounce per 3 pounds of body weight for Semisweet chocolate
1 ounce per 9 pounds of body weight for Baker's chocolate.

So with the amount of chocolate syrup in an average Cook Out milk shake our 42 pound beagle (yeah I know she's fat) she's not even affected. She normally only gets the half, what my wife doesn't drink.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
Thank goodness my dogs only eat dry.
Click to expand...

Two dogs and a cat and they only eat dry pet food...well the dogs will get people food now and then. Right now, the mutts are chewing on a pig's ear. Hmmmm, doesn't that sound good. A little peanut butter on it and it will slide right down your throat. :)
 
This morning my big dog decided that dry wasn't good enough. Apparently one of my neighbor's chickens got out of the pen and flew over the fence. Big dog likes chicken. *sigh*
 
TexasRaceLady said:
This morning my big dog decided that dry wasn't good enough. Apparently one of my neighbor's chickens got out of the pen and flew over the fence. Big dog likes chicken. *sigh*
Click to expand...

I have the neighbor from hell. He lets his 100 chickens roam. My dog gets a hold of them in our yard/her pen. She will kill them and pull the feathers out, but so far, will not eat them. He thinks I should keep my mouth shut and let his chickens have full run of my yard. We can't even use our back yard. Since his 100 dollar rooster died (he blames my BB gun) he has at least pinned some of those up. No way I would push my daughter's wheelchair in our back yard.
 
kelloggs5TLfan said:
I have the neighbor from hell. He lets his 100 chickens roam. My dog gets a hold of them in our yard/her pen. She will kill them and pull the feathers out, but so far, will not eat them. He thinks I should keep my mouth shut and let his chickens have full run of my yard. We can't even use our back yard. Since his 100 dollar rooster died (he blames my BB gun) he has at least pinned some of those up. No way I would push my daughter's wheelchair in our back yard.
Click to expand...

If you talk to Kellogg's on the phone and the chickens come in the yard you hear the bb's fly.:bounce: Go Kellogg's Go You could become the next Cornal Sanders with all the chicken at your house.
 
ALL vets warn about giving chocolate to both cats and dogs.
My Maj-A-kitty has never had a problem with Purina dry, and she has a sensative stomach. Fancy Feast tuna and ocean whitefish along with plain tuna are her treats.
Lilly dog only gets Pedigree.
 
Rat Poison Found in Tainted Pet Food
Updated 11:42 AM ET March 23, 2007


By MARK JOHNSON

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Rat poison has been found in pet food blamed for the deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs, a spokeswoman for the State Department of Agriculture and Markets said Friday.

Spokeswoman Jessica Chittenden would not identify the chemical or its source beyond saying it was a rodent poison.

The Food and Drug Administration has said the investigation was focusing on wheat gluten in the food. Wheat gluten itself would not cause kidney failure, but the common ingredient could have been contaminated by heavy metals or mold toxins, the FDA said.

State agriculture officials scheduled a news conference Friday afternoon to release laboratory findings from tests on the pet food conducted this week.

The deaths led to a recall of 60 million cans and pouches of pet food produced by Menu Foods and sold throughout North America under 95 brand names. There have been several reports of kidney failure in pets that ate the recalled brands, and the company has confirmed the deaths of 15 cats and one dog.

Menu Foods last week recalled "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food. The recall sparked concern among pet owners across North America. It includes food sold under store brands carried by Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and other large retailers, as well as private labels such as Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba.

Menu Foods is majority owned by Menu Foods Income Fund of Streetsville. The company also makes foods for zoo cats, but those products are unaffected by the recall.

The company's chief executive and president said Menu Foods delayed announcing the recall until it could confirm that the animals had eaten its product before dying. Two earlier complaints from consumers whose cats had died involved animals that lived outside or had access to a garage, which left open the possibility they had been poisoned by something other than contaminated food, he said.

A spokesman for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he was not aware of any criminal investigation involving the tainted food.

A complete list of the recalled products along with product codes, descriptions and production dates was posted online by Menu Foods and is available at http://tinyurl.com/2pn6mm. The company also designated two phone numbers that pet owners could call for information: (866) 463-6738 and (866) 895-2708.

