Pet food recall

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-gen/ap/Health_Medical/Pet_Food_Recall.html

Pet Deaths Prompt Recall of Pet Food
By ANDREW BRIDGES
Associated Press Writer

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 Company, 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 — http://www.menufoods.com/recall — early Saturday. Consumers with questions can call (866) 463-6738.

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.

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.

___

On the Net:

Food and Drug Administration: http://www.fda.gov/

[JeeberD]

You know, I think my cats eat better than I do. Nothing but top quality for the pussies...

[Easy Mac]

You know, I think my cats eat better than I do. Nothing but top quality for the pussies...

thats not what your woman told me

[Poli]

Hmmph. That's sad. I have both a dog and a cat. :(

[wade moore]

You know, I think my cats eat better than I do. Nothing but top quality for the pussies...

I have to buy mine from the Vet.

Freakin' Vegetarian dog.

[Eaglesfan27]

We use Iams for our cats. Going to check our supplies now. Thanks for the headsup.

[Lathum]

We have some of the cat food. I tried to get my fiance to still give it to the cat but to no avail

[JonInMiddleGA]

There's a lot of brands involved here, including what appears to be mostly store brands for 37 cat foods & 41 dog foods, as well as the voluntary recall by Iams & Eukanuba.

Iams is a secondary canned food for us, only 2 cans in the cupboard & both were older than the range of the recall. My parents had some of one of the dog food brands but those were a little older than the recall range. I'm hoping that a lot of this food is still in the retailers warehouses somewhere since it seems as though the recall date range hasn't rotated onto the shelves at least in my area.

[timmynausea]

Thanks for the heads up. I just checked and our cats eat Purina so we're in the clear.

[lordscarlet]

Science Diet here.

[GoldenEagle]

Yea, we use Alpo for our big dogs so it looks like we are safe.

[Celeval]

Eukanuba here, but a specific mix for vets; doesn't match either the dates or the factory code.

[Passacaglia]

iams

[Fidatelo]

Our dog eats Iams but its the gigantic bags of dry stuff, which doesn't appear to be at issue.

[JeeberD]

I was a bit tipsy when I read this thread last night and thought it was just generic brands involved. I started to get a bit worried when I re-read the article just now, but after checking out the site I feel good again. First off, the cats eat dry food. Second, no Purina Pro Plan on the recall list. :)

[albionmoonlight]

Possible bad news--this might have spread to dry pet food.

Basically, the FDA has traced the problem to what they think is a bad batch of wheat gluten and are now examining a factory that makes dry food and got some of the gluten to see if any of that gluten ended up in the dry food. The FDA is not mentioning the company that makes the dry food though until they conduct their tests, which is probably good for the company, but bad for worried pet owners.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=asCWKnuFkeuQ&refer=us

[Passacaglia]

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/070330E%20Opening%20Statement%20-%20March%2030%202007.htm

REMARKS BY

PAUL K. HENDERSON

PRESIDENT AND CEO, MENU FOODS INCOME FUND

TO A NEWS CONFERENCE

MARCH 30, 2007





TORONTO







Ladies and gentlemen:



Thank you for your attendance, and for your continuing dedication to this disturbing and emotional story.



I am Paul Henderson, President and CEO of Menu Foods. With me today is Randall Copeland, Executive Vice-President of Sales and Marketing, and a thirty-year veteran of the pet food industry, having spent a good portion of that time in plant operations.



This afternoon, I have a brief opening statement and then we will take a limited number of questions. For the sake of those listening in by phone, please do not begin asking your question until you have a microphone in hand.



One week ago, some of the dedicated researchers who had been investigating this matter reported the discovery of a single, toxic compound in our pet food. That, seemingly, cleared the way for us to address the problem, deal fairly with the pet-owners who had been injured, put our business back together, and move on.



In the intervening week, other top scientists have been unable to validate the findings. That is, they were unable to find the toxin – called aminopterin – in our pet food, or in any of the component ingredients. It was also brought to our attention that some veterinary experts held the view that aminopterin was inconsistent with what was being observed in dogs and cats.



There is an entirely different story today.



As you heard earlier from the FDA and Cornell University, a compound called melamine has been identified as being present in the food that caused the pet illnesses and deaths.



Melamine has been found in the finished product that was the subject of recall and has not been found in other Menu Foods pet food outside of the recall. Menu Foods only manufactures wet pet food.



Melamine has been found in the wheat gluten from a new supplier in the United States, who sourced this wheat gluten in China. This is the same ingredient that Menu Foods made reference to in its recall press release of March 16. Melamine has not been found in the wheat gluten that we obtain from our other suppliers.



The recalled product is unfit for consumption by pets. It contains melamine.



The pet food that we have manufactured after March 6 is safe and healthy. How do we know this?



First, it contains no melamine. Secondly, it contains none of the suspect wheat gluten.

Thirdly, all of the testing that has been conducted, including the routine taste tests that were underway prior to the discovery of this problem, have demonstrated that those products not associated with the suspect wheat gluten performed very well and in a manner consistent with historic norms.



Menu Foods has been in operation for more than 35 years. Our plants are modern, run by dedicated, experienced and well-trained employees. We operated with good manufacturing practices and are routinely audited by well recognized, independent experts on food safety and sanitation. It’s clear from our customer base that we must meet the most rigorous quality standards in the industry in order to be allowed to produce these products for some of the world’s largest brands. That is how we have confidence in our abilities to produce quality products.



With all of these quality standards, how did this happen? Quite simply, one supplier’s product was adulterated with a material that is not part of any known screening procedure for wheat gluten. The important point today is that the source of the adulteration has been identified and removed from our system.



