Pet Food Recall

[Fauxmage]

I hope no one here uses this food, but just in case:
Pet Deaths Prompt Recall of Pet Food
By ANDREW BRIDGES (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
March 16, 2007 11:22 PM EDT
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 - http://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.
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.

:(

[Gliondrach]

That's shocking.

Also see: http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/jesse.htm

[thevegantwins]

Recall Information
1-866-895-2708

Recalled Cat Product Information
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html

Recalled Dog Product Information
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html

:no:

[Charmagne]

Good grief - what a list. And Martin I wasn't aware of what went into dog food. That is terrible!:(

[my3labs]

And Martin I wasn't aware of what went into dog food. That is terrible!:(
Isn't that disgusting? We stopped feeding our dogs store bought food about a year ago when I found all this out. We now pay $70 per 35 lb bag but it's worth it to us.

[Soynut]

I buy only good quality vegetarian dog food, I would never again buy him cheap supermarket type of food with rancid oils and meat from rendering plants. YUCK! It's like feeding my dog toxic waste everyday.:no:

[thevegantwins]

We used to feed Feline Nutro, one of the foods on that list but she hasn't eaten that for almost a year. We've been giving her Wysong Au Jus canned and Wellness kibble, pricey but she's worth it.

[Soynut]

I think we do save money on vet bills down the line.:agree: Sadly, I've heard about a few dogs lately (on another forum) who died "mysteriously" of kidney failure at a young age. One of them was a 5 year old whippet.:( I didn't want to imply that it might have been the food because that could upset the owner and make feel he or she feel gulity. But I think these types of diseases (or emergencies!) are more and more common with the crappy feeds the animals are given these days.

[dreamer]

What worries me most is this statement in the article:
"At this juncture, we're not 100 percent sure what's happened," said Paul Henderson, the company's president and chief executive officer.

That's scary to me as it might be in other foods, maybe even in dry foods, but they don't "think so," so they're basically saying all the other pet foods are OK. What about all the people who might still be feeding their animals tainted food, now with an unrealistic sense of security due to their putting out these lists? If this was a food-bourne illness that humans contracted, you know the gov't would be MUCH more involved:hbang:

[Fauxmage]

Dear Laura,

http://isiemail.peta.org/rcat.jpg

Let me help you ensure the safety of the animals in your own home in light of the Menu Foods dog and cat food recall and tell you what PETA is doing to hold the dog and cat food industry accountable.

You must know that dog and cat food manufacturer Menu Foods is recalling some 90 name brands of canned wet food, including Iams and Eukanuba, that have been linked to renal failure and more than a dozen animal deaths.

How to Keep Your Animals Safe

Make sure you are not feeding your animal companion any of the recalled foods. You can find the full list of products that are being recalled by Menu Foods here (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/-1MWN771tmRY/).

If you believe that your animal companion has fallen ill from eating a product manufactured by Menu Foods, immediately take the animal to your veterinarian. Symptoms of kidney failure include lack of appetite, listlessness, increased thirst, increased urination, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Please also report any animal illness or death to Menu Foods at 866-895-2708 and to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at 888-463-6332.

What PETA Is Doing

The fact that animals are dying from tainted Menu Foods products is horrific. To make matters worse, the company's response is stupefying and infuriating.

It's our understanding that Menu Foods learned of animal deaths as early as February 20 but didn't issue a recall for almost a month.

PETA is urging government authorities in Canada (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/GpMWN771tmR0/) and the U.S. (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/F1MWN771tmRp/) to investigate Menu Foods and file criminal charges if the company is found to have violated laws by waiting nearly a month before recalling contaminated food and intentionally feeding it to healthy dogs and cats in laboratories, killing several of them.

We know from experience that Menu Foods has never put the interests of animals ahead of its profits. Do you remember when a PETA investigator went undercover at a contract testing laboratory in Missouri that conducted cruel experiments on animals for Menu Foods and Iams? What PETA's investigator uncovered there was shocking; some dogs had huge chunks of muscle removed from their legs and were left to suffer for days. You can read more about the investigation here. (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/FpMWN771tmRR/) We took action then and changes were made, but now ... this!

What You Can Do to Keep Animals Safe in the Future

Each of us, as loving companions to the cats and dogs in our care, must stand up to corporations like Menu Foods and Iams and hold them accountable for the food they are selling. Please take immediate action:
Buy pet food only from companies that test their foods in modern ways, not by experimenting on animals. The list of cruelty-free companies includes PetGuard, Evolution, and V-dog. One of the surest ways to stop corporations like Iams and Menu Foods is by not purchasing their products until they are proved to be safe and cruelty-free. For a list of manufacturers that do not test on animals, click here. (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/F7MWN771tmRQ/)

Demand that Menu Foods (http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/menu_foods/iiewundzhwbent5?) take full responsibility for these animal deaths from tainted food and the company's slow response in letting people know. Insist that the company take measures to ensure that this will never happen again, and ask Menu Foods to end its cruel and old-fashioned experiments on dogs and cats.

Demand that Iams (http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/crueliams/iiewundzhwbent5?) (Menu Foods manufactured the recalled Iams food) immediately end all laboratory tests on animals.PETA is the leading national animal advocacy organization working to hold pet food manufacturers accountable for their cruelty and callousness. PETA is actively calling for a thorough investigation of the tainted food scandal, and we need your help today.

Thank you for everything you do for animals,

Sincerely,
http://isiemail.peta.org/iensig.gif
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. PETA's demand for accountability from Menu Foods is already making international headlines. (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/FdMWN771tmRP/) By taking the three steps listed above, you can speak out against this rapidly growing scandal.

[dreamer]

Rodent poison found in pet food
By MARK JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago



Rat poison has been found in pet food blamed for the deaths of several animals around the country, 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.

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 nationwide recall

[thevegantwins]

I'm not surprised, it didn't seem possible that wheat gluten could have done this to animals.

[dreamer]

They're supposed to hold a news conferences this afternoon, but I just saw this:
ABC News reported it was aminopterin that may have been on imported wheat used in the pet food. Aminopterin is used to kill rats in some countries but is not registered for that use in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The chemical, also a cancer drug, is highly toxic in high doses.

[dreamer]

I was just wondering...is there a way to make homemade vegan pet food that's like canned cat/dog food? I can find vegan dry dog food that I trust, but both my cat and dog like a little bit of canned food and now I'm not sure I trust ANY of it:( I did find some "recipes" that include a certain product to assure a balanced diet, but it's a long drawn-out process and makes a large amount. (My dog is only 15 pounds, so I hoped to find recipes that I could make just a cup of to mix with his dry food.)

[Fauxmage]

Yes, I've seen a similar article this morning.

People are just not aware of what kinds of garbage imported foods can be tainted with. I love grapes, and every time I go through the produce section I am dying to buy grapes, but if they are imported from Chile there's no way I'll buy them. And it isn't always the foreign country that is completely at fault. Here in the USA, DDT was banned for use in agriculture. But what to do with all that surplus DDT that represented such a loss of profit? I know! Let's sell it to third world countries where its not illegal, because they don't know how dangerous it is! :rolleyes: That's why this country and its people and animals are still full of DDT residues. There are no laws against importing foods that have been contaminated with substances which are illegal to use in this country. And that doesn't begin to address what is happening to the environments and people in the countries we have dumped our dangerous toxic waste on.

Regarding "pet" foods, the only law here in the USA regarding pet food manufacture is that dogs must not be an ingredient in dog foods, cats must not be an ingredient in cat food, and so on. Shelter animals get turned into food all the time, and they don't bother to remove flea collars before they do it, either. And if you buy anything edible for your dog or cat that was imported from a foreign country, you may well be feeding dog to your dog after all, since ingredient lists are not subject to the same scrutiny as those intended for human consumption.

I haven't fed commercial "pet" food to my family for almost ten years now. Though my current family members are not vegan, the woman who runs the raw feeding coop I belong to is vegan too, and this makes me feel, not better exactly, but at least that I am not alone in having non-vegan carnivorous animals, and compromising my ethics in order to keep them well.

[Soynut]

My question is, if pet food is made of meat from rendering plants (which most likely get all kinds of animals from shelters) what are the guarantees that there are no cats or dogs in the food???? I would be willing to home cook for my dog (and even prepare meat dishes) like you do, Fauxmage, but he's extremely picky and won't eat veggies or certain meat... so it's hard to put together a balanced diet for him. It's funny, but the only thing he will eat reguraly is his vegan kibble. Sometimes, I buy fish or chicken on the side and he'll eat it for the first day, but won't touch it the next .Go figure:crazy:

However, I do think home cooking is one of the best thing one can do for dogs and cats, whatever it involves meat or not, there's no doubt in my my mind. I've settled for the second best IMO - high quality commercial vegan food.

[thevegantwins]

However, I do think home cooking is one of the best thing one can do for dogs and cats, whatever it involves meat or not, there's no doubt in my my mind. I've settled for the second best IMO - high quality commercial vegan food.
I agree too, Soynut. Feline is very picky as well so we stick with high-quality dead animal food. I trust Wysong which is probably stupid because I'm sure others trusted Iams and those other companies. I picked Wysong Au Jus after reading a review of it in Satya magazine, a vegan magazine that had an article about feeding cats vegan cat food and the increased risks of kidney damage from doing so. I love my cat too much to put her at risk for kidney damage caused by my own belief systems.

[my3labs]

Rodent poison found in pet food
By MARK JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

Dreamer, can you post a link to that article? I'd like to forward it along as a follow up to the email I sent out to my friends and family.

[Charmagne]

CNN just said the rat poison was in ingredients imported from China. Surprise.:mad:

[Fauxmage]

I would be willing to home cook for my dog (and even prepare meat dishes) like you do, Fauxmage, but he's extremely picky and won't eat veggies or certain meat... so it's hard to put together a balanced diet for him.
My previous two dogs were vegan with no problem, but when I got Fod, he got too sick from the vegan kibble, and that's when I started researching. I found Dr Pitcairn's Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (http://www.amazon.com/Pitcairns-Complete-Guide-Natural-Health/dp/157954973X), which is full of good info and recipes. But now I use something called "Primal", which is already mixed together and frozen into nuggets, and its a lot less disgusting than buying the raw materials. Its a San Francisco based company, and I'm not sure they ship very far away.

However, I do think home cooking is one of the best thing one can do for dogs and cats, whatever it involves meat or not, there's no doubt in my my mind. I've settled for the second best IMO - high quality commercial vegan food.
If its what he likes to eat, and he is healthy, then that is the best thing for him. He looks like he's definately got a mind of his own, judging by your latest avatar. :D :colors:

[Fauxmage]

Rat Poison Found in Tainted Pet Food

By MARK JOHNSON (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press March 23, 2007 5:09 PM EST
ALBANY, N.Y.

Rat poison was found in pet food blamed for the deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs, but scientists said Friday they still don't know how it got there and predicted more animal deaths would be linked to it.
After the announcement, the company that produced the food expanded its recall to include all 95 brands of the "cuts and gravy" style food, regardless of when they were produced. The company also said it would take responsibility for pet medical expenses incurred as a result of the food.
The substance in the food was identified as aminopterin, a cancer drug that once was used to induce abortions in the United States and is still used to kill rats in some other countries, state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker said.
The federal government prohibits using aminopterin for killing rodents in the U.S. State officials would not speculate on how the poison got into the pet food, but said no criminal investigations had been launched.
The pet deaths led to a recall of 60 million cans and pouches of dog and cat food produced by Menu Foods and sold throughout North America under 95 brand names. Some pets that ate the recalled brands suffered kidney failure, and the company has confirmed the deaths of 15 cats and two dogs.
The latest death, a Yorkshire terrier named Pebbles, occurred Thursday. The dog died of kidney failure after eating some of the food. Her owner, Jeff Kerner, said he was contacting an attorney because he wanted to prevent another pet tragedy.
"Before they put this stuff in the bags, there should be some kind of test," said Kerner, of Sherman Oaks, Calif. "I can't just let it go. Even if they just change the law."
The company expanded the recall - which initially covered only cans and pouches of food packaged from Dec. 3 through March 6 - after the FDA alerted it that some products remained on store shelves.
There is no risk to pet owners from handling the food, officials said.
The Food and Drug Administration has said the investigation into the pet deaths was focused on wheat gluten in the food. The gluten itself would not cause kidney failure, but it could have been contaminated, the FDA said.
Bob Rosenberg, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Pest Management Association, said it would be unusual for the wheat to be tainted.
"It would make no sense to spray a crop itself with rodenticide," Rosenberg said, adding that grain shippers typically put bait stations around the perimeter of their storage facilities.
Scientists at the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University and at the New York State Food Laboratory tested three cat food samples provided by the manufacturer and found aminopterin in two of them. The two labs are part of a network created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to keep the nation's animals and food supply safe.
"Any amount of this product is too much in food," Hooker said.
Aminopterin is highly toxic in high doses. It inhibits the growth of malignant cells and suppresses the immune system. In dogs and cats, the amount of aminopterin found - 40 parts per million - can cause kidney failure, according to Bruce Akey, director of Cornell's diagnostic center.
"It's there in substantial amounts," Akey said.
Donald Smith, dean of Cornell's veterinary school, said he expected the number of pet deaths to increase. "Based on what we've heard the last couple days, 16 is a low number," Smith said.
Aminopterin is no longer marketed as a cancer drug, but is still used in research, said Andre Rosowsky, a chemist with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Rosowsky speculated that the substance would not show up in pet food "unless somebody put it there."
Paul Henderson, chief executive of Ontario, Canada-based Menu Foods, said the company does not believe the food was tampered with because the recalled food came from two different plants, one in Kansas, one in New Jersey. Menu continues to produce food at the two plants.
The company, already facing lawsuits, said Friday it is testing all the ingredients that go into the food.
"We have a lot of work to do, and we are eager to get back to it," Henderson said. "This is a highly unusual substance."
When asked whether there would compensation for medical bills for sick pets, Henderson said "to the extent that we identify that the cause of any expenses incurred are related to the food, Menu will take responsibility for that."
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.
---
Associated Press writers Andrew Bridges in Washington and Michael Virtanen in Albany contributed to this report.
---
On the Net:
FDA pet food recall information: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html
Menu Foods: http://tinyurl.com/2pn6mm

[Gliondrach]

If cats can't eat vegan food because they need taurine, can't they have a taurine supplement added to vegan food?