___

On the Net:

FDA pet food recall information: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html

Menu Foods: http://tinyurl.com/2pn6mm

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
 
Recall Expanded to Some Dry Cat Food
Updated 8:34 PM ET March 30, 2007


By ANDREW BRIDGES

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal testing of recalled pet foods turned up a chemical used to make plastics but failed to confirm the presence of a cancer drug also used as rat poison. The recall expanded Friday to include the first dry pet food.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food involved in the original recall and in imported wheat gluten used as an ingredient in the company's wet-style products. Cornell University scientists also found melamine in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating some of the recalled food.

Meanwhile, Hill's Pet Nutrition recalled its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food. The food included wheat gluten from the same supplier that Menu Foods used. The recall didn't involve any other Prescription Diet or Science Diet products, said the company, a division of Colgate-Palmolive Co.

FDA was working to rule out the possibility that the contaminated wheat gluten could have made it into any human food. However, melamine is toxic only in high doses, experts said, leaving its role in the pet deaths unclear.



Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of cat and dog food, sold throughout North America under nearly 100 brands, earlier this month after animals died of kidney failure after eating the Canadian company's products. It is not clear how many pets may have been poisoned by the apparently contaminated food, although anecdotal reports suggest hundreds if not thousands have died. The FDA alone has received more than 8,000 complaints; the company, more than 300,000.

Company officials on Friday would not provide updated numbers of pets sickened or killed by its contaminated product. Pet owners would be compensated for veterinary bills and the deaths of any dogs and cats linked to his company's products, the company said.

The melamine finding came a week after scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory identified a cancer drug and rat poison called aminopterin as the likely culprit in the pet food. But the FDA said it could not confirm that finding, nor have researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey when they looked at tissue samples taken from dead cats. And experts at the University of Guelph detected aminopterin in some samples of the recalled pet food, but only in the parts per billion or trillion range.

"Biologically, that means nothing. It wouldn't do anything," said Grant Maxie, a veterinary pathologist at the Canadian university. "This is a puzzle."

Meanwhile, New York officials stuck to their aminopterin finding and pointed out that it was unlikely that melamine could have poisoned any of the animals thought to have died after eating the contaminated pet food. Melamine is used to make plastic kitchen ware and is used as a fertilizer in Asia.

An FDA official allowed that it wasn't immediately clear whether the melamine was the culprit. The agency's investigation continues, said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.

In a news conference, Sundlof and other FDA officials said the melamine had contaminated a shipment of wheat gluten imported from China and purchased by Menu Foods from an undisclosed supplier in the United States. At least some of the that wheat gluten was used in all the recalled wet pet food, according to Menu Foods.

Menu Foods said the only certainty was the imported Chinese product was the likely source of the deadly contamination, even if the actual contaminant remained in doubt.

"The important point today is that the source of the adulteration has been identified and removed from our system," said Paul Henderson, Menu Foods chief executive officer and president. Henderson suggested his company would pursue legal action against the supplier.

New York remained confident in its aminopterin finding, said Patrick Hooker, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture and Markets. Hooker added that neither aminopterin nor melamine should be in pet food, but that it was unclear why the latter substance would be poisonous to the cats in which it was found.

"While we have no doubt that melamine is present in the recalled pet food, there is not enough known data on the mammalian toxicity levels of melamine to conclude it could cause illness and deaths in cats. With little existing data, many questions still remain as to the connection between the illnesses and what has caused them," Hooker said.

Wheat gluten, a source of vegetable protein, is also used in some human foods, but the FDA emphasized it had found no indication that the contaminated ingredient had been used in food for people. The FDA said it would alert the public quickly if the melamine was found in any foods other than the recalled pet food.

About 70 percent of the wheat gluten used in the United States for human and pet food is imported from the European Union and Asia, according to the Pet Food Institute, an industry group. Menu Foods used wheat gluten to thicken the gravy of its "cuts and gravy" style wet pet foods, FDA officials have said.

One veterinarian suggested the international sourcing of ingredients would force the U.S. "to come to grips with a reality we had not appreciated."

"When you change from getting an ingredient from the supplier down the road to a supplier from around the globe, maybe the methods and practices that were effective in one situation need to be changed," said Tony Buffington, a professor of veterinary clinical sciences at Ohio State University.

The FDA's Sundlof said the agency may change how it regulates the pet food industry.

