Pet Food Recall (US Only?)

[Arvon]

If your dog or cat has been sick you might want to look at this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17650075/

[Mack_Attack]

Good thing I stopped eating that stuff.

[Ziroc]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/17/pet....ap/index.html

Mass recall of dog and cat food after pets die
POSTED: 8:00 p.m. EDT, March 17, 2007

Story Highlights

• Recall of wet pet food made by Menu Foods for Wal-Mart, Kroger, PetsMart, others

• Undisclosed number of cats and dogs suffered vomiting, kidney failure; 10 died

• Recall affects specific sizes of Iams and Eukanuba brands of dog, cat food

• See lists of recalled brands at bottom of story


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pet owners were worried Saturday that the pet food in their cupboards could be deadly after millions of containers of dog and cat food sold at major retailers across North America were recalled.

Menu Foods -- 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, the company 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.

'Cuts and gravy' food sold in cans, pouches recalled
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 December 3 and March 6 throughout the United States, 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 said it makes pet foods 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.

Proctor & Gamble 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, Kansas, and Pennsauken, New Jersey, 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.

FDA also working to target brands
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.

Below are lists of specific brands recalled by Menu Foods, in addition to Proctor & Gamble's recall of certain Iams and Eukanuba products. Menu Brands lists the brands on its Web site, www.menufoods.com, and advises consumers to call 1-866-895-2708 for more information.

Recalled cat foods
Americas Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Best Choice; Companion; Compliments; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog; Food Lion; Foodtown; Giant Companion; Good n Meaty; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Li'l Red; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Nutriplan; Nutro Max Gourmet Classics; Nutro Natural Choice; Paws; Presidents Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Sophistacat; Special Kitty; Springfield Pride; Sprout; Total Pet; My True Friend; Wegmans; Western Family; White Rose; and Winn Dixie.

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

[Ladyzekke]

Glad I've been buying Fancy Feast lately (not on the list), including the new dry Fancy Feast. Scary cause I've bought those Companion cans before here and there, whew!

[Memnoch]

Mikka's diet is basically Fancy Feast Gourmet canned cat food (made by Purina), Hills Science Diet dry food and Purina One dry food, so she's safe, thank God!

[Ziroc]

HAH! Choc eats Fancy Feast as well, his favorites are the grilled /w gravy versions--light blue and light green colors.

I leave out 2 bowels of One Senior formula dryfood for him to eat whenever he wants to snack..

Yeah, in one article it said to keep checking on the list, as the recall could expand. Scary indeed. That's a SERIOUSLY big recall.

[ 03-19-2007, 03:21 AM: Message edited by: Ziroc ]

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Since my previous dog started getting old and sick I've been doing a lot of reading about what's pet food. If you want to pat yourselves on the back for feeding your pet fancy feast, or whatever, that's great!

I now make the food for my dog and cat and the're in amazing health. If you want to find out more, read "Food pets die for".
If you love your pet, as most people do, don't buy any pet food from the store. Go online and find recipies of pet food you can make yourself. The book also has a bunch of recipies in the back of it.
We hardly ever have this book at home since friends are always asking for it.

[Nightwing]

If you don't have the time to make your own pet food which is a growing trend there is a food called Natural Balance by Dick Van Patton that is made with all natural ingrediants no biproducts. This is a very good quality food. I switched my cat over from science diet and her coat got softer and she had less shedding and ate less. My dog responded very favorably also.

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

[Ladyzekke]

Thanks for the link Nightwing, I might check out that brand next time I hit the bigger pet food stores. My mom did the homemade cat food for about 2 years (8 cats) but got tired of all the work it took to make a 2-week batch. She also had to freeze it all in ziplock bags that could be microwaved. It was just a pain, and the microwave stunk as well LOL. Personally I think it's the cat food companies that need to do the work and start making decent pet foods that don't get recalled! I sure hope they find out what exactly is the cause of the problem soon.

[Ladyzekke]

Wheat gluten apparently is the source of the problem.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...l_N.htm?csp=34