[Gliondrach]

Our Mandy wouldn't eat dog food. She had mince, stewing steak or liver. And bones. We never gave her vegetables unless they were in leftovers. She rarely had leftovers. We didn't know that veggies were good for dogs. She also liked tea.

[thevegantwins]

If cats can't eat vegan food because they need taurine, can't they have a taurine supplement added to vegan food?
They'd have to be willing to eat the vegan food. Cats can begin developing kidney failure after 2 days of not eating and cats will starve themselves if they don't like the food. I'm certainly not saying that cats can not be vegan, I just think it is something that every person needs to determine if it is appropriate for their cat(s).

[Gliondrach]

Couldn't the cats who already eat those tins of special food be given some taurine?

[Fauxmage]

Its much more complicated than just giving synthetic taurine to cats on plant foods. See here (http://www.thenakedvegan.net/showpost.php?p=6464&postcount=2) for an explanation of all the things a cat needs to be healthy, none of which come from plants. To me, its not much different from expecting a human to be able to live on the same protein mixture at every meal, like a shake derived from whey protein, with some synthetic vitamin C added to prevent scurvy.

[Gliondrach]

Right. I''ll have to write to my investors and tell them that the deal is off.

[thevegantwins]

Its much more complicated than just giving synthetic taurine to cats on plant foods. See here (http://www.thenakedvegan.net/showpost.php?p=6464&postcount=2) for an explanation of all the things a cat needs to be healthy, none of which come from plants. To me, its not much different from expecting a human to be able to live on the same protein mixture at every meal, like a shake derived from whey protein, with some synthetic vitamin C added to prevent scurvy.
It was that article in Satya that really opened my eyes about the potential dangers for vegan cats. The owner of Evolution, vegan cat and dog food maker, was interviewed and he mentioned all the cats who have died or have permanent kidney damage from a vegan diet and that humans need to check a vegan cat's PH daily in order to avoid any problems. That seems unhealthy. I asked Feline's vet why some company doesn't make cat food from animals cats would actually eat in the wild like mice, moles etc.. He said the general public would not accept a cat food like that, they want to think their cat is happy eating the same foods they eat. I'd much prefer buying more cat-like cat food. I've never seen a cat take down a cow or turkey.

[Soynut]

I love my cat too much to put her at risk for kidney damage caused by my own belief systems.

That's good judgment, thevegantwins. A cat is a carnivore and it's a very risky business to make he/she vegan. My friends are hardcore animal activist too, but won't make their cats vegan for the very same reasons as yours.

[Soynut]

If its what he likes to eat, and he is healthy, then that is the best thing for him. He looks like he's definately got a mind of his own, judging by your latest avatar. :D :colors:

He sure does.:doggygrin: Thanks for the food/nutrition info, i'll definately look into it. I think my dog is healthy as vegan, but I just wanted him to eat a variation and not live on kibble. So that's why I started to add meat lately. I tried "Spot's Stew Chicken Recipe", which contains ingredients that I actually can see what they are (zucchini, squash, peas carrots and chicken!), and not just some brown greasy "mush". That's a BIG plus.:) I bought a whole can for $3.50, and now he won't eat the rest.... back to vegan kibble until mommy can come up with something more interesting.:D Kids:rolleyes:

[Soynut]

Cats can begin developing kidney failure after 2 days of not eating and cats will starve themselves if they don't like the food.

Maybe not so relevant to the topic, but I'd starve myself too if I was only served dead animals and "moo juice".:no:

[my3labs]

Menu Foods reportedly knew of this potentially deadly food as early as February 20, 2007. When reports surfaced that its dog and cat food might have caused severe illness in customers’ animal companions, the company quietly conducted lethal toxicity tests to confirm the contamination. Dogs and cats were forced to ingest toxic and lethal food in Menu’s laboratory before the company announced the recall of pet food from stores nationwide nearly one month after the initial illnesses were reported. During this critical time, countless animal companions may have been at risk of getting sick, and many may have died.

In addition to the appalling failure to disclose information about the contaminated food to its consumers, Menu Foods chose to test the food by forcing healthy dogs and cats to ingest it—instead of using one of the reliable, humane alternatives that are readily available, including chemical analyses of the food, necropsies and tissue analyses of the already deceased animal victims, and non-animal test methods, such as the functional gastro-intestinal dog model (FIDO) or TIM-1 and TIM-2 (small and large gastro-intestinal models).

No one knows how many animals are dying in homes or how many are dying in laboratories for pet-food profits. PETA is calling on Menu Foods to provide full disclosure regarding the location of its laboratories, for law enforcement agencies to investigate whether cruelty-to-animals charges should be filed against Menu Foods in the U.S. and Canada for alleged failure to warn consumers about the tainted food as soon as the company had the information, and for Iams to stop unnecessary suffering and death by immediately ending its laboratory tests on animals.


Full story here (http://peta.com/feat-iams_page2.asp).

[Soynut]

Thanks, my3labs. The only good that can come out of this tragedy is that people will hopefully be more aware of what they feed their pets. I saw on the news yesterday that an organic pet food store in New York is busier than ever these days due to the food recall.:) People are slowly waking up.

[Fauxmage]

Its only within the last 50 years that people have been buying manufactured "pet" food anyway. When my Mom was little, there was no such thing. People just fed their dogs and cats table scraps and other kinds of "people food". Then profit-hungry entrepreneurs came along and managed to convince the public that this is not a "balanced" diet. As if sawdust, road kill, tumors, and feathers, amongst other garbage found in most "pet" foods, is balanced. :rolleyes:

[my3labs]

I was at Fred Meyer (grocery store) yesterday and they were just pulling the food off the shelves. How long have we known about this, and they are just now pulling it?

I do hope that people will start to understand what they're giving their beloved dogs and cats and make the switch to a more natural diet.

I'm happy to read that some of you feed your animals raw food. It's been a constant source of conflict for me as I believe that it is the most natural thing for them but the activist in me has a hard time with it.

Does anyone have a good dog "biscuit" recipe that will last for more than a few days?

[dreamer]

My understanding is that PETA is going to have a news conference in a bit to say that dry foods should be recalled too--they apparently have some reports of pet deaths on dry food:( I actually use some Nutro products (though none recalled), so this has me seriously thinking about switching to other types of food.

FDA testing reveals chemical in pet food
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
21 minutes ago

Recalled pet foods contained a chemical used to make plastics, but government tests failed to confirm the presence of rat poison, federal officials said Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration said it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food, as well as in wheat gluten used as an ingredient. Cornell University scientists also have found the chemical, also used as a fertilizer, in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating the company's wet food.

Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of cat and dog food 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 new finding comes a week after scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory identified a rat poison and cancer drug called aminopterin as the likely culprit. The FDA said it could not confirm that finding.

New York officials have detected melamine as well, though it's not clear how that chemical would have poisoned pets. It's typically used to produce plastic kitchen wares, though it's apparently used as a fertilizer in Asia, said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.

The recall involved nearly 100 brands of "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food made by Menu Foods. The recall covered products carrying names of major brand-name and private-label products sold throughout North America.

The apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten also was shipped to an unnamed company that manufactures dry pet food. The FDA is attempting to determine if that product, imported from China, was used to make any pet food, Sundlof said.

Menu Foods used wheat gluten, a source of vegetable protein, to thicken the gravy of its pet foods, FDA officials have said.




Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Charmagne]

I am listening to the Menu Foods press conference now and they still say the dry foods are ok. When I read your post it scared me as I also use Nutro for mama Precious and the puppies. The veternarian recommended Science Diet, of course, because they carry it in the clinic but Fauxmage said that Nutro was probably better - so everyone seems to be doing good on the Nutro - I'm sure if anything was wrong with it the little four week old puppies would have already been affected. I would still like to feed them vegetarian food but it is ridiculous for me to even think that they might go to a vegan home. I'm still trying to build Precious up so I feed her rice and ground meat or rice and chicken:blecch: along with the Nutro for puppies. I talked to the vet yesterday and she said that nursing takes everything out of the mother so since she absolutely will not feed them anymore maybe she will start gaining a bit of weight. I hope so although she is very happy. She loves being outside although the doggie door is always available for her to come in. She will even sleep out there sometimes - go figure.

[dreamer]

Sorry, didn't mean to scare you...I'm afraid I scare myself when it comes to my furbabies sometimes. I haven't seen anything about it yet, but PETA is claiming that some dry foods are affected too, though most vets and the FDA say they doubt that's the case. I feel badly about feeding my animals other animals sometimes, but I won't make my dog or cat vegan. Especially not the cat, as she's already had bladder stones at least once:( I try to buy the foods that seem the "healthiest" I can find, but I still don't totally trust commercial pet food. I think generally Nutro is better than Science Diet, partly because of the ingredients.

[my3labs]

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- Recalled pet foods contained a chemical used to make plastics, but government tests failed to confirm the presence of rat poison, federal officials said Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration said it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food, as well as in wheat gluten used as an ingredient in the wet-style products.

The FDA was working to rule out the possibility that the contaminated wheat gluten could have made it into any human food, but was not aware of any risk to people.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the melamine was the culprit in the deaths of more than a dozen cats and dogs and the illnesses of hundreds more, said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. (Watch pet owner talk about her beloved dog's death Video)

In a news conference, FDA officials said that the apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten also was shipped to a company that manufactures dry pet food, but they would not name the company.

The FDA is attempting to determine if that company used any of the wheat gluten, imported from China, to make dry pet food, Sundlof 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.

Cornell University scientists also found melamine -- used to produce plastic kitchen wares and used in Asia as a fertilizer -- in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating the company's wet food.

Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of cat and dog food 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. (Menu Foods recall informationexternal link)

The new finding comes a week after scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory identified a rat poison and cancer drug called aminopterin as the likely culprit in the pet food. The FDA said it could not confirm that finding.

New York officials have detected melamine in the recalled food as well. Yet New York remained confident in its aminopterin finding, said Patrick Hooker, commissioner of the New York 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.

The recall involved nearly 100 brands of "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food made by Menu Foods. The recall covered products carrying names of major brand-name and private-label products sold throughout North America.

Menu Foods used wheat gluten to thicken the gravy of its pet foods, FDA officials have said.

Menu Foods spokesman Sam Bornstein did not know whether company testing had found melamine in its products. The company planned a press conference later Friday.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review first reported the melamine finding in Friday's editions.

Meanwhile, animal rights advocates called on federal food safety regulators and pet food companies to expand a nationwide recall of dog and cat food to include dry varieties, claiming they make pets sick.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plans to make the appeal Friday in Washington after it said it received complaints from pet owners who claim their animals suffered kidney failure after eating dry pet food.

Norfolk, Virginia-based PETA wants the FDA and the companies to extend the recall to foods that have received complaints, chemically test it and perform necropsies on the animals involved. It also wants companies prosecuted if the FDA's probe turns up wrongdoing.

[Charmagne]

Maybe not so fast Dreamer - I just heard on CNN where Hill's is pulling some of their dry cat food because they used the same supplier of wheat gluten as Menu Foods. Good grief - I hope the dry Nutro is safe - or I'll have a bunch of very sick babies.

[my3labs]

There was a story on the local news today about the recall and they interviewed a few people that fed their pets a raw diet. I was talking to my neighbor about it and she was so sure that her dogs and cats were ok because she feeds them "Beneful". I get so tired of people's stupidity. I know that "Beneful" is not on the list but get a clue. This is one of my closest friends, she just does NOT listen to me.
I think I'm in one of my "I hate people" moods.

[Gliondrach]

If people can afford it, perhaps they should feed human food to cats and dogs. There are some cheap tinned/canned things. Or even cheaper fresh things.

[thevegantwins]

Dear Waggin Tails Customers



We wanted to provide you with additional and very important information on the recent Menu Foods Recall. Over the last several days, we contacted each Manufacturer by phone, speaking to either owners or their nutritionists to find out specifically if any of their products are made by Menu Foods.


There is still no conclusive information that explains the cause of this recall, how it happened, what the toxins are, and what is being done about it. The original reports suggested rat poison, however there have been other reports that suggest the toxin is from another source. Again, nothing conclusive yet. At this point, all we know for sure is that Menu Foods of Canada, produced product that was lethal to dogs and cats. The product so far, seems to be exclusive to "Meat and Gravy" style canned food for both Dogs and Cats.