"In this case, we're going to have to look at this after the dust settles and determine if there is something from a regulatory standpoint that we could have done differently to prevent this incident from occurring," he said.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=86259&p=irol-mediaArticle&ID=980494&highlight=


Del Monte Pet Products Voluntarily Withdraws Specific Product Codes of Pet Treats and Wet Dog Food Products
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As a precautionary measure, Del Monte Pet Products is voluntarily recalling select product codes of its pet treat products sold under the Jerky Treats®, Gravy Train® Beef Sticks and Pounce Meaty Morsels® brands as well as select dog snack and wet dog food products sold under private label brands. A complete list of affected brands and products is below.

The Company took this voluntary recall action immediately after learning this morning from the FDA that wheat gluten supplied to Del Monte Pet Products from a specific manufacturing facility in China contained melamine. Melamine is a substance not approved for use in food. The FDA made this finding as part of its ongoing investigation into the recent pet food recall.

The adulteration occurred in a limited production quantity on select product codes of the brands below. This recall removes all Del Monte pet products with wheat gluten procured from this manufacturing facility from retail shelves.

No other Del Monte Pet Products treats, biscuits or wet dog food products are impacted by this recall, and no Del Monte dry cat food, dry dog food, wet cat food or pouched pet foods are subject to this voluntary recall. The affected products comprise less than one-tenth of one percent of Del Monte Pet Products' annual pet food and pet treat production.

Del Monte Pet Products has proactively engaged and fully cooperated with the FDA since the start of its investigation. The adulterated ingredients were used in limited production over the last three months for those items identified by specific product codes. Del Monte Pet Products has not used wheat gluten from this manufacturing facility in China in any other pet products except those described below.

Consumers should discontinue feeding the products with the Product Codes detailed below to their pets.

Del Monte Pet Products are 100% guaranteed and all returned product will be refunded.

Del Monte Pet Products customers can visit our website (www.delmonte.com) or contact our Consumer Hotline at (800) 949-3799 for further information about the recall and for instructions on obtaining a product refund.

Following is a list of the Products and Best Buy Dates that have been voluntarily recalled:

Production Code/Best By Date
-----------------------------------
BRANDED
-------------------------
Jerky Treats Beef Flavor Code: TP7C05 TP7B07 TP7B08 TP7B09 TP6B10
Dog Snacks Best By: Aug 05 Aug 07 Aug 08 Aug 09 Aug 10
08 08 08 08 08

Code: TP7B15 TP7C05 TP7C06
Best By: Aug 15 Sep 02 Sep 03
08 08 08

Gravy Train Beef Sticks Code: TP7B19 TP7B20 TP7B21
Dog Snacks Best By: Aug 19 Aug 20 Aug 21
08 08 08

Pounce Meaty Morsels Code: TP7C07 TP7C12
Moist
Chicken Flavor Cat Treats Best By: Sep 04 Sep 09
08 08


PRIVATE LABEL
-------------------------
Ol' Roy Beef Flavor Jerky Code: TP7B06 TP7B07 TP7C05 TP7C06 TP7C07
Strips
Dog Treats Best By: Aug 06 Aug 07 Sep 02 Sep 03 Sep 04
08 08 08 08 08

Code: TP7C08
Best By: Sep 05
08

Ol' Roy Beef Flavor Snack Code: TP7B19 TP7B20 TP7B21 TP7C08 TP7C09
Sticks Dog Treats Best By: Aug 19 Aug 20 Aug 21 Sep 05 Sep 06
08 08 08 08 08

Ol' Roy Bark'n Bac'n Beef Code: TP7C14
&
Bacon Flavor Dog Treats Best By: Sep 11
08

Ol' Roy with Beef Hearty Code: BC6M21
Cuts
in Gravy Dog Food Best By: Dec 21
09

Ol' Roy with Beef Hearty Code: BC7A19
Strips
in Gravy Dog Food Best By: Jan 19
10

Ol' Roy Country Stew Code: BC6M15
Hearty
Cuts in Gravy Dog Food Best By: Dec 15
09

Dollar General Beef Code: TP7C06
Flavored
Jerky Strips Dog Treats Best By: Sep 03
08

Dollar General Beef Code: TP7B20 TP7B21
Flavored
Beef Sticks Dog Treats Best By: Aug 20 Aug 21
08 08

Happy Tails Beef Flavor Code: TPY7B08 TP7B09
Jerky Strips Best By: Aug 08 Aug 09
08 08

Happy Tails Meaty Cuts Code: BC7A29
with Beef
in Gravy Dog Food Best By: Jan 29
10
As part of the pet community, we value the health and well-being of pets, and we deeply regret this unfortunate situation. We will continue to take any and all actions necessary to ensure the quality and safety of our products.

