Posted on 03/20/2007 4:29:59 PM PDT by bd476
Tests of Suspect Pet Food Killed 7, Government Says
Deaths Remain a Mystery
WASHINGTON, Mar. 20, 2007 - As many as one in six animals died in tests of suspect dog and cat food by the manufacturer after complaints the products were poisoning pets around the country, the government said Monday.
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A federal investigation is focusing on wheat gluten as the likely source of contamination that sparked a recall last Friday of 60 million cans and pouches of the suspect food, said Stephen F. Sundlof, the Food and Drug Administration's top veterinarian.
The ingredient, a protein source, is commonly used as filler.
Agency investigators are looking at other ingredients as well. The wet-style pet food was made by Menu Foods, an Ontario, Canada-based company.
Menu Foods told the FDA it received the first complaints of kidney failure and deaths among cats and dogs from pet owners on Feb. 20. It began new tests on Feb. 27.
During those tests, the company fed its product to 40 to 50 dogs and cats and seven animals - the mix of species was not immediately known - died, Sundlof said. The contamination appeared more deadly to cats than to dogs, he said.
The recall now covers dog food sold throughout North America under 51 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands, including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba. The food was sold under both store and major brand labels at Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and other large retailers.
The FDA has yet to tally how many reports it has received of cats and dogs suffering kidney failure or death. The company has reported just 10 deaths, of nine cats and a single dog.
"We are still trying to find out what the true picture is out there of animals. We're talking about 1 percent of the pet food (supply) and it's really just impossible to extrapolate at this point," Sundlof said.
Menu Foods spokeswoman Sarah Tuite told Associated Press Radio the company was "still trying to figure out the cause."
"We're testing and testing, but we can't identify the problem in the product," Tuite said.
Other companies - Nestle Purina PetCare Co., Procter & Gamble and Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc. - said that as a precaution they were voluntarily recalling some products made by Menu Foods.
A complete list of the recalled products along with product codes, descriptions and production dates was available from the Menu Foods Web site, http://www.menufoods.com/recall. The company also designated two phone numbers that pet owners could call for information - (866) 463-6738 and (866) 895-2708. The lines have been swamped by callers.
Tuite said the company has added more people and lines to cope with the calls. Callers who get a recording saying the line is out of order should try again, she added.
The company became aware of a potential problem after it received an undisclosed number of owner complaints that dogs and cats were vomiting and suffering kidney failure after eating its products.
Tuite told AP earlier the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, which has since been dropped.
The FDA hasn't confirmed the identity of that company, but its Web site suggests it supplies only animal feed manufacturers, Sundlof said.
Wheat gluten itself wouldn't cause kidney failure, leading FDA investigators to suspect contamination by other substances, including heavy metals like cadmium and lead or fungal toxins. Aflatoxin, a corn fungus, sparked a 2005 dog food recall.
The new recall covers the company's "cuts and gravy" style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches from Dec. 3 to March 6.
The company said it makes pet food for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies.
Recalled Dog and Cat Food Brands
Below is the complete list of dog and cat food recalled by Menu Foods as of March 16, 2007.
For further information related to the pet food recall, call (866) 463-6738 and (866) 895-2708 or click here.
Recalled Dog Food Brands
Recalled Cat Food Brands
No ID of the "new" supplier -- is this a case of "cheap" gluten?
Off shore "cheap" gluten? If so we may never know.
Several books in recent years have been about rendering plants and pet food. Making sausage is entertainment compared to rendering. Was it rendering? If so we may never know.
Is it just domestic gluten gone mad? If so we may be the first to know.
A google news search got about 1900 hits -- well, actually one AP "news" story ("woman sues over pet food recall") almost 1900 times copied coast to coast, border to border.
Yes, I exaggerated a mite. It was really a few current and aging AP "news" stories repeated a couple hundred times each.