In our research we did identify 3 brands of food that we carry at Waggin Tails that fits this category of "Meat and Gravy" style canned food and are made by Menu Foods. These foods are NOT on the recall list, however we have since suspended sales of these three lines:

Wysong Chicken or Beef Stew in Gray Dog and Cat Food

Triumph Gourmet Cuts Cat Food

Avo Select Cuts and Gravy Cat Food


We have also identified several brands of food that are produced by Menu Foods that are NOT "Meat and Gravy" style, but are traditional canned food. Again, these are NOT on the recall list, but we feel that it is critical that you are aware of what brands are made by Menu Foods so that you can make informed decisions around your pet's safety. We have also suspended sales of these foods:

Pinnacle Dog and Cat canned food

Hi Tor Dog and Cat canned food

Evolve Dog and Cat canned food, with the exception of their exotic meats dog line

Eagle Dog and Cat canned food

Wellness Dog and Cat canned food


For over 12 years, we have devoted ourselves to the health and well-being of your pets. Our philosophy is quite simple here. Menu Foods produced toxic food. Without specific information that clearly identifies the problem and assures us that the problem is isolated to just the foods on the recall list, we do not feel safe offering anything produced in their facilities. We will continue to update you as new information is available. Again, we extend our deepest sympathy for anyone with a dog or cat affected by this event.


We invite any questions to us at info@waggintails.com

[my3labs]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The recall of contaminated pet foods expanded Saturday to include a new brand, even as investigators puzzled over how a chemical called melamine would kill dogs and cats.

Nestlé 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. (Read details of Purina recallexternal link)

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. (Watch FDA official tell why pet food situation is so confusing Video)

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., is so far the only company to recall any dry pet food. (Hill's recall informationexternal link)

Federal testing of some recalled pet foods and the wheat gluten used in their production turned up the chemical melamine. Melamine is used to make kitchenware and other plastics. It is both a contaminant and byproduct of several pesticides, including cyromazine, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Melamine is toxic only in very high doses and has been shown in rats to produce bladder tumors, according to the EPA.

The federal pet food testing failed to confirm the presence of aminopterin, a cancer drug also used as rat poison, the FDA said. 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.

Earlier, the New York State Food Laboratory identified 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.

Experts at the University of Guelph in Canada detected aminopterin in some samples of the recalled pet food, but only in very small percentages.

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

The FDA was working to rule out the possibility that the contaminated wheat gluten could have made it into any human food.

Menu Foods announced the recall this month after animals died of kidney failure after eating the company's products. (Menu Foods recall informationexternal link)

An FDA official allowed that it was not 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.

Menu Foods said the only certainty was that imported wheat gluten 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. (Watch the Menu Foods CEO discuss the case) Video)

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.

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. (Watch pet owner talk about her beloved dog's death Video)

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.

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 has received more than 8,000 complaints; the company, more than 300,000.

[thevegantwins]

:( This is so damn scary. Every day, there is more bad news. Doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

[dreamer]

Wellness Dog and Cat canned food

Crap! I just bought some of this stuff at an organic store! I'm going to email Wellness and ask what's going on...

[dreamer]

Here's what I found on the Wellness site:
To Our Pet Parents, Retailers and Partners,


As you may already know, Wellness brand pet food is NOT involved in the industry product recall involving wheat gluten.

Consistent with our mission of providing uncompromising nutrition for dogs and cats, Wellness is committed to healthy, high-quality and natural pet food ingredients and recipes. Our products, for example, do not contain wheat, corn or soy or any artificial preservatives, flavors or colors.

Our pets are part of our families. While Wellness brand pet food was not affected, we express our sympathies to the animals, and their pet parents, who have suffered as a result of this unfortunate event.


As always, if you have any questions, we are happy to help and would love to hear from you. You can reach us at 1-800-225-0904.



Jim Scott

CEO, Wellness

[thevegantwins]

I like how Wellness refers to pet parents. Felíne eats about 2 tablespoons a day of Wellness dry to encourage her to eat her Wysong Au Jus canned. She's so picky.

[dreamer]

From the AVMA:

Breaking news
April 2, 2007
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.

For details, please see the Del Monte press release at http://www.delmonte.com/petfoodrecall.html.

Breaking news
March 31, 2007
Nestle Purina PetCare Company has announced that it is voluntarily recalling all sizes and varieties of its ALPO® Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food.

The recalled 13.2-ounce and 22-ounce ALPO Prime Cuts cans, and 6-,8-,12- and 24-can ALPO Prime Cuts Variety Packs have four-digit code dates of 7037 through 7053, followed by the plant code 1159. Those codes follow a "Best Before Feb. 2009" date. Look for this information on the bottom of individual cans, or the top or side of the multi-pack cartons.

Purina's 5.3 ounce Mighty Dog® pouch products, manufactured by Menu Foods, were previously withdrawn from the market as a precaution on March 16th.

No Purina brand dry pet foods are affected by the recall, including ALPO Prime Cuts dry.

For details, please see the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) press release at http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/purina203_07.html.

Breaking news
Updated March 31, 2007
Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc. announced today that it is recalling Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry food from the market.

According to Hill's, during a two-month period in early 2007, wheat gluten for that product was provided by a company that also supplied wheat gluten to Menu Foods. U.S. Food and Drug Administration tests of wheat gluten samples from this period show the presence of a small amount of melamine.

For details, please see the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) press release at http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/hills303_07.html.

[Charmagne]

It says Del Monte is doing it as a precautionary move - they evidently have reason to suspect that their products might be tainted.:rolleyes: They don't want the lawsuits that Menu Foods will have and rightfully so - though it doesn't bring the companion back that died of kidney failure but they should still be made to pay.

I hope that Iams suffers irreparable damage due to the unnecessary and cruel tests they have insisted on doing on these poor dogs and cats.:(

[Soynut]

The food recall scare got me thinking: for the last week I've been trying to feed my dog "people food" and it has been pretty interesting I must say. His still picky, but I realized it's because his missing the right sauce - the food is too dry and tasteless because I always omit garlic and onion when feeding him (it's not good for dogs). But he LOVES vegan Thousand Island dressing from "Follow Your Heart", which I put on his food each time. Today, I made a big batch of brown rice, peas, carrots, blueberries, and a mashed high protein mushroom burger. He loved it and couldn't finish soon enough!:blinkwave: I even think I got a "thank you kiss" afterwards.:smallheart: I will always provide him with kibble to ensure he gets all the nutrients he needs, but I think home cooking provides extra health benefits, not to mention variety.

This doesn't seem to upset his stomach, his bowel movements are completely normal.

[Fauxmage]

But he LOVES vegan Thousand Island dressing from "Follow Your Heart", which I put on his food each time. Today, I made a big batch of brown rice, peas, carrots, blueberries, and a mashed high protein mushroom burger. He loved it and couldn't finish soon enough!:blinkwave: I even think I got a "thank you kiss" afterwards.:smallheart:
:D
I remember a long-ago customer of mine with a finicky dog, complaining about his lack of appetite. I made several suggestions of tasty things to add to his kibble, and she said "But that's just the dog trying to train the owner!" I said "How would you like to eat two bowls of nothing but dry Grapenuts every day for the rest of your life?" She admitted that I had a point! :rolleyes:

[Soynut]

Well, said, Fauxmage.:agree: We sometimes forget that animals also have taste buds and will go for taste just like us. How else can I explain that my dog loves Tofurky as much as real turkey slices.:doggygrin:

[my3labs]

My dogs love Tofurky as well. We've started cooking for them since this scare was brought to light. We're still feeding them the dry kibble but I've been adding raw veggies and whatever leftovers we might have.

There really doesn't seem to be an end in sight with this thing and I hope that Menu Foods goes bankrupt and that people are enlightened as to what they are feeding their pets.

[dreamer]

Pet Treats With Salmonella Recalled
Company Recalls Dingo Treats

POSTED: 9:45 pm EDT April 2, 2007

E-mail this story | Print this story

WASHINGTON -- There is yet another pet food recall.

Eight in One is recalling packages of its Dingo brand dog, cat and ferret treats because of concerns over salmonella. The company said the bacteria could infect both animals and people handling the food.

Monday's announcement is not related to the recalls of tainted food that has led to kidney failure in pets around the country.

[dreamer]

Dog treat distributor issues recall

March 26, 2007

NORTH BERGEN, N.J. (WATE/AP) -- A New Jersey company that produces pig ear dog treats is the latest to annouce a product recall because of contamination.

Petrapport Inc. of North Bergen, N.J., says the dog treats may be contaminated with salmonella, an organism that can cause serious infections in dogs. If there is cross-contamination, in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems could be affected.

Petrapport says it imported the treats from a Chilean company August-December 2006. Testing showed salmonella contamination in samples, and the company said it decided to voluntarily recall the treats.

The treats were sold by BJ's Wholesale Club in its 25-count packages of Berkley & Jensen Full-Cut Pig Ears dog treats with no lot number and only the expiration advisories "BEST IF USED BY 2009" (without referencing a specific month) as well as "BEST IF USED BY SEPTEMBER 2009," "BEST IF USED BY OCTOBER 2009," "BEST IF USED BY NOVEMBER 2009," and "BEST IF USED BY DECEMBER 2009."

Included within the voluntary recall were the following pig ear dog treats, with item numbers and lot numbers, sold in bulk by other retailers under the Petrapport brand: 8915 Bulk Low Fat Pig Ears, Lots 101808 & 102108; 8772P Two-Pack Bulk Pig Ears, Lot 101707; 8770P 12-Pack Bulk Pig Ears, Lot 101707; 8774P 24-Pack Bulk Pig Ears, Lot 101907; 7416 1-lb. Bulk Pig Ear Strips, Lot 101907; and 7425 24-oz. Bulk Pig Ear Strips, Lot 5039.

No confirmed illnesses were reported. Consumers should immediately stop feeding these treats to their dogs. Consumers should discontinue use of the products and may return the unused portion to the place of purchase for a full refund. For information, contact Petrapport at 800-447-3872, ext. 110.

Portions of this report copyright 2007, The Associated Press. All rights reserved

[dreamer]

I don't know if any of you have read it and I'm not sure what to make of it, but PETA is suspicious that it might actually be an overabundance of D3 in foods as opposed to wheat gluten. That's why they suspect that dry food might be involved and claim to have some pets who've died while only eating dry food:( I hope they're wrong or at least that my pet food isn't affected!

[Charmagne]

This is really frightening! Not much commercial food left that's safe - guess I've been lucky:crossfingers: in that the puppies and Precious are doing well. D3 is a vitamin? What does it do and is it necessary - where else can our companions get it?

[Fauxmage]

Here is a message from a member of my pet food co-op.

I think some of you know I'm a contributing editor for Universal Press Syndicate's Pet Connection, which has been covering the pet food recall on our blog and in our nationally syndicated pet column, since the night the story broke.

I just wrote a piece for the San Francisco Chronicle website about the pet food recall and its implications:

"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."

The article is here:

Bigger than you think: The story behind the pet food recall
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/04/03/petscol.DTL

[Fauxmage]

Pet food scare has doting owners making doggie food from scratch

By DORIE TURNER (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
April 03, 2007 5:28 PM EDT
ATLANTA - Some pet owners have turned to their own kitchens to make pet food from scratch after a contaminant in some commercial brands was blamed in a number of animal deaths.
Sales of pet food recipe books have also shot up since a nationwide pet-food recall began two weeks ago.
Amy Parish, 40, stopped giving her two aging chow chows canned food. Instead, Parish mixes dry food with a mash of chicken, rice, oatmeal and cottage cheese that she prepares twice a week.
"I'm very suspicious of any large-brand manufactured dog food," said Parish, who lives in the Atlanta suburb of Tucker.
But veterinarians warn that making balanced meals for pets can be complicated and should only be a temporary remedy.
Nearly 100 store and major-brand pet foods were recalled by manufacturer Menu Foods Inc. on March 16. Three other companies have had recalls since then.
The Food and Drug Administration found that wheat gluten imported from China was contaminated with a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics. The FDA has confirmed 15 pet deaths but anecdotal reports suggest hundreds of cats and dogs may have died.
After Hills Pet Nutrition Inc. instituted a recall, John Slavens, 41, of San Diego, started making food for his two border collies.
He spent five hours in the kitchen Sunday, grinding beef and boiling potatoes and pasta for a week's worth of stew, supplemented with an all-in-one vitamin-mineral powder.
"These dogs are my family," Slavens said.
The FDA and the American Veterinary Medical Association are urging pet owners to switch brands instead if they are worried. The veterinarian group also warned that many common foods are not safe for pets, including salt, garlic, onions, grapes and chocolate.
Making pet food at home is "kind of like canning: You have to think about bacterial contamination. And how do you make sure it's nutritionally appropriate?" asked FDA spokeswoman Julie Zawisza.
On Amazon.com, the cookbook "Real Food for Dogs" moved into the list of top 200 best-sellers this week.
Robert Van Sickle, co-owner of the Polka Dog Bakery in Boston, said he has received many inquiries from customers about making their own dog food. For his German short-haired pointer, Van Sickle blends carrots, spinach, salmon oil, apple cider vinegar and whatever meat is in his freezer.
"What this scare has shown me is that it's amazing how many people don't know what they are feeding their dogs," he said.

"But veterinarians warn that making balanced meals for pets can be complicated and should only be a temporary remedy."