Contact:Del Monte Foods
Mary Sestric, 412-222-8091
Or
Melissa Murphy-Brown, 412-222-8713

Source: Del Monte Pet Products
 
Tuesday, April 3, 2007 (SF Gate)
YOUR WHOLE PET/Bigger than you think: The story behind the pet food recall
By Christie Keith, Special to SF Gate



The March 16 recall of 91 pet food products manufactured by Menu Foods
wasn't big news at first. Early coverage reported only 10-15 cats and dogs
dying after eating canned and pouched foods manufactured by Menu. The
foods were recalled -- among them some of the country's best-known and
biggest-selling brands -- and while it was certainly a sad story, and
maybe even a bit of a wake-up call about some aspects of pet food
manufacturing, that was about it.
At first, that was it for me, too. But I'm a contributing editor for a
nationally syndicated pet feature, Universal Press Syndicate's Pet
Connection, and all of us there have close ties to the veterinary
profession. Two of our contributors are vets themselves, including Dr.
Marty Becker, the vet on "Good Morning America." And what we were hearing
from veterinarians wasn't matching what we were hearing on the news.
When we started digging into the story, it quickly became clear that the
implications of the recall were much larger than they first appeared. Most
critically, it turned out that the initially reported tally of dead
animals only included the cats and dogs who died in Menu's test lab and
not the much larger number of affected pets.
Second, the timeline of the recall raised a number of concerns. Although
there have been some media reports that Menu Foods started getting
complaints as early as December 2006, FDA records state the company
received their first report of a food-related pet death on February 20.
One week later, on February 27, Menu started testing the suspect foods.
Three days later, on March 3, the first cat in the trial died of acute
kidney failure. Three days after that, Menu switched wheat gluten
suppliers, and 10 days later, on March 16, recalled the 91 products that
contained gluten from their previous source.
Nearly one month passed from the date Menu got its first report of a death
to the date it issued the recall. During that time, no veterinarians were
warned to be on the lookout for unusual numbers of kidney failure in their
patients. No pet owners were warned to watch their pets for its symptoms.
And thousands and thousands of pet owners kept buying those foods and
giving them to their dogs and cats.
At that point, Menu had seen a 35 percent death rate in their test-lab
cats, with another 45 percent suffering kidney damage. The overall death
rate for animals in Menu's tests was around 20 percent. How many pets,
eating those recalled foods, had died, become ill or suffered kidney
damage in the time leading up to the recall and in the days since? The
answer to that hasn't changed since the day the recall was issued: We
don't know.
We at Pet Connection knew the 10-15 deaths being reported by the media did
not reflect an accurate count. We wanted to get an idea of the real scope
of the problem, so we started a database for people to report their dead
or sick pets. On March 21, two days after opening the database, we had
over 600 reported cases and more than 200 reported deaths. As of March 31,
the number of deaths alone was at 2,797.
There are all kinds of problems with self-reported cases, and while we did
correct for a couple of them, our numbers are not considered "confirmed."
But USA Today reported on March 25 that data from Banfield, a nationwide
chain of over 600 veterinary hospitals, "suggests [the number of cases of
kidney failure] is as high as hundreds a week during the three months the
food was on the market."
On March 28, "NBC News" featured California veterinarian Paul Pion, who
surveyed the 30,000 members of his national Veterinary Information Network
and told anchor Tom Costello, "If what veterinarians are suspecting are
cases, then it's much larger than anything we've seen before." Costello
commented that it amounted to "potentially thousands of sick or dead
pets."
The FDA was asked about the numbers at a press conference it held on
Friday morning to announce that melamine had been found in the urine and
tissues of some affected animals as well as in the foods they tested. Dr.
Stephen Sundlof, director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine, told
reporters that the FDA couldn't confirm any cases beyond the first few,
even though they had received over 8,800 additional reports, because "we
have not had the luxury of confirming these reports." They would work on
that, he said, after they "make sure all the product is off the shelves."
He pointed out that in human medicine, the job of defining what
constitutes a confirmed case would fall to the Centers for Disease
Control, but there is no CDC for animals.
Instead, pet owners were encouraged to report deaths and illness to the
FDA. But when they tried to file reports, there was no place on the
agency's Web site to do so and nothing but endless busy signals when
people tried to call.
Veterinarians didn't fare much better. They were asked to report cases to
their state veterinarian's office, but one feline veterinary blog,
vetcetera, which surveyed all official state veterinarian Web sites, found
that only eight had any independent information about the recall, and only
24 even mentioned it at all. Only one state, Vermont, had a request on
their site for veterinarians to report pets whose illnesses or deaths they
suspect are related to the recall. And as of today, there is no longer a
notice that veterinarians should report suspected cases to their state
