Pet food recall!

[burleytog]

Pet food recall has animal owners frantic

Eukanuba, Iams, Nutro and store brands tied to kidney failure, deaths

March 17: One of the largest makers of food for cats and dogs is recalling millions of containers of pet food after some animals became sick and some died. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.

Updated: 1 hour, 33 minutes ago

UNION, N.J. - Silviene Grzybowski became worried when her local pet store pulled the food she normally feeds her cat and posted an announcement saying it, and many other popular pet foods, had been recalled. Her cat, Smokey, hadn't been eating for days.

The vet told us to buy her her favorite food, but I'm going to call the vet right now, Grzybowski said.

Menu Foods, the Ontario, Canada-based company that produced the pet food, said Saturday it was recalling dog food sold throughout North America under 48 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba. The food was distributed by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway.

An unknown number of cats and dogs had suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, the company said.

Two other companies Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc. said Saturday that as a precaution they were voluntarily recalling some products made by Menu Foods.

Many stores that sold the affected brands frantically pulled packages off shelves.

Pet owners spot symptoms

Ron Finegold of Boynton Beach, Fla., said he noticed about a week or so ago that his family's 3-year-old cat who was regularly fed a variety of Iams cat food had stopped eating and did not appear well. He quickly took the animal to the veterinarian, who determined she was in renal failure.

He said he heard about the recall on the radio Friday night. He checked his trash, and found out he had given the cat some of the affected food.

That's when I realized (the illness) had to be related, Finegold said. She won't be eating that stuff anymore.

A complete list of the recalled products along with product codes, descriptions and production dates was available from the Menu Foods Web site, http://www.menufoods.com/recall. The company also designated two phone numbers that pet owners could call for information (866) 463-6738 and (866) 895-2708 but callers kept the lines busy for much of Saturday.

Menu Foods' chief executive and president Paul Henderson told the Associated Press on Friday that the company was still trying to figure out what happened.

He said that the company had received an undisclosed number of owner complaints that dogs and cats were vomiting and suffering kidney failure after eating its products. He estimated that the recall would cost the company, which is mostly owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, an estimated

Wheat supplier investigated

Sarah Tuite, a company spokeswoman, has said the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, which has since been dropped for another source. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said it is still too early to determine what could have affected the food. Zawisza added that even if wheat gluten is the source, it doesn't necessarily mean the wheat gluten per se. It could be another substance associated with the wheat gluten.

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 from Dec. 3 to March 6.

In Omaha, Neb., Susan Balvanz said she sometimes feeds her five cats packets of sliced meat and gravy sold by Nutro Products, one of the brands affected.

I've done so much research on pet food. It didn't surprise me but it scared me all the same, said Balvanz.

She said her 9-year-old cat, Boots, was especially fond of the food but seemed to have lost its appetite in the last few days.

At the Missouri Valley Veterinary Clinic in Bismarck, N.D., veterinarian Jacob Carlson has been referring worried pet owners to the Menu Foods web site.

We've had a lot of calls, Carlson said, although none of his patients were sick.

The company said it makes pet food 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.

[Sam]

Thanks for the input.

I had heard of this before a few years ago and am sorry to see it is back.

I hope they get it corrected.

A good pet is a member of the family and I don't want anything to happen to anyone's pets.

[Fish Man]

our 10 year old golden died in novmeber of 05 from kidney faliure...and not that any way of a pet dieing is good but kidney faliure is one h**l of a way to see a "member of the family" go....very miserable we had to put her down because she was literally starving to death

[justfishin]

Wow, that blows. I hope they get it taken care of before any other pets suffer.

[burleytog]

I've got some Iams cat food that doesn't match the date code, but it is the same type of food that has been recalled.

Haven't fed my cat any of it since Mon or Tues, but he did throw up the morning after eating it.

I do believe I'll be returning it to Wal Mart tomorrow.