This is nonsense. Wild animals eat what they find while roaming a large territory. The notion of a "balanced" diet is a modern construct designed to keep people reliant on vets and pet food manufacturers. There are plenty of books on the subject, and as long as you give your dog a variety, like you give yourself a variety, there is nothing to worry about. I've been doing it for seven years, with no problems.

And vets know nothing about a proper diet for an animal. I've had plenty of experience with vets and customers, and I've seen dogs with gastrointestinal problems get a very expensive "prescription" food, by Hills Science Diet, of course, whose main ingredient was corn, on the advice of their vets. Corn is the LAST thing a dog with digestive problems should be eating. Its a major, if not the leading, dietary allergen for dogs and cats.

People need to stop letting others do their thinking for them, in many arenas, not just what to feed animals. That, to me, is the biggest hurdle we face today, the fact that people do not critically examine everything that is simply taken for granted, because its what is accepted by society.

[Fauxmage]

From my pet food co-op again.
I'm going to be on Anderson Cooper's show on CNN tonight at 10:20 PM Eastern
Time/7:20 PM Pacific Time, to discuss the pet food recall story.

Christie Keith
Caber Feidh Scottish Deerhounds
Raising Our Dogs Holistically Since 1986
http://www.caberfeidh.com/
Sorry about the fact that she's a breeder. :o She seems more responsible than your average puppy mill monster, though.

[Charmagne]

Oh my God - thousands have died! I'll be listening for Anderson Cooper tonight and as far as Rosie O'Donnell - I don't care if it is one dog or cat or four thousand - you can't compare men and women going to war knowing there is a possibility of injury or even death with innocent animals and owners who trust the pet food industry (or used to trust them) to provide safe food for their animal companions. The death of our military personnel is definately a tragedy and everyone except Bush is trying to get out of this war that they have to know by now is unwinable. She evidently is everything Donald Trump said and more!:( As a matter of fact now I have to e-mail The View myself - if anything will bring down their ratings - the dismissal of dogs and cats dying will or at least should do it.

[Fauxmage]

I have no respect for anyone who thinks that grieving over the deaths of animals somehow devalues human deaths. There should be room enough in everyone's hearts to want to stop all needless death and suffering, no matter who is suffering and dying, and if there isn't, then there's something wrong with the people who only value human life, not the other way around. :mad:

Rosie O'Donnell IS a big, fat loser, after all, and I hope someone DOES steal her girlfriend. :devil4:

[Soynut]

:agree: That woman is so obnoxious and is not not making any sense half of the time she opens her mouth. Gay, war, and other human issues are very important, but so are animals, they have NO voice. Ridicule animals is scumbag ignorant behavior.:devil4:

It's interesting how she's making fun of other people's race and looks (remember when she did that insulting "china man impression" of hers), but if it's done to her she get outraged and is fast to accuse people of being gay fobics. Well, sorry to brake it to you, Rosie, but it's YOU and being gay has nothing to do with it!

[Soynut]

This is nonsense. Wild animals eat what they find while roaming a large territory. The notion of a "balanced" diet is a modern construct designed to keep people reliant on vets and pet food manufacturers.

Agree. The woman in the article you provided made her dogs a mix of fresh chicken, rice, oatmeal and cottage cheese.:) Well, that sounds a lot better than anything Purina and IAMS will ever serve. I hope she and other concerned pet owners will continue with the delicious and wholesome home cooking they're doing right now.:thumbsup:

[Fauxmage]

:D Maybe we should start a Rosie O'Donnell "roast". :boil:

I hope people will see how much better their dogs and cats do without manufactured pet foods, and don't go back. I know its more trouble, but in a few weeks it becomes second nature, and you don't think about it as extra effort anymore.

Everybody pays the price for convenience food, with their health, whether its people or animals. :(

[Gliondrach]

This is really frightening! Not much commercial food left that's safe - guess I've been lucky:crossfingers: in that the puppies and Precious are doing well. D3 is a vitamin? What does it do and is it necessary - where else can our companions get it?


The two main forms of vitamin D are D2 and D3. D2 comes from plant sources and d3 is comes from animal sources, and we make our own D3 from sunlight on the skin. Years ago people in rich countries suffered from rickets if they were deprived of vitamin D. It probably still happens in poor countries, especially if there's not much sunshine. The vitamin is important in maintaining the balance and use of calcium and phosporus. It also performs many othe functions.

I remember Indian immigrants here being advised to take supplements because the combination of our weak sunlight and their dark skins meant they couldn't easily make enough for their needs.

Vitamin D3 is supposed to be the best or most easily used form for us. We can get enough from sunlight if we spend enough time outside each day. And, to make sure, we can eat fortified foods or take it in a multi-vit pill. As for non-humans, I'm not too sure if they should be given supplements of vitamin D. Too much is toxic. But that goes for everything.

http://www.vin.com/vin_ce/abvp/html/vitamin_deficiencies.html

http://www.2ndchance.info/birdsvitd.htm

http://www.infovets.com/healthycatsinfo/E835.htm

[thevegantwins]

Quick not to the above. If you find D3 as an added ingredient in products, it is animal-derived. D2 is synethic and vegan. D3 turns up in items from vitamins to calcium-fortified orange juice.

[Fauxmage]

David Goldstein, who has done some great coverage on the larger implications of the pet food recall over at the Huffington Post, hosts a radio show on KIRO710 out of Seattle. I'll be on the show, along with Ben from itchmo (www.itchmo.com), another blog doing excellent coverage of the recall story, between 9-10 PM PACIFIC TIME. You can listen in online on their website. And call in, too!

Website:
http://www.kiro710.com (http://www.kiro710.com/)

Log in info:
http://www.itchmo.com/read/itchmo-on-the-air-tonight-44-at-9pm-pacific_20070404

David's latest article on the recall:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-goldstein/does-fda-spell-fema_b_44935.html

Hope some of you can call in!

Christie Keith

[my3labs]

Dog biscuits added to recall list
POSTED: 2:52 p.m. EDT, April 5, 2007
Story Highlights• NEW: Recall expands to include dog biscuits, more Menu Foods products
• Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans of wet pet food March 16
• 200 plaintiffs added fraud to class-action lawsuit against company
• Toxic chemical traced to a Chinese company; company denies link
More on CNN TV: Hear why to many courts your pet is no more valuable than a piece of furniture. Paula Zahn brings the issue "Out in the Open," tonight 8 p.m. ET.
From Katy Byron
CNN
Adjust font size:
(CNN) -- The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday it has identified additional contaminated pet food products -- dog biscuits made by Sunshine Mills of Red Bay, Alabama.

The dog biscuits are contaminated with potentially toxic wheat gluten, said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. He said more details on which products are affected would be available later Thursday.

Sunshine Mills did not immediately return calls from CNN seeking comment.

The FDA also said Menu Foods is expanding its recall of a wide variety of products by widening the range of manufacturing dates in the recall. The company said it will announce the new recall dates later Thursday.

Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans of wet pet food on March 16 after the chemical melamine, which can be toxic in high doses, showed up in federal testing of some of its cat and dog food varieties. (Details on recall)

Since then, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, Del Monte Pet Products and Hill's Pet Nutrition have also recalled some products.

The FDA said it has no evidence that wheat gluten contaminated with melamine has entered the human food supply. Melamine is a toxic agent used to make fertilizers and plastic utensils.

Sundlof said the number of pet deaths confirmed as being related to the recall remains at 16 despite reports in the thousands from veterinarians across the country. Menu Foods spokeswoman Sarah Tuite told CNN that one dog and 15 cats have died.

The pet owner community Web site www.petconnection.com said it has received reports of 3,240 pet deaths related to the recall. The causes of those deaths have not been confirmed by government officials.

The Michigan Veterinary Medical Association said it suspects 46 animals -- 33 cats and 13 dogs -- in Michigan have died due to ingestion of the contaminated food, and Oregon's public health veterinarian, Dr. Emilio DeBess, said he suspects 38 pet deaths reported in that state are linked to the allegedly toxic food.

Both emphasized that the link between pet deaths in their states and the recalled food has not yet been confirmed.

Pets who have consumed products recalled by Menu Foods Inc. and who have experienced various stages of kidney dysfunction qualify as suspected cases, the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association said.

Glenn Kolb, executive director of the association, told CNN Thursday he thinks the number of new cases is dropping, but the numbers may still rise.

"What we're starting to find is that veterinarians are going into some of the back records where they had cases that were maybe puzzling to them. Now with the pet food recall information coming out, they're starting to look at those cases again," he said.

Wednesday, plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Menu Foods related to the recall added fraud to the charges, their attorneys said. They are alleging the company may have known as early as December that there were problems with its product.

Menu Foods had no comment on the lawsuit.

The class action suit was filed March 20 in the Northern District of Illinois.

After the Food and Drug Administration and Menu Foods announced last week that melamine was found in the pet foods, the melamine was traced to wheat gluten imported from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company Ltd., a company based in China's Jiangshu province. (Watch how the toxic food was traced to China )

The Chinese company distributed the wheat gluten with the help of U.S. nutritional and pharmaceutical chemical importer ChemNutra Inc., a Las Vegas-based company.

The company has said the claims of harmful substances in its product were "rumors." However, it added that it had sent samples of the substance to labs for testing.

The Food and Drug Administration has directed inspectors to halt all wheat gluten imports from the company.

The FDA said it has received more than 10,000 consumer complaints.

A list of the cat food and dog food products involved in the recall is online at www.menufoods.com/recall.

CNN's Miriam Falco contributed to this report.

[Gliondrach]

I saw an advertisement for a book that, amongst other things, has recipes for home made dog biscuits.

[my3labs]

What did I miss about Rosie?

[my3labs]

I saw an advertisement for a book that, amongst other things, has recipes for home made dog biscuits.
Thanks Martin.

[my3labs]

Dear Tami,

Alarmingly, it appears that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may not have discovered the real source of contamination in the recalled Menu Foods items that have caused illnesses and deaths in countless cats and dogs.

A mounting number of complaints about sick and dying animals who ate only dry food that did not contain wheat gluten strongly suggest that another ingredient is causing this crisis. Evidence from reputable laboratories indicates that an excessive amount of vitamin D in pet food—among other possibilities—may be to blame. Vitamin D overdoses produce symptoms similar to those seen in animals who recently have become sick or died after consuming only dry foods.

This week we have asked the FDA to refocus its investigations beyond wheat gluten and consider other possible contaminants. For the safety of all our beloved companion animals, we must not let the FDA sweep this issue under the rug—as the agency has done so often before with animal and human health issues. We need to ensure that all available pet food is 100 percent safe for dogs and cats.

PETA has also called on FDA commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to resign over the agency's mishandling of the pet food crisis. It is infuriating—and so very sad—that cherished animals are dying horrible deaths because of a callous and essentially unregulated pet food industry. By not exercising its mandate and siding with Menu Foods and companies like Iams, the FDA has forfeited the public trust—to the detriment of companion animals.

We will continue to pressure corporate and government officials to get to the real source of what is making animals sick and to ensure that all available pet foods are safe. I will update you as this situation evolves. Please also visit PETA.org, which is regularly updated with late-breaking and helpful information about this and other issues.

Thank you for your attention and your help.

Kind regards,
Ingrid Newkirk
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

[dreamer]

What did I miss about Rosie?
This is from message 59 on this thread (the linked to story)--part of the story mentioned what Rosie said on the View:
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.

[thevegantwins]

"Pet food insider sold shares before recall"

The chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund says it's a ''horrible coincidence'' that he sold nearly half his units in the troubled pet food maker less than three weeks before a massive recall of tainted pet food.



http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070410.RMENU10/EmailTPStory/Business



INVESTING



Pet food insider sold shares before recall



CFO calls sale a 'coincidence'

KEITH MCARTHUR



The chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund says it's a "horrible coincidence" that he sold nearly half his units in the troubled pet food maker less than three weeks before a massive recall of tainted pet food.



Insider trading reports show that Mark Wiens sold 14,000 units for $102,900 on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Those shares would be worth $62,440 today, based on yesterday's close of $4.46 a unit.



That represented 45 per cent of Mr. Wiens's units. After the sale, he still owned 17,193 units and options to purchase 101,812 units, according to insider trading reports.



"It's a horrible coincidence, yes . . ." Mr. Wiens said yesterday.



"I hold myself to the highest ethical and moral standards possible. I wouldn't do anything to imperil the high governance standards that I demand of myself or anybody in the company."



Mr. Wiens said the first reports of illnesses and deaths related to Menu Foods products came in to the company's toll-free customer relations line in late February.



But he said he did not hear of any possible problem with the company's products until early March.



On March 16, the Streetsville, Ont., pet food maker recalled 60 million containers of cat and dog food.



"In terms of process, during any given year, we get consumer complaints all the time and it becomes matter of course for our technical people, so it's not something that necessarily gets flagged right to the top on an ongoing basis," Mr. Wiens said.



Menu Foods president and chief executive Paul Henderson has previously said Menu Foods ended its relationship with its Chinese supplier of wheat gluten on March 6.



By that date, it was clear "something was wrong" with some of the company's products, Mr. Henderson said at a press conference on March 30. In the first week in March, animals in routine taste tests of the company's "cuts and gravy" products began showing symptoms of kidney failure.