veterinarians on the Web site of the American Veterinary Medical
Association.
The lack of any notification system was extremely hard on veterinarians,
many of whom first heard about the problem on the news or from their
clients. Professional groups such as the Veterinary Information Network
were crucial in disseminating information about the recall to their
members, but not all vets belong to VIN, and not all vets log on to VIN on
the weekend (the Menu press release, like most corporate or government bad
news, was issued on a Friday).
But however difficult this recall has been for veterinarians, no one has
felt its impact more than the owners of affected dogs and cats. While the
pet media and bloggers continued to push the story, the most powerful
force driving it was the grief of pet owners, many of them fueled by anger
because they felt that their pet's death or illness wasn't being counted.
Many of them were also being driven by a feeling of guilt. At Pet
Connection, we received a flood of stories from owners whose pets became
ill with kidney failure, and who took them to the vet. The dogs or cats
were hospitalized and treated, often at great expense -- sometimes into
the thousands of dollars -- and then, when they were finally well enough,
sent home.
For some, the story ended there. But for others, there was one more
horrifying chapter. Because kidney failure causes nausea, it's often hard
to get recovering pets to eat. So a lot of these owners got down on their
hands and knees and coaxed and begged and eventually hand-fed their pets
the very same food that had made them sick. Those animals ended up right
back in the hospital and died, because their loving owners didn't know
that the food was tainted.
To many pet owners, the pet food recall story is a personal tragedy about
the potentially avoidable loss of a beloved dog or cat. Others have a hard
time seeing the story as anything more than that -- with implications
beyond the feelings of those grieving pet owners. Which brings us to the
bigger picture, and questions -- not about what happened but about the
system.
How did this problem, now involving almost every large pet food company in
the United States, including some of the most trusted -- and expensive --
brands, get so out of hand? How come pet owners weren't informed more
rapidly about the contaminated pet food? Why is it so hard to get accurate
numbers of affected animals? Why didn't veterinarians get any
notification? Where did the system break down?
The issue may not be that the system broke down, but that there isn't
really a system.
There is, as the FDA pointed out, no veterinary version of the CDC. This
meant the FDA kept confirming a number it had to have known was only the
tip of the iceberg. It prevented veterinarians from having the information
they needed to treat their patients and advise pet owners. It allowed the
media to repeat a misleadingly low number, creating a false sense of
security in pet owners -- and preventing a lot of people from really
grasping the scope and implication of the problem.
And it was why Rosie O'Donnell felt free to comment last week on "The
View": "Fifteen cats and one dog have died, and it's been all over the
news. And you know, since that date, 29 soldiers have died, and we haven't
heard much about them. No. I think that we have the wrong focus in the
country. That when pets are killed in America from some horrific poisoning
accident, 16 of them, it's all over the news and people are like, 'The
kitty! It's so sad.' Twenty-nine sons and daughters killed since that day,
it's not newsworthy. I don't understand."
In fact, Rosie didn't understand. She didn't understand that the same
government she blames for sending America's sons and daughters to die in
Iraq is the government that told her only 15 animals had died, and that
the story was about a pet "poisoning accident" and not a systemic failure
of FEMA-esque proportions.
Think that's going too far? Maybe not. On Sunday night, April 1, Pet
Connection got a report from one of its blog readers, Joy Drawdy, who said
that she had found an import alert buried on the FDA Web site. That alert,
issued on Friday, the same day that the FDA held its last press conference
about the recall, identified the Chinese company that is the source of the
contaminated gluten -- gluten that is now known to be sold not only for
use in animal feed, but in human food products, too. (The Chinese company
is now denying that they are responsible, although they are investigating
it.)
Although the FDA said on Friday it has no reason to think the contaminated
gluten found its way into the human food supply, Sundlof told reporters
that it couldn't be ruled out. He also assured us that they would notify
the public as soon as they had any more information -- except, of course,
that they did have more information and didn't give it to us, publishing
it instead as an obscure import alert, found by chance by a concerned pet
owner, which was then spread to the larger media.
All of which begs the question: If a system to report and track had been
in place for animal illness, would this issue have emerged sooner? Even
lacking a reporting and tracking system, if the initial news reports had
included, as so many human stories do, suspected or estimated cases from
credible sources, it's likely this story would have been taken more
seriously and not just by Rosie O'Donnell. It may turn out that our dogs
and cats were the canaries in the coal mine of an enormous system failure
-- one that could have profound impacts on American food manufacturing and
safety in the years to come.