[Fish Man]

better safe than sorry  

[burleytog]

www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/06/asia/AS-GEN-China-Pet-Food-Recall.php

China probing tainted wheat gluten blamed for U.S. pet deaths

BEIJING: China said Friday it was investigating U.S. allegations that a mainland company exported tainted wheat gluten used in pet food that has been linked to the deaths of more than a dozen cats and dogs in the United States.

It was the first time Chinese authorities have officially responded to the uproar in America that has resulted in a ban on gluten imports from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. and a recall of nearly 100 brands of pet food.

"We are 'investigating' this," said Zeng Xing, an official with the press office of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The administration monitors the export of food, animals and farm products.

Zeng refused to give any other details but confirmed that China was looking into the claim that the exported wheat gluten contained melamine, a chemical found in plastics and pesticides.

Xia Wenjun, another administration official, was cited by the state-run Xinhua News Agency as saying that "sampling and examination" of wheat gluten were under way nationwide but did not elaborate.

The probe will center around melamine, Xia said, and the administration will stay in touch with the U.S. Embassy in China. Further measures will be taken "based on developments in the United States," Xia said.

Chinese veterinarians and animal rights activists said they were not aware of any reports of deaths in China due to tainted pet food.

It is the first recent high-profile incident of a contaminated product being exported from China. In domestic cases such as one involving drug regulators who took bribes to approve shoddy medicine the government has stepped in and promised investigations.

According to state regulations, exported food should be inspected by Zeng's administration for poisonous substances. Chinese customs will only clear the product for export if it has a certificate of quality supervision.

It wasn't immediately clear if the procedures had been followed in the case of the wheat gluten.

Las Vegas-based ChemNutra Inc., which imported the product and shipped it to companies that make pet food, said this week that Xuzhou Anying had never reported the presence of melamine in the content analysis it provided.

Mao Lijun, general manager of Xuzhou Anying, on Friday would only say that the allegations were "under investigation."

Chemical scares and mass poisonings are common in China, which has been struggling to improve its dismal food-safety record. Manufacturers often mislabel food products or add illegal substances to them. Cooks routinely disregard hygiene rules or mistakenly use industrial chemicals instead of salt and other ingredients.

Last year, seven companies were punished for using banned Sudan I dye to color egg yolks red. The industrial dye, used for leather, floor polish and other household chemicals, has been found in various products sold in China, such as roasted meat, chili powder and lipstick.

In 2004, at least 12 infants died from malnutrition after drinking formula with little or no nutritional value in eastern China's Anhui province.

Zeng, the Chinese official, said a report posted in her administration's official newspaper earlier this week led some to believe China denied exporting any wheat gluten to the United States. She said that the administration meant that it had never exported any wheat gluten containing a rat poison, aminopterin.

The New York State Food Laboratory last month identified aminopterin as the likely culprit in the pet food, a finding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later rejected.

So far, the FDA has confirmed about 15 pet deaths, while anecdotal reports suggest hundreds of cats and dogs may have died of kidney failure from the tainted food.

The agency identified Xuzhou Anying as the supplier of the tainted gluten and last week blocked imports from the company, which says it produces and exports more than 10,000 tons of wheat gluten a year.

Only 873 tons have been linked to the contaminated U.S. pet food, raising the possibility that more of the bad product could still be in China or the United States, which Xuzhou Anying has said is its only foreign market.

ChemNutra said last week that none of the contaminated wheat gluten went to manufacturers of food for humans. Wheat gluten is most commonly used as a meat-substitute in vegetarian and Asian cuisines.

Mary Peng, a manager of the International Center for Veterinary Services in Beijing, said she's been receiving four to five queries a day from worried pet owners in China asking which food brands are safe. However, there have been no reports of animals sickened by pet food.

"We have not had any reports so far of any animals sickened with these particular symptoms," Peng said. "It's very much a public health issue. This should be something that needs to be addressed."

A manager in charge of purchasing from Paiduge Pet Food Company in Beijing said she had not heard of any cases of pet poisoning.