I am paying attention to this. My English Mastiff suddenly became ill and collapsed. I took him to the vet and he was suffering from an enlarged heart and water on the lungs. This came up in only a weeks time. (No history at all)Medicine has saved him but the cause might have been his kidneys not able to function to get rid of fluids. He had eaten the Old Roy brand dry food with gravy.
I kept the remainder of the food and if there is a link I sure will send them a bill for the vet expenses.
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your dog suddenly getting sick. Pets are like family. Prayers extended.
They add gluten to human food, too.
It should be banned, I tell you, banned! It's worse than trans-fats. If it's happened to the animals' food and they don't know why --- WE'RE NEXT!
Gee -- I hope I don't sound like an alarmist or anything. Seriously, I'm a bit tongue in cheek about this.
Enlarged heart & water in the lungs... That's what happened to my grandpa when he had congestive heart failure. He lived a good 25+ years after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure, the medicines are good. I don't know if dogs are anything like humans in that regard or if that's what your pet has/had. I certainly hope it wasn't from this food being recalled. Prayers to your English Mastiff and I hope he's fully recovered and doing well. God bless.
This really makes me wonder. I have been making an extra car trip to Petsmart and pay 3 times the cost to get Nutro Max and basically it is the same as Kroger Brand?
In this case, yes. Both may be equally toxic to your pets.
Dang, the list keeps growing..First it was Special Kitty, then my Hill's Science Diet, now I am feeding my cats 9 lives, and meow mix which are made by Del Monte..
I keep expecting to see Del Monte added to the ever growing list of bad pet food.
Keep looking. There was a reference to 51 dog foods recalled in the post but only 50 are listed. Same as yesterday...
Recall Sheds Light on Pet-Food Industry's Little Secret
Consumers See That Premium, Private-Label Products Can Come From Same Place
BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- The massive national pet-food recall stemming from deaths of at least 10 pets is also letting consumers in on one of the industry's well-guarded secrets -- that some of most premium pet-food brands in the U.S. use the same manufacturer that processes dozens of low-price private-label products...
http://adage.com/article?article_id=115660
I was thinking the same thing!! Our vet recommended that we switch to Iams because it's much higher quality, but now it appears to be the same as the Wal-Mart brand!
We have 2 cats that were eating the recalled Iams packages, so we're heading to the vet today...and you bet we will be asking the vet what the difference is!
Here is a list I found of Fancy Feast canned cat foods that are free of wheat-gluten.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm
Thanks for the link!
It's also going to be hard on our pets suddenly switching from one kind of food to another. That's something that veterinarians generally advise doing gradually. One vet today said that all cat and dog owners should for the time being just give their pets dry food.
I don't know, but it seems at least possible (even most likely) that Menu manufactures the various pet foods according to the specifications of the companies that own the brands. IOW, the brand owner outsouces just the manufacturing end to Menu, not the R&D, in-house testing, decisions on composition of the food, etc.
We usually enhance our dog's kibble with some form of Alpo and/or table scraps.
I suggested to my wife that we make our own gravy.
A can of a broth and some corn starch.
BTW, noticed the expensive stuff is made by the same Co.s as the cheap stuff.
My vet pushes Science Diet. Of course that's what they sell, but recommended Eukanuba from Iams (but not the Iams brand from the grocery store) if I didn't want the Science Diet.
After I started reading the ingredients a few years ago, I couldn't understand the big push. SD was basically the same as the foods available at the grocery store. I came to the conclusion it's all a big scam.
My two bassets are picky and one of them has allergies. I used to feed them Biljac but because of the allergies decided to try a dry food (Organix) minus the by-products, wheat and corn.
Last week I found a freeze-dried raw food from thehonestkitchen.com. I ordered some. Were going to give it a try.
That's a good idea.
A vet once told me that there's not a dime's worth of difference between the expensive pet food and the cheaper pet food as long as whatever food you give your pet has "100% Nutritionally Complete" somewhere on the label.
However, not all pet food is equally tasty to pets.
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