Needless to say, we have a great deal of interest in finding out why we were supplied with this kind of product. This is a subject of very great interest to us and our lawyers and you can expect that we will be following up. For litigation purposes, we cannot elaborate at this time.



Let me be clear on this - we have removed that problem from our system. Our recall is well underway and products produced today are being made with known, quality and tested raw materials.



As a result, I can say with complete confidence today – to consumers, to our customers, to governments – that Menu Foods continues to uphold the high standards for which we have been known since 1971.



Our products are safe. We continue to engage in the highest levels of monitoring and testing in the pet food industry. These tests will be expanded as a result of this experience.



A final word on melamine. We have had correspondence with the FDA and we know that they are diligently following-up on the supply of the suspect wheat gluten. It is not our place to name the supplier as we do not want to interfere in any way with the important investigation they are conducting.



What we know today is that the products made by Menu Foods are of the highest quality, are safe, and will be returning to store shelves across North America in the coming weeks and months.



Now, as we did last time, I think we can anticipate some of your questions.



Does Menu have something it wants to say to any pet owners who have suffered a loss?



All of us at Menu Foods want to express our sympathy to those people who have suffered with sickness and loss of pets.



We are pet-people and we have almost 1,000 caring employees who are dedicated to making food that is safe, nutritious and palatable.



We are proud of our employees and the hard work, loyalty and diligence they have demonstrated in these trying times



We are angered that a source outside of the company has apparently adulterated the product causing this regrettable loss.



We are grateful to our customers and retailers who have been so responsible in the quick removal of affected product from the market and ask their continued diligence to assure that affected product is not accidentally restocked in their systems.



What is your reaction to the FDA’s Announcement earlier today?



We believe the announcement today by the FDA supports the products and the procedures used by Menu Foods in the recall. We are pleased that they have acknowledged that the nature of the adulteration could not have been identified by detection methods used by the industry and by their acknowledgement that no violations occurred.



One area that has made this recall particularly confusing is that Menu Foods executed the recall before there was a known scientific cause for the illness experienced by pets and with very few reported incidents from the field. We believe today’s press announcement by the FDA again supports our actions. The actions we took out of an abundance of caution undoubtedly saved many lives.



The FDA has reported that the adulterant found in the wheat gluten has only been found in wheat gluten from one specific supplier of that ingredient. This is the ingredient referenced in our recall announcement of March 16.



What is the immediate priority for Menu Foods?



Our first priority is the recall. We have implemented procedures to work with our retail customers to effectively clear all recalled product from the supply chain before each customer can receive new products. These new products have ingredients that we know are clear of the adulterant that was found in the single source of wheat gluten.



In light of the FDA’s findings, what are Menu’s next steps for getting back to business?



We look forward to returning to supplying safe, palatable “cuts and gravy” product for consumers. Our traditional loaf products do not contain any of the suspect ingredients and only two of Menu’s four plants have ever had the suspect ingredient in use at any time. All of our products produced after March 6 have been clear of the suspect wheat gluten.



We are working with our partners to help make it easy for consumers to know that they are purchasing only products that are clear of the suspect wheat gluten, in order to ease their mind and provide assurance of safety.



I will now take questions. Only those with a microphone may ask questions, so raise your hand if you have a question.



Thank you.

[B & B]

We have some of the cat food. I tried to get my fiance to still give it to the cat but to no avail


I like the effort.

[digamma]

Possible bad news--this might have spread to dry pet food.

Basically, the FDA has traced the problem to what they think is a bad batch of wheat gluten and are now examining a factory that makes dry food and got some of the gluten to see if any of that gluten ended up in the dry food. The FDA is not mentioning the company that makes the dry food though until they conduct their tests, which is probably good for the company, but bad for worried pet owners.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=asCWKnuFkeuQ&refer=us

I have been watching this closely. Our dog passed away almost three weeks ago after suddenly becoming sick, with what was diagnosed as acute gastritis. He passed away 36 hours later, and his blood levels showed signs of liver and kidney failure. He ate only dry food, but the symptoms are so eerily similar that we've been wondering if there was any connection.

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070331/D8O76KGG0.html

Mar 31, 10:02 AM (ET)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The recall of wet and dry pet foods contaminated with a chemical found in plastics and pesticides expanded Saturday to include a new brand even as investigators were puzzled why the substance would kill dogs and cats.

Nestle Purina PetCare Co. said it was recalling all sizes and varieties of its Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food with specific date codes. Purina said a limited amount of the food contained a contaminated wheat gluten from China.

The same U.S. supplier also provided wheat gluten, a protein source, to a Canadian company, Menu Foods, which this month recalled 60 million containers of wet dog and cat food it produces for sale under nearly 100 brand labels.

Menu Foods and the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the pet food industry, have refused to identify the company that supplied the contaminated wheat gluten.

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. (CL), is so far the only company to recall any dry pet food.

[Rizon]

Maybe I don't understand how the process works, but 2 weeks and they're still puzzled? Are these private investigators or FDA investigators?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Maybe I don't understand how the process works, but 2 weeks and they're still puzzled? Are these private investigators or FDA investigators?

Samples have been tested by at least a handful of agencies, in both the US & Canada, as well as the pet food companies own testing. Only the state lab in (IIRC) NY identified the first substance as the likely cause, the others have found either no sign of it or only trace amounts. All of the subsequent tests have detected the presence of melamine, but there has never been enough research on the health effects of it on mammals to know whether it's the culprit or if there's something else they're still missing.

Basically, it seems as though the investigation is hamstrung by the fact that they really don't know if what they're finding is the cause, or if it's coincidental or if it's contributing to something else.