Mr. Wiens said he has not been approached by the Ontario Securities Commission or any other regulators about the timing of his unit sales. OSC spokeswoman Wendy Dey said the company routinely reviews insider trading reports, but does not comment on individual cases.



Jay Strosberg, a Windsor, Ont., lawyer who has filed a lawsuit against Menu Foods on behalf of a woman whose six-year-old cat died of kidney failure on Feb. 22, said regulators should look into Mr. Wiens's trades to see whether the buyers bought at inflated prices.



"At this point in time, we have absolutely no information about what the company knew or when they knew it," Mr. Strosberg said. "That information would not be disclosed to us until we're further along in the class action."



Mr. Wiens said he sold his shares in late February for financial planning purposes. He was prohibited from trading until Feb. 16 because of a blackout period related to the company's fourth-quarter results, he said.



But when he learned about the trouble with the company's products, he knew his trades would raise some questions, Mr. Wiens said.



"Certainly there would be questions when you piece all the timing together. I understand that," Mr. Wiens said.



The recall affected various customers including Procter & Gamble Co., Nestlé SA and Loblaw Cos. Ltd.



After the contaminant was identified as melamine found in wheat gluten obtained from a Chinese supplier, other manufactures also recalled their pet foods.

:boil: :tantrum: :hbang: :devil4:

[Fauxmage]

Hmm. And if you believe that, I know where there's a bridge for sale. Cheap. :rolleyes:

[dreamer]

Menu foods have recalled more canned cat food, as apparently it wasn't just the US plant as they claimed:
April 10, 2007



Menu Foods Voluntarily Recalls Additional Pet Food Made With ChemNutra Wheat Gluten





TORONTO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - April 10, 2007) - Menu Food Income Fund (TSX:MEW.UN) -

NOT FOR RELEASE OVER US NEWSWIRE SERVICES

Attention Business/Financial Editors

Prompted by reports from the US Food and Drug Administration as to the presence of melamine in cans of cuts and gravy pet food produced in Menu Foods' Canadian production facility, Menu Foods undertook an accounting of all recalled wheat gluten supplied by ChemNutra Inc. to Menu Foods in the United States.

As the result of that review, Menu Foods has identified a single interplant transfer of the ChemNutra supplied wheat gluten, shipped from Menu Foods' plant in Emporia, Kansas, to its plant in Streetsville, Ontario. This wheat gluten was subsequently used in the production of pet food in December, 2006 and January, 2007, which is being recalled by Menu Foods.

The new varieties in the United States and Canada have been added to the recall list. The latest recall group is listed below, and a complete list of recalled products, including the new items can be reviewed at www.menufoods.com.



---------------------------
Cat Food

Brand Look For This Date On The Bottom of Can or Back of Pouch Variety Description Can / Pouch Size UPC

Americas Choice, Preferred Pet
Jan/2/10 Flaked Tuna 3oz Can 3oz 54807-59114

Your Pet
Dec/19/09 Sliced Beef/Gravy 3oz Can 3oz 72036-29026
Jan/24/10
Nov 06 09 Sliced Variety Pack 3oz Can 3oz 72036-40013

Pet Pride
Dec/19/09 Sliced Beef/Gravy 3oz Can 3oz 11110-86264
Jan/24/10
Nov 06 09 Sliced Variety Pack 3oz Can 3oz 11110-86003
Dec 05 09
Dec 06 09
Jan 23 10
Jan 24 10

Laura Lynn
Jan/2/10 Flaked Tuna 3oz Can 3oz 86854-02407
Dec/19/09 Sliced Beef/Gravy 3oz Can 3oz 86854-02406

Nutriplan
Dec/19/09 Sliced Beef/Gravy 3oz Can 3oz 41130-06755

Price Chopper
Dec/19/09 Sliced Beef/Gravy 3oz Can 3oz 41735-12828

Publix
Jan/2/10 Flaked Tuna 3oz Can 3oz 41415-08327
Dec/19/09 Sliced Beef/Gravy 3oz Can 3oz 41415-08827
Jan/2/10
Jan/24/10

Stop & Shop Companion
Jan/2/10 Flaked Tuna 3oz Can 3oz 88267-00286

Winn Dixie
Dec/19/09 Sliced Beef/Gravy 3oz Can 3oz 21140-19419

J.E. Mondou
Jan/2/10 Flaked Tuna 85g Can 85g 71127-54202

Medi-Cal
Jan/8/09 Dissolution Formula 170g Can 170g 70705-21280

Nutro Products
All Dates Chicken Cacciatore 3oz Can 3oz 79105-35205
All Dates Orleans Seafood Jambalaya 3oz Can 3oz 79105-35206
All Dates Beef Ragout 3oz Can 3oz 79105-35207
All Dates Alaskan Halibut/Rice 3oz Can 3oz 79105-35221
All Dates Kitten Chicken/Lamb 3oz Can 3oz 79105-35202
All Dates California Chicken 3oz Can 3oz 79105-30011
All Dates Lamb/Turkey Cutlets 3oz Can 3oz 79105-30014
All Dates Salmon/Whitefish 3oz Can 3oz 79105-30013
All Dates Beef/Egg 3oz Can 3oz 79105-30015
All Dates Turkey/Chicken Liver 3oz Can 3oz 79105-30016
All Dates Seafood/Tomato/Bisque 3oz Can 3oz 79105-30017
All Dates Hunters Stew with Duck 3oz Can 3oz 79105-30018
All Dates Hunters Stew with Venison 3oz Can 3oz 79105-30019

[Fauxmage]

There's no end in sight.

I wonder about all the animals in shelters who are eating this stuff too. No one hears about them. :(

[Charmagne]

I was thinking about them too - most of them at least around here feed dry food so hopefully they will be ok.:( :crossfingers:

[Soynut]

I wonder about all the animals in shelters who are eating this stuff too. No one hears about them. :(
:(

[Bowwowmeow]

What's your new avatar of, Soynut? Is your whippie a "coverdog" now? :psing:

[Soynut]

What's your new avatar of, Soynut? Is your whippie a "coverdog" now? :psing:
:D He's a star, what more can I say.... Your pooches can be too, check this link out www.peta.org/feat/yearofthedog/ecard.asp You can make your own cover page. It's so cool!;)

[Bowwowmeow]

Hehe! That's cute! Yours looks so professional though. :agree:

[Soynut]

Thank you.:)

[my3labs]

Soynut always has the best pics of her pooch. :agree:

[thevegantwins]

April 19, 2007
Pet Food Recall Expanded
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:45 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An industrial chemical that led to the nationwide recall of more than 100 brands of cat and dog food has turned up in a second pet food ingredient imported from China.

The discovery expands the monthlong cascade of recalls to include more brands and varieties of pet foods and treats tainted by the chemical.

''This has exposed that the safety standards for pet foods are not in place in any significant way and the kind of drumbeat, day after day, of recalls has shaken consumers' confidence in the pet food industry's adherence to food safety standards,'' said Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States.

The chemical, melamine, is believed to have contaminated rice protein concentrate used to make a variety of Natural Balance Pet Foods products for both dogs and cats, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.

The FDA has there is no evidence so far to suggest any of the rice protein went to companies that make human food, said Michael Rogers, director of the agency's division of field investigations. But the FDA has not accounted for all the imported ingredient.

Previously, the chemical was found to contaminate wheat gluten used by at least six other pet food and treat manufacturers.

Both ingredients were imported from China, though by different companies and from different manufacturers.

The FDA on Wednesday began reviewing and sampling all rice protein concentrate imported from China, much as the agency has been doing for wheat gluten, Rogers said.

A lawmaker said Wednesday the Chinese have refused to grant visas to FDA inspectors seeking to visit the plants where the ingredients were made. An FDA spokesman later said the visas were not refused but that the agency had not received the necessary invitation letter to get visas.

''It troubles me greatly the Chinese are making it more difficult to understand what led to this pet food crisis,'' Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told The Associated Press after meeting with the FDA commissioner, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach.

A message left Wednesday with the Chinese Embassy in Washington was not immediately returned.

Natural Balance said it was recalling all its Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, its Venison and Brown Rice dog treats and its Venison and Green Pea dry cat food. The supplier of the tainted rice protein said early Thursday it was recalling all the ingredient it had distributed to U.S. manufacturers and in turn urged them to recall any products that may be on store shelves.

The recalls now include products made by at least seven companies and sold under more than 100 brands.

The Pacoima, Calif., company said recent laboratory tests showed its recalled products contain melamine. Natural Balance believes the source of the contaminant was rice protein concentrate, which the company recently added to the dry venison formulas.

A San Francisco company, Wilbur-Ellis Co., began importing the ingredient in July from a Chinese company, Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd., according to Wilbur-Ellis president and chief executive John Thacher.

It resold the ingredient to five pet food manufacturers, including Diamond Pet Foods Inc. of Meta, Mo. Diamond manufactured the dry dog and cat foods recalled by Natural Balance, Diamond Pet Foods spokesman Jim Fallon said.

Thacher declined to identify his company's other four customers, except to say two tested the ingredient and found no melamine. Wilbur-Ellis has not heard from the other two, both of whom received limited amounts of the ingredient, Thacher said.

The FDA's tests detected melamine in a rice protein sample; the agency would not disclose the sample's origin.

The source of the melamine remains unclear. It may have contaminated the rice protein through the reuse of dirty bags used to ship the products.

Thacher said an April 4 delivery from Futian Biology included 146 1-ton bags of rice protein concentrate. All were white except for a single pink bag, which was stenciled ''melamine.''

Wilbur-Ellis isolated the entire shipment at a Portland, Ore. warehouse and sent out samples for testing. The pink bag's contents tested positive for melamine while the two white bags tested were negative, Thacher said.

Futian Biology later told Wilbur-Ellis that a damaged bag was replaced with a clean one, Thacher said. The company then ''certified the product was all fine,'' he added.

The Las Vegas importer of the contaminated Chinese wheat gluten, ChemNutra Inc., that led to the original pet food recall has suggested that spiking a product with melamine can make it to appear to be richer in protein during tests, thus increasing its value.

ChemNutra also imported rice protein concentrate from China, though from another source. Spokesman Steve Stern said the company is testing those shipments.

The recalls began March 16 when Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans of dog and cat food after the deaths of 16 pets, mostly cats, that had eaten its products. The FDA said tests indicated the food was contaminated with melamine, which is used in making plastics and other industrial processes.

Five other companies later recalled pet products also made with wheat gluten tainted by the chemical. The FDA has since blocked Chinese imports of wheat gluten.

Menu Foods continues to add more varieties to its recall list. Menu Foods spokesman Sam Bornstein did not know if the Streetsville, Ontario-based company also used rice protein concentrate as an ingredient in its pet foods, sold under more than 100 different major and store brands.

A House committee is holding a food safety hearing Tuesday and is expected to discuss the pet food recall.

[my3labs]

We fed our dogs Natural Balance up until six months ago. I'm done....they're off any packaged foods as of now.

[1vegan]

LINK (http://www.allaboutfeed.net/tsal/allaboutfeed.portal/enc/_nfpb/true/_nfpb/true/_pageLabel/ts_page_news/ts_portlet_news_singleeditorschoice_3_actionOverri de/___2Fportlets___2Fts___2Fcore___2Fnews_singleedito rschoice___2Fcontent___2FshowDetailsList/_mode/view/ts_portlet_news_singleeditorschoice_3channel/102/ts_portlet_news_singleeditorschoice_3id/7529/_desktopLabel/allaboutfeed/)

Petfood recall spreads to South Africa

// 13 apr 2007
Also in south Africa there are reports of dogs and cats becoming ill after eating petfood. Two big pet food manufacturers have already removed their products from the shelves.

Hill's Pet Nutrition, also involved in the US petfood recall, have recalled all stock of their Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry food. A spokesman said that no cats have been reported ill in the US after eating their products. The recall was purely a precautionary measure.

One of South Africa’s premier petfood companies also will withdraw Vets Choice, manufactured by Royal Canin, from shelves around the country after there were signs of contamination in the food.

Vet’s Choice is a premium dog food product sold only at veterinarian's offices and pet shops.

According to South African Veterinary Association's Gerhard Steenkamp there were confirmed cases of 19 dogs in Cape Town and Johannesburg who'd presented with acute renal failure, all of whom appeared to have been fed Vets choice products.

He said it was commendable that the company had decided to recall the product as soon as it heard of the problem with the food as it was unclear what had caused the problem.

Recently, Woolworths had to recall all of its dry dog and cat food due to contamination of certain products.

If I had pets, I'd do a lot to not use "commercial pet food" for a while.

I might even try "rawfood" like they mention on this site : http://rawfeddogs.net/

I know that buying meat for pets can be seen as "controversial" by some vegans, but I feel that the pet "owner" also has a responibility to take care of the "pet". :sorry:

[thevegantwins]

We fed our dogs Natural Balance up until six months ago. I'm done....they're off any packaged foods as of now.
Probably a wise decision. I wish we could do the same for Feline.

[Bowwowmeow]

The Las Vegas importer of the contaminated Chinese wheat gluten, ChemNutra Inc., that led to the original pet food recall has suggested that spiking a product with melamine can make it to appear to be richer in protein during tests, thus increasing its value.
This leaves me both speechless, and at the same time, not in the least bit surprised.
The fact that, for example, sellers of dead chicken allow the freshly murdered birds to soak in a vat filled with feces-contaminated water in order to absorb more water, so that they will weigh more and fetch a higher price when sold, doesn't bother me much, since it gives salmonella to the people who eat the dead chickens, :devil2: :o, but doing stuff like this to animal food, when the animals have no say in what they eat, makes me very angry.