Christie Keith is a contributing editor for Universal Press Syndicate's
Pet Connection and past director of the Pet Care Forum on America Online.
She lives in San Francisco.
 
The only pet I have hangs on the wall. I vaccum it twice a year and shine his antlers up real nice and he doesn't eat a thing. My wife on the other hand has two dogs, four cats and two birds. You would have thought by some miracle chance one can or bag of bad food would have made it to my house, but NOOOO! Anyone got any they want to sell? I'm willing to go double the price you paid for it. :wink: :wink:
 
TKay said:
The only pet I have hangs on the wall. I vaccum it twice a year and shine his antlers up real nice and he doesn't eat a thing. My wife on the other hand has two dogs, four cats and two birds. You would have thought by some miracle chance one can or bag of bad food would have made it to my house, but NOOOO! Anyone got any they want to sell? I'm willing to go double the price you paid for it. :wink: :wink:
Click to expand...

I'm looking for some myself to throw over the neighbors fence. If you get too much I'll take the rest.
Betsy;)
 
Tainted Food May Have Hurt 39,000 Pets
Updated 8:30 PM ET April 9, 2007


By ANDREW BRIDGES

WASHINGTON (AP) - Pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical may have sickened or killed 39,000 cats and dogs nationwide, based on an extrapolation from data released Monday by one of the nation's largest chains of veterinary hospitals.

Banfield, The Pet Hospital, said an analysis of its database, compiled from records collected by its more than 615 veterinary hospitals, suggests that three out of every 10,000 cats and dogs that ate the pet food contaminated with melamine developed kidney failure. There are an estimated 60 million dogs and 70 million cats in the United States, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

The hospital chain saw 1 million dogs and cats during the three months when the more than 100 brands of now-recalled contaminated pet food were sold. It saw 284 extra cases of kidney failure among cats during that period, or a roughly 30 percent increase, when compared with background rates.

"It has meaning, when you see a peak like that. We see so many pets here, and it coincided with the recall period," said veterinarian Hugh Lewis, who oversees the mining of Banfield's database to do clinical studies. The chain continues to share its data with the Food and Drug Administration.



FDA officials previously have said the database compiled by the huge veterinary practice would probably provide the most authoritative picture of the harm done by the tainted cat and dog food.

From its findings, Banfield officials calculated an incidence rate of .03 percent for pets, although there was no discernible uptick among dogs. That suggests the contamination was overwhelming toxic to cats, Lewis said. That is in line with what other experts have said previously.

At least six pet food companies have recalled products made with imported Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical. The recall involved about 1 percent of the overall U.S. pet food supply.

Measuring the tainted food's impact on animal health has proved an elusive goal. Previous estimates have ranged from the FDA's admittedly low tally of roughly 16 confirmed deaths to the more than 3,000 unconfirmed cases logged by one Web site.

"On a percentage basis it's not breathtaking, but unfortunately it's a number that, if it was your pet that was affected, it's too high," veterinarian Nancy Zimmerman, Banfield's senior medical adviser, said of the newly estimated incidence rate.

In another estimate Monday, the founder of a veterinary group said 5,000 to 10,000 pets may have fallen ill from eating the contaminated food, and 1,000 to 2,000 may have died.

The estimate was based on a Veterinary Information Network survey of 1,400 veterinarians among its 30,000 members. About one-third reported at least one case, said Paul Pion, the Network's founder. He cautioned that a final, definitive tally isn't possible, and that even his estimate could be halved _ or doubled.

