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IMPORTANT! Pet food recall

19 years ago

WASHINGTON - A major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths.

An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, Menu Foods said in announcing the North American recall. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death, the company said.

"At this juncture, we're not 100 percent sure what's happened," said Paul Henderson, the company's president and chief executive officer. However, the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, since dropped for another source, spokeswoman Sarah Tuite said. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

The recall covers the company's "cuts and gravy" style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches between Dec. 3 and March 6 throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Company, Safeway Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and PetSmart Inc., among others, Henderson said.

Menu Foods did not immediately provide a full list of brand names and lot numbers covered by the recall, saying they would be posted on its Web site  http://www.menufoods.com/recall  early Saturday. Consumers with questions can call (866) 463-6738.

The company said it manufacturers for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies. Its 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.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070316/ap_on_he_me/pet_food_recall

Comments (19)

  • 19 years ago

    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.

    Here is a link that might be useful: additional news

  • 19 years ago

    Here's a link to additional brands that are being recalled. Nutro is on it, as well as store brands.

    Here is a link that might be useful: additional recalled brands

  • 19 years ago

    Great, I feed my cats the Nutro Gourmet Classics, which is one of those that were listed. When I clicked on the line item for that specific product, my computer wouldn't open it. I guess I'll have to call the pet food store I bought it at. So far, my cats seem fine.

    What really bugs me is that I though that was supposed to be one of the better brands. I know it's not one of the super premium brands, but my cats refuse to eat those brands. Now I find out that it's the same thing as the cheaper, Walmart store brand. What a rip-off!

    Sally

  • 19 years ago

    Sally,

    Just because a company manufacturers products for a variety of companies doesn't mean that everything they make is exactly the same, no matter what the price or the brand.

    It is very likely NOT the same thing as the Walmart store brand.

    Comparing the nutritional information and ingredients list should give you a better idea.

    As for the file, the product lines link to excel spread sheets. If you can't open them you may need to adjust your browser settings, or update your browser version.

    Here are the product codes from the Nutro foods (all 3 ounce pouches) affected by the recall.

    GNUTUC0324QASAL
    GNUTUC0324QATUN
    GNUTUC0324QATUN
    GNUTUC0324QABFR
    GNUTUC0324QABFR
    GNUTUC0324QACHR

    If you need more information, e-mail me and I'll PDF the page and send it to you.

  • 19 years ago

    That explains it - I don't have excel.

    Thanks for the list. I get them the canned food, not the pouches. I'll check it out at work, though, where we do have Excel.

    Sally

  • 19 years ago

    Sally,

    You can get an Excel viewer from Microsoft.

    Go to the link I've attached to download it.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Microsoft Excel Viewer

  • 19 years ago

    Just call the toll free number!

  • 19 years ago

    There seems to be recalls in animal and human foods, one a week. Where I work we carry Diamond brand as well as other brands. When Diamond was recalled due to bad corn, it really affected the lower priced food because the better food does not contain corn. Only the Country Value label has corn. The amount one pays does not assure safety in any food. The manufacturers are getting sloppy. These days eating is an act of faith.

  • 19 years ago

    I suspect the manufacturers have always had problems. The change is in disclosure.

  • 19 years ago

    This link has a dog or cat site you can check the brands involved

    Here is a link that might be useful: Menu Foods

  • 19 years ago

    bump

  • 19 years ago

    You have to have MS excell to read that chart, they can't just create a list in plain text?

    Run up their LD bill. Call

    1-866-895-2708

  • 19 years ago

    I have called that number probably in excess of 200 times since yesterday morning. The number is busy, busy, busy. Why is it so hard to put out a list of the affected foods, numbers, etc.? I have also found that the IAMS site that I am directed won't load, I guess it is overloaded????

    If the food recalled were manufactured for human consumption, you can bet there would be more information available to stem the tide of lawsuits. Because it is confined to pet food/animals, these manufacturers don't think it is as important because they don't face lawsuits. However, they would think it important if their foods were boycotted because of their ignorance and inattention.

    Has anyone been able to get through on the number QQ posted? Just ridiculous and very frustrating.

  • 19 years ago

    Hello. I just buried my cat Rocky on March 12. He was a victim of this tainted cat food and died from severe renal and kidney failure. Rocky was only almost 4 years old and only started getting sick 4 days before he died. I am not somebody that sues people but I sure am going to cause a big issue about this. The news story says 10 deaths and other say undisclosed number. I too have called and called the 866 number but it is always busy. I tried another angle and went directly to their website but all is there is the recall information. Anyone else on here effected by this too? Thanks!

  • 19 years ago

    By the way, you only need Acrobat reader for this information. Go to www.fda.com and click on the link there. I hope this helps.

  • 19 years ago

    Quirky,

    as I posted above, you can download a microsoft Excel viewer that will allow you to see the information on those pages.

  • 19 years ago

    If anybody is in doubt even after downloading the excel viewer just take back your stuff to petsmart or wherever. They'll take anything back even without a receipt and ask no questions at all. We've got a saying around here, if in doubt, throw it out. Except don't throw it out, just take it back and get your money back.

  • 19 years ago

    Fun timing.

    I ran out of canned dog food this evening...

    I only give a little bit on Nikky's dinner, but I'm not going to be buying more.

    I'm going to get some chicken thighs and boil those down with some vegetables and rice and food process the entire bunch.

    That will give me "gravy" for her for about a week.

    I used to do that for both of my girls, but I got out of it a couple of years ago when time got so short.

  • 19 years ago

    iowamember, How do you know? I have a 3.5 yr old cat that has been going through kidney failure. It is maddening to think I might have caused this. I suppose we are lucky that Sadie is still with us. We have been fighting it since Christmas. She just went for tests again this friday and I am waiting for the results.

    So sorry for your loss......