Am I paranoid, or can we really not trust anyone who is out to make a buck? :(

[1vegan]

Am I paranoid, or can we really not trust anyone who is out to make a buck? :(

I'm not sure, but I seriously doubt you're paranoid

I've got some "serious questions" about this too
Chemnutra seems to have imported a/the contaminated batch(es) of gluten
Chemnutra (http://www.chemnutra.com/chairman's%20letter.htm)

Moreover, here at ChemNutra, we are concerned that we may have been the victim of deliberate and mercenary contamination for the purpose of making the wheat gluten we purchased appear to have a higher protein content than it did, because melamine causes a false high result on protein tests. We had no idea that melamine was an issue until being notified by the FDA on March 29. In fact, we had never heard of melamine before. It’s simply not a chemical even on the radar screen for food ingredient suppliers.

Jeez, you'd think that if you're in the food/feed business, that you should at least know how you can get screwed over?

Ever heard a car dealer say; "we never thought to check for bad accident repairs, and in fact, we'd never heard of bondo before ????"
"Gosh, we've been vicitimized by some one who sold us a bad car :crying: " :rolleyes:


"it's not on the radar screen", ok, so what is on the radar screen then??

[Soynut]

Soynut always has the best pics of her pooch. :agree:

Thank you, we love taking pictures of animals, especially our "little one".:)

[Soynut]

I'm SO frustrated and upset now, I've been feeding my dog Natural Balance for a long time. The Vegetarian Formula which I've been using is not recalled, but still, there's no way I'll take any more risks now!:no: I went to Trader Joe's and bought some basic ingredients for home cooking - brown rice, frozen veggies and meat (sorry about the visual, guys). I also got hold of a jar of multi-vitamins. I'll make dinners for a couple of nights and freeze the rest.

I would like to continue a vegan menu for him, but until I've figured it all out, I feel I have to take this route. I've ordered supplement for www.vegepet.com which I can put into human food and the content will "magically" be adjusted for dogs. Now, that doesn't sound like rocket science to me, it might be something even I can do .:chef: How hard can it be to beat those super cheap imported ingredients from China?...

Luckily, he had plenty of table scraps and homemade dinners, so I'm not shocking his system here. If anybody else have some tips about cooking for dogs, feel free to share, I would really like to hear what others are doing right now.

My vet sells Science Diet and Pro-plan (yuck!) in her office, so there's probbaly no help or advice to get there in terms of food....

[Soynut]

My dogs love Tofurky as well. We've started cooking for them since this scare was brought to light. We're still feeding them the dry kibble but I've been adding raw veggies and whatever leftovers we might have.

How is it going with your cooking, my3labs?

[my3labs]

We've basically been giving them their dry food (Timberwolf Organics) along with raw veggies and whatever left-overs are in the fridge. I do believe that a raw diet (meat included) is best for dogs but have had a serious emotional conflict with it. I know that there is meat in the dry food but somehow it makes it easier if I don't actually see it. I know...

Dan and I had a long talk about feeding them any packaged foods a few weeks ago and kind of settled on sticking with what we were doing because we felt like the food that we were giving them was a premium food and less likely to have problems. I really didn't like the idea of relying on someone else, and especially a company, to create my dogs' food. In the meantime I've been doing quite a bit of research on raw food (BARF diet) and had just about convinced myself to make the switch.

Then came the Natural Balance news. Even tho we don't feed them Natural Balance, it is considered a premium food and if it can get in there, it can get in any food, including what we're currently feeding the dogs.

So, we're officially going to switch to the BARF diet. I am conflicted by it but I want to make sure I know what my babies are eating. We fed them raw several years ago and there's some good info here (http://www.pet-grub.com/preface.pets).

BMW, No, I do NOT think you're being paranoid. I don't trust anybody anymore.

[Gliondrach]

I also got hold of a jar of multi-vitamins. I'll make dinners for a couple of nights and freeze the rest.


Careful. Make sure you find out how much of each vitamin a whippet-size dog needs, and what the toxic amounts are.

[Gliondrach]

This leaves me both speechless, and at the same time, not in the least bit surprised.
The fact that, for example, sellers of dead chicken allow the freshly murdered birds to soak in a vat filled with feces-contaminated water in order to absorb more water, so that they will weigh more and fetch a higher price when sold, doesn't bother me much, since it gives salmonella to the people who eat the dead chickens, :devil2: :o, but doing stuff like this to animal food, when the animals have no say in what they eat, makes me very angry.

Am I paranoid, or can we really not trust anyone who is out to make a buck? :(

No, you're not paranoid. When money is to be made certain people and companies will stop at nothing. You just have to look at what drug companies do. And cigarette companies. And the oil industry. And....



That info about chickens soaking in faeces water - that is good to know. Do you have any links to it? It would be useful in arguments and discussions.

[dreamer]

I'm still feeding my dog Natural Balance vegetarian, as it does not contain rice protein isolate nor wheat gluten. He's also not shown any problems on it and does have allergies when he's not eating similar types of food (for allergies). I am considering switching to a homemade diet for him and my cat, but I also have more "queasiness" about cooking meat. I may just have to get over it...anyway, according to this recent article, there are four more pet food companies that received the rice protein isolate and only one more than has recalled any food. So we'll probably be hearing about three more pet food companies doing a recall...and why they're waiting will be a big question. In this article it's also mentioned that some of the tainted food might be getting into livestock animals, so might get into the human food supply that way...of course, we vegans needn't worry unless the "livestock" ends up in pet food too:(

FDA asks if pet food tainted on purpose
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
Fri Apr 20, 1:24 AM ET



Imported ingredients used in recalled pet food may have been intentionally spiked with an industrial chemical to boost their apparent protein content, federal officials said Thursday.

That's one theory being pursued by the Food and Drug Administration as it investigates how the chemical, melamine, contaminated at least two ingredients used to make more than 100 brands of dog and cat foods.

In California, state agriculture officials placed a hog farm under quarantine after melamine was found in pig urine there. Additional testing was under way to determine whether the chemical was present in the meat produced by American Hog Farm in Ceres since April 3, the state Department of Food and Agriculture said.

So far, melamine's been found in both wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported from China. Media reports from South Africa suggest a third pet food ingredient, corn gluten, used in that country also was contaminated with melamine. That tainted ingredient has not been found in the United States, the FDA said.

FDA investigators were awaiting visas that would allow them to visit the Chinese plants where the vegetable protein ingredients were produced.

"Melamine was found in all three of those — it would certainly lend credibility to the theory that it may be intentional. That will be one of the theories we will pursue when we get into the plants in China," Stephen Sundlof, the FDA's chief veterinarian, told reporters.

Chinese authorities have told the FDA that the wheat gluten was an industrial product not meant for pet food, Sundlof said. Still, melamine can skew test results to make a product appear more protein-rich than it really is, he added. That raises the possibility the contamination was deliberate.

"What we expect to do with our inspections in China will answer some of those questions," said Michael Rogers (news, bio, voting record), director of the division of field investigations within the FDA's office of regulatory affairs.

Wilbur-Ellis Co., the U.S. importer of the tainted rice protein, said Thursday it was recalling all the ingredient it had distributed to five U.S. pet food manufacturers. The San Francisco company in turn urged its customers to recall any products that may be on store shelves.

So far, just two of those companies have done so: Natural Balance Pet Foods and Blue Buffalo Co.

Natural Balance, of Pacoima, Calif., announced a limited recall Monday of its Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, Venison and Brown Rice dog treats and Venison and Green Pea dry cat food.

Blue Buffalo, of Wilton, Conn., followed Thursday by recalling 5,044 bags of its Spa Select Kitten dry food. The company intercepted most of the kitten food before it reached distribution centers, company co-founder Billy Bishop said.

FDA officials would not release the names of the other two manufacturers that Wilbur-Ellis supplied, citing its ongoing investigation.

The FDA could not provide updated numbers of pet deaths or injuries due to the contaminated pet food. The agency has received more than 15,000 calls since the first recall was announced more than a month ago.

The FDA and Agriculture Department also were investigating whether some pet food made by one of the five companies supplied by Wilbur-Ellis was diverted for use as hog feed after it was found unsuitable for pet consumption.

"We understand it did make it into some hog feed and we are following up on that as well," Sundlof said.

Later Thursday, California officials said they believe the melamine at the quarantined hog farm came from rice protein concentrate imported from China by Diamond Pet Food's Lathrop facility, which produces products under the Natural Balance brand and sold salvage pet food to the farm for pig feed.

"Although all animals appear healthy, we are taking this action out of an abundance of caution," State Veterinarian Richard Breitmeyer said in a statement. "It is unknown if the chemical will be detected in meat."

Officials were investigating American Hog Farm's sales records to determine who may be affected by the quarantine, said Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The 1,500-animal farm operates as a "custom slaughterhouse," which means it generally does not supply meat to commercial outlets.

"Mostly it is not so-called mainstream pork. This is an operation that sells to folks who come in and want a whole pig," said Lyle said.

Officials urged those who purchased pigs from American Hog Farm since April 3 to not consume the product until further notice.

Dr. Mark Horton, state public health officer, said so far "evidence suggests a minimal health risk to persons who may have consumed pork" from the farm.

A man who answered the phone for American Hog Farm late Thursday declined to comment and referred calls to state officials. Phone calls to Diamond Pet Food's Lathrop facility and Meta, Mo., headquarters were not immediately returned.

___

On the Net:

Food and Drug Administration pet food recall info:

http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html



Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.

[dreamer]

I think I'll go to this site every day while I'm at work to keep up with the recalls (I only have internet at work):
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=recall

They've added another food today!

[Bowwowmeow]

That info about chickens soaking in faeces water - that is good to know. Do you have any links to it? It would be useful in arguments and discussions.
I'm pretty sure I read that in Fast Food Nation, but my copy is in storage. Its a difficult book to read, but I read it anyway, even though some parts made me cry.
They don't deliberately put the feces in the soak water, its just that its too expensive to keep the feces out of the water in which the bodies are soaked to increase their weight, and this would negate the extra few pennies made pound by soaking them in water in the first place. There is also a passage in the book about how much fecal matter can be found in ground beef, and the occasional bit of human flesh, too, since the work is very dangerous, and people who own slaughterhouses do not care very much more for the people they employ than they do for the animals they kill. I personally don't worry too much about the people, but Fast Food Nation is a good book for those who feel the human rights angle will always be more important than the animal rights angle.

[1vegan]

I'm pretty sure I read that in Fast Food Nation, but my copy is in storage. Its a difficult book to read, but I read it anyway, even though some parts made me cry.
They don't deliberately put the feces in the soak water, its just that its too expensive to keep the feces out of the water in which the bodies are soaked to increase their weight, and this would negate the extra few pennies made pound by soaking them in water in the first place.


http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=309
It was 3pm and, as at many factories, the water was only changed once a day. It was a brown soup of faeces and feather fragments, and, the hygiene inspector pointed out, at 52 degrees centigrade, ‘the perfect temperature for salmonella and campylobacter organisms to survive and cross-contaminate the birds’.

http://www.azcentral.com/home/food/articles/0114enhance14.html
Fresh chicken might be "enhanced" with water, salt

No only in the U.S ;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3006192.stm
The FSA's surveys found chicken pieces with added water accounting for up to 55% of the total weight.

[my3labs]

I'm disappointed that this is not making headlines anymore.

[Gliondrach]

Thanks, BWM and 1Vegan.

[Soynut]

Hi, Dreamer. My dog has been on a mainly vegan diet for years without any problems, as a matter of fact, his vet always comments on how healthy and fit he is. So I would hate to stop something that's working so well. Maybe we can figure something out?... I've heard that the oldest dog in the world was a vegan living mainly on brown rice, lentils and vegetables. Check it out www.fruitnut.net/index2.htm?PAG=64brambles,REF= I'm sure there's a way around this...

[Soynut]

Careful. Make sure you find out how much of each vitamin a whippet-size dog needs, and what the toxic amounts are.

Thanks, it says one tablet per 20 pounds - he's 35, so I give him 1.:)

[Bowwowmeow]

I tried to find some online info from Dr Pitcairn. Here's a little bit about calcium (http://www.drpitcairn.com/nutrition/nutrition_index.html), and an overview of dietary info. There is a link to his book on that page, which I highly recommend, since its pretty complete concerning levels of vitamins, minerals, and other dietary requirements, and, although he favors including animal products in dogs' diets, he offers vegetarian recipes for home cooked meals for dogs, and a variety of recipes for both dogs and cats.

[Soynut]

Thanks. He states that dogs are carnivores, aren't they considered omnivores?.....

[Bowwowmeow]

Taxonomically, dogs belong to the order Carnivora, along with cats and bears. Its easy to get this mixed up with whether they are suited to a carnivorous diet. They are, actually, since their teeth are designed to shear through muscle and their jaws are strong enough to crack bone. Their digestive tracts are very short and straight, and their levels of stomach acid are very high.

They are able to digest and receive nutrition from the stomach contents of the animals they kill in the wild, which consist of plant materials, and they will also eat fresh berries and greens when they are in season, but they primarily rely on flesh, organs, and bone for their major nutrtional needs.