"Nobody is ever going to know the truth," Pion said. "It's always going to be a guess."

Also Monday, the Web site petconnection.com said it had received reports of 3,598 pet deaths, split almost evenly between dogs and cats. The site cautioned that the numbers were unconfirmed.

Banfield's veterinarians treat an estimated 6 percent of the nation's cats and dogs. After the first recall was announced, the chain beefed up its software to allow those veterinarians to plug in extra epidemiological information to help track cases, Zimmerman said.

The new template allowed vets to log what a sick pet had eaten, any symptoms its owner may have noticed, the results of a physical examination, any urine and blood test results and other observations.

Lewis said there is no reason to believe the company's findings _ including an apparently heightened vulnerability of kittens to the contaminant _ wouldn't hold for other veterinary practices as well.

In outbreaks of foodborne disease in humans, the FDA leans on its sister agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to help track and confirm cases. During the ongoing pet food scare, FDA officials have repeatedly reminded the nation that there is no CDC for dogs and cats.

A spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association said the lack of hard numbers has worried pet owners eager to understand the extent of the problem. He suggested the recall could spur the creation of an animal counterpart to the CDC.

"This might be something that would push this in the future," AVMA spokesman Michael San Filippo said.

Another large veterinary chain, Los Angeles-based VCA Antech Inc., has not tallied reports from its nearly 400 VCA animal hospitals around the country, a spokesman said.

___

On the Net:

Banfield, The Pet Hospital: http://www.banfield.net/

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The pet food recall expanded further Tuesday to include products made at a Canadian factory recently found to have used an ingredient tainted by an industrial chemical.

Click here for the latest on the recall.
Menu Foods previously had recalled only cat and dog food made at its plants in New Jersey and Kansas, saying they were its only facilities to have taken delivery of imported wheat gluten later found contaminated with melamine.

However, Menu Foods discovered Monday that some of the tainted wheat gluten had made it to Canada. It was prompted to account for the ingredient by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which told the company that tests had detected the chemical in pet foods made at its Streetsville, Ontario, plant.

Menu spokesman Sam Bornstein said the amount accounted for just 1 percent of the adulterated Chinese wheat gluten purchased by Menu Foods. It was used in pet foods made in December and January.

Among the products covered by the expanded recall is Royal Canin Canada's Medi-Cal Feline Dissolution Formula canned diet, made by Menu Foods and sold only through veterinarians. A single production lot contained the contaminated wheat gluten, the company said.

"After being repeatedly reassured by Menu Foods, as reinforced by FDA public statements, that none of the contaminated wheat gluten had made its way to Canada, we were completely shocked to learn yesterday that this was not the case," Xavier Unkovic, Royal Canin Canada's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Menu Foods was the first of at least six companies to recall pet food and treats made with the tainted Chinese wheat gluten. It alone has recalled 100 brands of pet foods, sold throughout North America under its private and major labels. It posted Tuesday an updated list of recalled products on its Web site, http://menufoods.com/recall/.

The FDA has blocked wheat gluten imports from a Chinese company while it investigates how melamine could have contaminated the vegetable protein.

This week, a large veterinary hospital chain says it recorded a 30 percent increase in kidney failure among cats during the three months that pet food contaminated with melamine was sold.

Those results were reported Monday by Banfield, The Pet Hospital, based upon an analysis of records collected by its more than 615 veterinary clinics.

The analysis suggests that out of every 10,000 cats and dogs seen in Banfield clinics, three developed kidney failure during the time pet food contaminated with melamine, a chemical used to make plastic kitchenware, countertops, fertilizers and flame retardants, was on the market. The chemical appears to have been more toxic to cats than to dogs.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
 
Unfortunately I just heard on the radio some stores still have NOT taken the pet foods off their shelves. Please be careful not to buy wet pet foods that are not safe.



Hill's Pet Nutrition said late Friday that its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food included the tainted wheat gluten. The FDA said the source was the same unidentified company. Hill's, a division of Colgate-Palmolive Co., is so far the only company to recall any dry pet food. (Hill's recall information)



Here is a link to CNN for that information.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/31/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

There is a place to register a class action complaint if you experienced a death of your pet. I had a couple of people e-mail me who had this happen.
Berding & Weil Class Action - California Construction Defect Attorneys

Pet insurance is available that would cover anything. Some people are really thinking about this. petinsurance.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom