Posted on 03/20/2007 6:24:16 AM PDT by Wolfie
Tests by Pet Food Maker Killed 7 Animals Before Recall
Of the 10 cats and dogs whose deaths have been linked to pet food that was recalled over the weekend, seven died in a test that the manufacturer began administering last month, the Food and Drug Administration said Monday.
The company, Menu Foods of Streetsville, Ontario, started testing its product on 40 to 50 animals on Feb. 27, one week after it began hearing from owners who said the food had made their pets ill, said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the agency’s Center for Veterinary Medicine.
The company alerted the F.D.A. to its findings last week, and the agency has since opened a full investigation, Dr. Sundlof said. All the animals that ultimately died had begun showing signs of kidney failure, the agency said.
In addition to those seven tested animals, at least three pets have died after eating contaminated food, Dr. Sundlof said, and the number is expected to rise as officials work to confirm the precise number.
Menu Foods manufactures products for brand names like Eukanuba, Iams, Science Diet and Nutro Natural Choice, as well as some store brands for companies including Wal-Mart, Winn-Dixie, Hannaford and Price Chopper. The full list is available from Menu Foods at www.menufoods.com/recall.
More than 60 million cans and pouches of the company’s wet-style food have been recalled. The F.D.A. is focusing on wheat gluten, a protein used as filler in the food’s manufacture, as the likely source of contamination. Menu Foods and Dr. Sundlof said the illnesses had coincided with the timing of the company’s use of a new wheat gluten supplier.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Non-story #304,500,608 from the NYT. If they had a recall for the first test-animal death, few products would ever stay on the shelves. Not every death could be contributed to the actual purpose of the test. Living organisms are highly complex. It would be silly to label any product "faulty" because of a single fatality that is not attributable with a high degree of certainty to that product.
Yes, but were we able to confirm that the taste had improved before they died?
Just to be sure I've put my cats on a diet of mice, small rabbits and song birds from my neighbors bird feeders. They also get plenty of exercise and are happy as can be. /s
mark bump
Bookmarking for later, thanks.
But what about:
a) the dead animals all had kidney failure
b) they're testing pet food, not some shampoo.
To those opposed to using animals in scientific testing it seems this would be a great chance for all those PETA people to step up and volunteer as test subjects......
I have no problem with this testing...provided that the executive who made the decision to switch to the new supplier also eats the tainted food.
I suspect it's worse than we are being told. It usually is.
sw
I get the impression they outsourced the existing supplier from the US to a China supplier.
BTW, I contacted Trader Joe's and asked if their dog food was affected by the recall and they told me no.
Has anyone wondered if this contanimation could be a test by terrorists? - just an unpleasant thought.
I wonder what ingrediant they used.
Excerpt From PDF:
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/Press_Recall_03162007.pdf
March 16, 2007
Menu Foods Income Fund Announces Precautionary Dog and Cat Food Recall TORONTO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - March 16, 2007) -
NOT FOR RELEASE OVER US NEWSWIRE SERVICES
Attention Business/Financial Editors Menu Foods Income Fund (the "Fund") (TSX:MEW.UN) today announced the precautionary recall of a portion of the dog and cat food it manufactured between December 3, 2006 and March 6, 2007. The recall is limited to "cuts and gravy" style pet food in cans and pouches manufactured at two of the Fund's United States facilities. These products are both manufactured and sold under private-label and are contract-manufactured for some national brands.
Over the past several days, the Fund has received feedback in the United States (none in Canada) raising concerns about pet food manufactured since early December, and its impact on the renal health of the pets consuming the products. Shortly after receipt of the first complaint, the Fund initiated a substantial battery of technical tests, conducted by both internal and external specialists, but has failed to identify any issues with the products in question. The Fund has, however, discovered that timing of the production associated with these complaints, coincides with the introduction of an ingredient from a new supplier. The Fund stopped using this ingredient shortly after this discovery and production since then has been undertaken using ingredients from another source.
At the same time, the Fund's largest customer, for which it manufactures on a contract basis, received a small number of consumer complaints and has initiated its own recall.
Furthermore, for the time being, the customer has put future orders for cuts and gravy products on hold. This customer's cuts and gravy purchases in 2006 represented approximately 11% of the Fund's annual revenue.
"We take these complaints very seriously and, while we are still looking for a specific cause, we are acting to err on the side of caution" said Paul K. Henderson, President and CEO, Menu Foods. "We will do whatever is necessary to ensure that our products maintain the very highest quality standards."
While the number of complaints has been relatively small, Menu is taking this proactive step out of an abundance of caution, because the health and well-being of pets is paramount to the Fund.
In addition to changing suppliers, for production after March 6, the Fund has increased testing of all raw materials and finished goods. It is also working closely with regulatory authorities and its customers to learn more and will take whatever additional actions are appropriate. The Fund estimates that based on currently available information, this recall could cost between $30 million and $40 million, which will be financed from a combination of internally generated cash flow and bank credit facilities. Furthermore, the Fund is aggressively producing product, utilizing a different supplier for the ingredient in question, to replenish customers as quickly as possible.
There is a brief, vague story in the Bangkok Times seeming to indicate that the source was Singapore. If anything like this happened to my beloved dog I would be very angry. She eats Yorkie-specific food from Royal Canin. What I don't understand is why they manufactured and shipped huge amounts of this food before the testing was completed.
Who was the wheat gluten supplier, those are the ones who need to be hung out to dry. Maybe they are supplying wheat gluten for human consumption, too. They need to be identified, if they are the culprits. It wouldn't be ADM, would it?
One important question: Who's the suspected supplier?
Follow-up: Why are all news agencies hiding the name of the mysterious supplier?
It's prolly a Chinese supplier, I guess we need to have FDA inspectors overseas, too. I'm worried that those bastards are supplying gluten for human consumption, too.
Top of the hour news just reported now up to 100 brands.
Nothing new on the recall site.
There are currently 52 dog and 41 cat labels listed.....
I think the dog labels were 49 last night when I checked, so maybe some kind of "total" is what is reported?
I did read that the deaths were mostly among their test animals after they first received reports of a problem. I wonder how many there are out in the general pet population?
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