I see the confusion as similar to the confusion about whether people should be considered omnivores or herbivores. During our ancient past, we began to rely upon animal flesh when the Ice Age struck, and wiped out a lot of the plants we used to eat. People with a vested interest in classifying people as omnivorous claim that we "evolved" on meat. We didn't evolve because of an advantage gained by eating meat! We were lucky, as a species, that we were able to adapt to substances that were not originally sources of nutrition for us, until the climate warmed up and we could start eating plants again. Just because we survived as a species on flesh doesn't mean it is what we are supposed to eat.

Its the same for dogs. They are more adaptable than cats, but they really aren't omnivores any more than we are. They are just carnivores who can survive on plant foods, just as we are herbivores who can survive on flesh. Heck, even cows can survive on flesh, as demonstrated by the horrendous practice of feeding them the slaughterhouse by-products of animals other than themselves. But you couldn't call them anything but herbivores, no matter what they are fed by the monsters who keep them for food.

I don't know if it matters in the long run whether we call dogs omnivores or carnivores. I just try to overcome the confusion by learning about what dogs in the wild do, who are not subject to having their lives as altered by humans as domestic dogs. That's what the BARF and prey-model diets are all about; following what wild dogs do. On the inside, the toy poodle's DNA is the same as the wolf's, no matter how pampered and perfumed he might be!

[Soynut]

Wow, great answer!:) I guess they key is that dogs are more adaptable than cats and actually can thrive on a vegetarian diet. If I had a co-op like you where I could get fresh raw food for my dog, I would probably go for the BARF diet too, but I'm not too comfortable handling, storing, and preparing raw meat. And to get it pre-packed from a pet store is out of the question at the moment. Thanks for the info, Bow!:)

[Bowwowmeow]

Dr Pitcairn actually features several veggie recipes for dogs, using lots of beans, kind of like what's pictured here in Seymour's blog (http://www.thenakedvegan.net/showpost.php?p=2311&postcount=9).

I like to express the idea as dogs being more adaptable than cats, but of course my cats do like beans, coconut milk, Vegenaise (who wouldn't like Vegenaise? :yum: ), and Tuno. I just worry that it isn't sufficient for them. Lucky for me, the food they eat now is already mixed together and frozen, which cuts down on the grossness factor in a big way. :( I know dogs can do well without flesh, but unfortunately mine have allergies to soy and certain grains, which makes a veggie diet unworkable for them. The two I had before them were happily veggie, and lived to be 15 years old each, which was a good long life for larger dogs. More important, they were healthy, and I never had to take them to the vet for anything. They each died in their sleep of old age, which is the best way to go.

[Soynut]

That proves to me that dogs can do well either way, and that a WELL BALANCED high quality diet especially adapted for dogs is more important than whatever they're carnivores or omnivores. Maybe they're both! :p I never relied 100% on a kibble, but have offered lots of different foods (healthy of course). I've felt it makes him more resilient and not so sensitive to "foreign" food in his system. Of course, I make sure to avoid anything toxic, unsuitable or unhealthy, like chocolate, onion, grapes etc.

[Bowwowmeow]

Your Whippie has a better enzyme system, thanks to the variety you give him. :agree:

Variety is important to everyone's health. That's why I like to use the Grapenuts analogy when I try to talk people into giving their dogs a homemade, healthier diet. I just wish more people would think about this, and not rely on manufactured pet food. We are now seeing the worst that can happen when we opt for convenience, and listen to the industry, rather than think for ourselves and do the research. :(

[Soynut]

It's sad that animals have died because of this, but it has for sure opened people's eyes to what's really in pet food. Look at me, I thought a reputable company like Natural Balance was always a safe bet and that their products were made by the company itself on the spot (I don't know what world I was living in!). Instead, their food is made by a big manufacturer, which also is used by many other pet food companies.... Anyway, I still like to believe that they are providing a little better quality than many of it's competitors...:updn:

[my3labs]

That is so cool, Soynut.
I wish there was more info about vegan health and dogs. I would love nothing more than to switch them but I'm just not sure about it. When we switched the dogs to the Timberwolf food, we talked to the owner of the store at length about a vegan/vegetarian diet for them and he was fully against it. Of course, he has an agenda and I don't fully buy everything that he said.
It's just so easy to determine that a vegan diet is the healthiest for humans, but the evidence just isn't available for dogs.
I absolutely HATE the fact that my dogs contribute to the death of other animals, but until I can find some pretty overwhelming evidence that it's safe to put them on a vegan/vegetarian diet, I just don't know.
Sometimes I feel like it's fine for them to be vegan, but then I read something else and am unsure. Argh!!!

[Soynut]

Variety is important to everyone's health. That's why I like to use the Grapenuts analogy when I try to talk people into giving their dogs a homemade, healthier diet. I just wish more people would think about this, and not rely on manufactured pet food. :(

Pet owners are told, "Human food upsets the pet's stomach, so it's wiser to stick to the formula".:rolleyes: Nice sales pitch. Dogs are the biggest scavangers!:D

[my3labs]

Apparently I missed an entire page of this thread.:hbang:

The "so cool" comment was about the vegan dog that's 27 or 29 years old.

[Soynut]

Apparently I missed an entire page of this thread.:hbang:

The "so cool" comment was about the vegan dog that's 27 or 29 years old.

Yes, and "Bow's" vegan dogs reached 15 years of age, so it's very possible.:)

I've never home cooked a 100% vegan diet for dogs, it's something I would have to learn too. I can totally understand why you are unsure if you'd like this for you dog or not because there are more considerations and concerns.

[Bowwowmeow]

From my raw food co-op:

Hi, All

I have been getting calls lately from people whom I have shared the info that I received from this list, who are telling me that their vets are telling them that this was just all a big hoax, a big scare for some stupid reason and that the problem is NOT has big as we have thought that it was just a huge scam, and that the animals really aren't in much danger afterall.

I have a hard time trusting most vets and allopathic medical people on the whole. I certainly have no trust in these huge companies who make and sell this horrid product they call "food".

Most of us on this list have already made our own decisions about what and how we will feed ourselves and our companion animals so our personal opinions seem clear.

BTW, I am not just getting these questions from people and vets up here in Lake County but also from other areas both in and out of California.
The reply:

It's not a hoax, or a scam, nor is it being blown out of proportion.

There is, however, a propaganda effort going on to frame the story in that
way, to try to "soothe consumer fears" and "restore faith in the pet food
industry," and sadly many vets are involved in this, some unknowingly, some
quite cynically.

That said, I think that most of the food on pet store shelves is actually
free of contamination. It's just that we don't know which are the few that
aren't, and THAT is why this story is huge. We could and should know.

Christie Keith
www.petconnection.com/blog (http://www.petconnection.com/blog)
This is pretty disgusting. People depend on their vets for the health of their animals. :mad: :mad: :mad:

I guess the vets are feeling the financial pinch from not being able to sell all that bogus "prescription" pet food. It reminds me of a sting the local news station did on Bay Area vets. They had an independent vet certify a shelter cat as being free of disease and in good health, and then took him to a bunch of different veterinary offices, from almost every one of which the cat was found to have a different health condition that would be "cured" by the feeding of whatever "prescription" pet food was being sold by that particular vet office. Only one vet visited during the sting gave the cat a clean bill of health. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Of course, the bottom line for me is that manufactured pet "food" is garbage anyway. If it isn't deliberately contaminated with a poisonous chemical to increase profit margins for the company selling the ingredients, its
deliberately contaminated with all kinds of legally approved garbage that will cause long term, chronic damage, if not immediate death as in the case of adding poison.

[Bowwowmeow]

Just got another message:

Hi Lynn,

Umm, okay --?? I don't even know how to respond to someone (especially a
"health professional") that is telling people this is all some kind of hoax.
Wish it were. The people who have had their animals become ill and/or die
(by the thousands at this point) certainly will tell you there's nothing
unreal about it at all.

I guess you can send them over to Snopes (the most well respected hoax and
urban legend references pages on the net). They have an entry on the Menu
Foods recall which identifies the issue as being "True":
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/menu.asp

However, the Menu entry is pretty out of date - there have been many new and
horrible revelations since April 2nd, resulting in an expansion of the
recalled foods.

They also have the Diamond recall of 2006 here:
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/diamond.asp

But if that's not enough evidence for them, they can then go on over to the
FDA itself for a watered down "consumer friendly" version of the recalls
here:
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html

So, after they realize this massive recall is indeed true and real, then
they can go visit these well researched and very truthful sites to learn
more about the issue:
http://petconnection.com/blog/
http://www.itchmo.com/recalls.html and
http://www.itchmo.com/go/tagged/safety/
http://www.howl911.com/
http://petfoodtracker.blogspot.com/

What they will learn should shock them. It's pretty horrible.

[my3labs]

That is disgusting.

[1vegan]

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002016.html)

Criminal Probe Opened in Pet Food Scare
FDA Says Charges Possible; Tainted Pork Confirmed in Calif.

The Food and Drug Administration has opened a criminal investigation in the widening pet food contamination scandal, officials said yesterday, as it was confirmed that tainted pork might have made its way onto human dinner plates in California.

But don't trust the FDA too much:
FDA knew about peanutbutter risks (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042201551.html?hpid=topnews)

[Blueshark]

Bloody FDA at it again.

Peanut Butter could push me over the edge.

[dreamer]

I've heard that the FDA, USDA, and Consumer Protection Agencies have all had massive cuts in funding since W took over. Since both food and non-food products are increasingly coming from overseas (and the majority of recalls of non-food products are from China!), there should be an increase in inspectors, accountability, and power given to these groups instead of their being hamstrung by loss of personnel and laws that have been gutted. Do you think any of that will happen in the near future:rolleyes:

[Bowwowmeow]

If this wasn't hurting so many animals it would be funny at this point.

Hogs Ate Pet Food Tainted With Chemical

By ANDREW BRIDGES (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
April 24, 2007 7:17 PM EDT

WASHINGTON - Salvaged pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical was sent to hog farms in as many as six states, federal health officials said Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if any hogs that ate the tainted feed then entered the food supply for humans.

Hogs at a farm in California ate the contaminated products, according to the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Officials were trying to determine whether hogs in New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Ohio also may have eaten the tainted food, the FSIS said. Hogs at some of the farms - it wasn't immediately clear which - have been quarantined.

The FSIS was trying to determine whether the hog farms in the states other than California actually fed the material to their animals, spokesman Steven Cohen said in a statement. Hogs that were confirmed to have eaten the tainted food were processed at a federally inspected facility in California, Cohen said.

"All of that meat is under control at the facility," he said. "It is important to keep in mind this is a small number of farms that may have received this feed."

However, the Food and Drug Administration said the urine of some hogs tested positive for the chemical, melamine, in North Carolina and South Carolina as well as California.

"At this point, I don't have a definitive answer other than to say that the issue is being addressed," Stephen Sundlof, the FDA's chief veterinarian, told reporters when asked if any of the hogs had entered the human food supply. A poultry farm also may be involved, he added.

The FDA also said it planned to begin testing a wide variety of vegetable proteins at firms that imported the ingredients to make everything from pizza dough to infant formula, and protein shakes to energy bars. The ingredient list includes wheat gluten, corn gluten, corn meal, soy protein and rice bran.

Pet food companies have recalled more than 100 brands of cat and dog food since the first reports of animal deaths a little over a month ago.
Investigators have found melamine in at least two imported Chinese vegetable proteins used to make pet foods. The chemical possibly was used to skew analyses that measured the protein content of the ingredients, wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate.

There were no direct shipments of either of the two ingredients to firms that make food for humans or for animals used as food, said Michael Rogers, who directs field investigations for the FDA.

A second, related chemical called cyanuric acid also has been found to contaminate rice protein concentrate samples, Sundlof said.

The analyses the FDA plans to begin later this week will look at producers of both food for humans and animal feed, said Dr. David Acheson, the chief medical officer within the agency's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Acheson stressed that there was no evidence any of the other vegetable proteins had been contaminated, but that the FDA wanted to "get ahead of the curve" and raise awareness among manufacturers.
FDA officials said the hogs were fed salvaged pet food made with tainted rice protein concentrate. The food was given to the animals prior to the products' recalls, Rogers said. Adulterated food cannot be legally fed to either humans or animals, Sundlof said.

Meanwhile, the FDA is sampling for melamine and related compounds in all wheat gluten, rice protein and corn gluten coming into the United States from China.

Also Tuesday, the FDA said another pet food company, SmartPak, had recalled products made with tainted rice protein concentrate. The company said the recall covered a single production run of its LiveSmart Weight Management Chicken and Brown Rice Dog Food.

If they had any brains at all they would have kept quiet about this and sold the tainted dead pigs back to the Chinese. :devil2: :stir: :devil4:

[my3labs]

"Hogs that were confirmed to have eaten the tainted food were processed at a federally inspected facility in California, Cohen said."
"Processed" AKA: Murdered.
Let's just say it like it is folks. Quit trying to sugar coat it.

[Bowwowmeow]

Filler in Animal Feed Is Open Secret in China

By DAVID BARBOZA (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/david_barboza/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/alexei_barrionuevo/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: April 30, 2007

ZHANGQIU, China, April 28 — As American food safety regulators head to China to investigate how a chemical made from coal found its way into pet food that killed dogs and cats in the United States, workers in this heavily polluted northern city openly admit that the substance is routinely added to animal feed as a fake protein.

For years, producers of animal feed all over China have secretly supplemented their feed with the substance, called melamine, a cheap additive that looks like protein in tests, even though it does not provide any nutritional benefits, according to melamine scrap traders and agricultural workers here.

“Many companies buy melamine scrap to make animal feed, such as fish feed,” said Ji Denghui, general manager of the Fujian Sanming Dinghui Chemical Company, which sells melamine. “I don’t know if there’s a regulation on it. Probably not. No law or regulation says ‘don’t do it,’ so everyone’s doing it. The laws in China are like that, aren’t they? If there’s no accident, there won’t be any regulation.”

Melamine is at the center of a recall of 60 million packages of pet food, after the chemical was found in wheat gluten linked this month to the deaths of at least 16 pets and the illness of possibly thousands of pets in the United States.

No one knows exactly how melamine (which is not believed to be particularly toxic) became so fatal in pet food, but its presence in any form of American food is illegal.

The link to China has set off concerns among critics of the Food and Drug Administration (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/food_and_drug_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org) that ingredients in pet food as well as human food, which are increasingly coming from abroad, are not being adequately screened.

“They have fewer people inspecting product at the ports than ever before,” says Caroline Smith DeWaal, the director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/center_for_science_in_the_public_interest/index.html?inline=nyt-org) in Washington. “Until China gets programs in place to verify the safety of their products, they need to be inspected by U.S. inspectors. This open-door policy on food ingredients is an open invitation for an attack on the food supply, either intentional or unintentional.”

Now, with evidence mounting that the tainted wheat gluten came from China, American regulators have been granted permission to visit the region to conduct inspections of food treatment facilities.

The Food and Drug Administration has already banned imports of wheat gluten from China after it received more than 14,000 reports of pets believed to have been sickened by packaged food. And last week, the agency opened a criminal investigation in the case and searched the offices of at least one pet food supplier.

The Department of Agriculture has also stepped in. On Thursday, the agency ordered more than 6,000 hogs to be quarantined or slaughtered after some of the pet food ingredients laced with melamine were accidentally sent to hog farms in eight states, including California.

The pet food case is also putting China’s agricultural exports under greater scrutiny because the country has had a terrible food safety record.
In recent years, for instance, China’s food safety scandals have involved everything from fake baby milk formulas and soy sauce made from human hair to instances where cuttlefish were soaked in calligraphy ink to improve their color and eels were fed contraceptive pills to make them grow long and slim.

For their part, Chinese officials dispute any suggestion that melamine from the country could have killed pets. But regulators here on Friday banned the use of melamine in vegetable proteins made for export or for use in domestic food supplies.

Yet what is clear from visiting this region of northeast China is that for years melamine has been quietly mixed into Chinese animal feed and then sold to unsuspecting farmers as protein-rich pig, poultry and fish feed.
Many animal feed operators here advertise on the Internet, seeking to purchase melamine scrap. The Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, one of the companies that American regulators named as having shipped melamine-tainted wheat gluten to the United States, had posted such a notice on the Internet last March.

[1vegan]

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/AR2007043001865.html?hpid=topnews) (long article)

Pet Deaths Spur Call for Better FDA Screening

Imports Raise Concern About Human Foods

Amid growing revelations that suppliers in China frequently spike pet food and other food ingredients with contaminants to boost profits, momentum is building in Washington to bolster the Food and Drug Administration's capacity to detect and screen out adulterated imports.

Several Chinese suppliers conceded over the weekend that adding melamine to pet food ingredients -- now blamed for the deaths of many animals in the United States and possible contamination of the human food supply -- is but the latest technique for fooling U.S. companies into thinking they are purchasing a high-quality product.

Suppliers in China have admitted to adding melamine to animal feed. The FDA is trying to screen out the additive, which is now blamed for many pet deaths..

Before melamine there was urea, Chinese traders said -- another nitrogen-rich chemical that was used to give false high scores on tests of protein content but was abandoned after it made animals ill.

Now an increasing number of legislators, scientists and others are saying it is time to modernize FDA's authority to trace the sources of food imports and punish scofflaws -- legal powers that experts say have barely evolved over the past 70 years.

Many also want to expand the agency's food-safety budget.

"I do think this pet food thing has shown people, including people at the very highest levels of the administration, that something needs to be fixed," said William Hubbard, associate director of the FDA from 1991 to 2005. "If this isn't a wake-up call, then people are so asleep they are catatonic."

Personally, I wonder if this will wake up people. imho, it's kind of quiet and under the radar already?

On the other hand, I won't be suprised that in a few years it turns out that this petfood scandal "broke" the FDA (as we know it)

As non-american, I wonder why it's so "quiet", I've seen some petitions, but I had expected more "pressure".
I expected online petitions, mailinglists with the request to mail or call your congress person, etc ? Why aren't people raising hell over this?

(or is this happening outside my view?)

[dreamer]

I dunno if any of you are checking the updated ASPCA site (that I mentioned on page 7--message 100)...now another big food producer, which like Menu foods produces foods for many different companies, has apparently been pinpointed as a big part of the problem. The Pet food companies--including Natural Balance and Blue Buffalo--are blaming American Nutrition for adding rice protein concentrate to some foods w/o informing the pet food companies of the addition! Anyway, I'm glad I still check the ASPCA site regularly, though thankfully none of my kids' foods are on the list:)

[thevegantwins]

For Extremely Up-to-Date Recall Information for Your Cats and Dogs

Itchmo (www.itchmo.com/recalls.html)

Here is THE ultimate list of all recalled cat and dog foods. This is updated IMMEDIATELY, as opposed to Menu Foods' feeble attempts at adding to their incorrect list.

In addition, this single page has all sorts of serious HELP information, and it's excellently put together, and very, VERY easy to get answers to your questions, and much more.

Please forward this link to anyone and everyone you know who may have cats and/or dogs living as companions.

Thank you.

[my3labs]

Update (http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/05/08/fish.food/index.html)from CNN:


CNN) -- U.S. health officials said Tuesday that fish intended for human consumption were fed meal that was contaminated with the chemical melamine.

But the officials said the fish doesn't pose any significant risk to human health.

Federal authorities made the discovery as part of an ongoing investigation into the addition of the industrial chemical melamine and related compounds into pet food, said Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's assistant commissioner for food protection.

One of two Chinese firms already under investigation for having shipped adulterated and mislabeled wheat flour to the U.S also shipped some of the product to Canada.

In Canada, it was used to make fish meal, Acheson told reporters in a conference call.

That meal was then shipped from Canada to companies in the United States for use in fish farms and to feed fish used to stock bodies of water, he said.
Chinese firm manager detained

The manager of one of the Chinese companies that sold the suspected tainted wheat flour has been detained for nearly two weeks outside Beijing, CNN has learned.

Tian Feng is the manager of Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd., which U.S. pet food distributors have identified as the company that sold them wheat flour, which was mislabeled as wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate and contained melamine and related products.

Tian's company was shut by local police on April 25, the day he was detained.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Tian said in an interview with CNN from the detention center in Binzhou in China's eastern Shandong Province.

Dressed in a white T-shirt and orange prison vest, Tian said, "I don't know about melamine. I don't even know what this melamine is. I have never heard of anyone using it."

Under Chinese law, police can hold Tian for 30 days while the investigation continues. After that, he must be tried or released.
Officials: Fish pose no 'significant' danger

Acheson, who would not divulge what states the meal was sent to, said there is no reason for alarm.

"We do not believe that there is any significant risk associated with consuming these fish," he said.

Acheson added that investigators are traveling to the companies "to determine exactly what they are doing with the fish."

The discovery of the contaminated imports from China was announced Tuesday after analysis of the products showed they had been mislabeled, Acheson said.

The FDA is "considering possible enforcement actions," he said.

Agency investigators are expected to return to the U.S. next week from China, he said. He would not say what they have found.

Acheson said officials suspect that the Chinese substituted wheat flour for wheat gluten and rice-protein concentrate, then attempted to make them appear to be the protein-rich substances by adulterating them.

Melamine is used to make plastics and fertilizer. It has no food value but is rich in nitrogen. In tests, that nitrogen level makes products seem higher in protein, which can lead to higher prices.

"If your measurement of protein is actually measuring nitrogen, what you've got is a wheat-based pellet that appears to have high protein because the nitrogen is high, due to the addition of melamine," Acheson said.
Cats dead from kidney failure

The FDA began its investigation in March, when Ontario-based Menu Foods discovered that nine of 25 cats involved in a taste test died of kidney failure.

The company has voluntarily recalled 60 million cans of its pet food.

Since then, the FDA has received thousands of complaints from pet owners alleging pet food killed their pets.

The investigation recently widened to include human food after it was discovered that swine and poultry were fed contaminated scraps from the pet food makers.

But authorities said this week that a risk assessment that took into account the "dilution factor" determined that the pork and poultry products present an extremely low risk to people.

The "dilution factor" notes that the amount of tainted food eaten by people would be far less than the amount of product that proved fatal to pets.
Tainted chickens?

Dr. Kenneth Petersen, assistant administrator for field operations of the Food Safety and Inspection Service, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said 20 million chickens that were fed contaminated feed tested negative for melamine.

The feed was ordered held last week, but the chickens have been approved for slaughter and subsequent sale.

Tests on another 100,000 breeder birds in Indiana have not yet come back negative, and they remain on hold, he said.

Some 2.7 million birds from roughly 30 farms in Indiana have already made their way into commerce, he said.

Negative tests have not yet been received for 50,000 swine that ate the contaminated feed, and they also are being held, he said.

[1vegan]

Though you don't hear about the petfood scandal anymore ;

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/30/AR2007053002227.html)

U.S. Company Used Melamine in Feed
Humans Unlikely to Be Harmed

An Ohio company has long been adding the industrial toxin melamine to animal feed ingredients, and those feeds have been eaten by livestock and fish meant for human consumption, officials with the Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday.

The company used the chemical as a binding agent to hold feed granules in pellet form, in contrast to the recent pet food scandal, which involved imported ingredients that were spiked with melamine to provide a false measure of protein content, officials said.

But as with the pet food scandal, they said, the levels of melamine involved appear to be too low to harm humans who may have eaten animals that consumed the tainted feed.

The company, Tembec BTLSR of Toledo, sold the melamine-laden ingredients to Uniscope of Johnstown, Colo., which used them to make three finished food products -- one for cattle, sheep and goats, and two for fish and shrimp.

The contamination came to the FDA's attention on May 18 after Uniscope officials tested for melamine in the feed components they were buying -- something the FDA has been encouraging food producers to do.
The FDA began an investigation the next working day, officials said, and after about 10 days decided how to proceed.

Officials said that Tembec initiated a formal recall of its products yesterday and that the company has stopped adding the chemical.

It remains unclear why Tembec did not stop using melamine months ago, given the intense publicity generated by the recent pet food scandal, during which officials repeatedly made it clear that melamine is not an approved additive for human or animal food.

"What they knew and didn't know before will be part of the investigation as it unfolds," David Acheson, the FDA's assistant commissioner for food protection, said during a telephone news conference yesterday. For now, he said, "it's speculation in terms of motives and who knew what."

If this goes on, we can have our "regular food scandals" news thread :hbang:

I don't believe this doesn't effect humans, I think that if your "exposed" to small doses of hazardous stuff, that you'll get some illness in the end.

Cigaretts are "toxic" too, and don't kill you the first time, it's the long exposure that eventually might give you lungcancer and the like.

[thevegantwins]

Like how Mad Cow allegedly never affected any human in the US even though cows were fed other animals and cows tested positive for Mad Cow and there has been a dramatic increase in early-onset dementia over the past 20 years.

I just can't imagine the US government lying to its citizens. :rolleyes:

[my3labs]

I just can't imagine the US government lying to its citizens. :rolleyes:

Of course they don't, TVT. :rofl:

[dreamer]

I guess you guys have heard that now a lab has found acetaminophen in some pet food. The FDA is supposedly "looking into it":rolleyes: So far no releases detailing which foods have it:( :hbang:

[my3labs]

I had not heard that, Dreamer. Have you seen anything online about it?

[Charmagne]

This is really getting ridiculous. Nothing is safe anymore. I saw this article for the first time today.:(

[1vegan]

Busines s Week (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8PJH0TG0.htm)

Dog food produced in Manassas recalled

A pet food maker Wednesday recalled some of its dog food sold exclusively at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. because of concerns about possible salmonella contamination.

The recall issued by Brentwood, Tenn.-based Doane Pet Care Co. is unrelated to recent pet food recalls connected to tainted Chinese proteins used in some pet food production.

Only a single batch of 55-pound bags of Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition dog food is being recalled. The dog food was produced at a plant in Manassas and distributed to 69 Wal-Mart stores in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio. Forty of the stores are in Virginia.

The company recalled the dog food after the Food and Drug Administration detected the presence of salmonella. People handling the food could potentially be exposed to the bacteria, along with pets that eat the food. The company said no illnesses have been reported.

Affected bags have the code 04 0735 1 and a "best by" date of April 13, 2008.

Doane Pet Care is a division of the privately held, McLean-based Mars Inc. manufacturer of candy and pet foods.

Consumers with questions can call 800-624-7387 or find further information at http://www.doanepetcare.com

Would salmonella be dangerous for dogs?

[dreamer]

They still haven't named the pet food companies, but here's a brief mention of the problem:
http://www.itchmo.com/go/tagged/safety/