Posted on 03/23/2007 8:51:25 AM PDT by RDTF
ALBANY, N.Y. — Rodent poison has been found in pet food blamed for the deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs, 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 recall of 60 million cans and pouches of pet food produced by Menu Foods and sold throughout North America under 95 brand names. There have been reports of kidney failure, some fatal, in pets that ate the recalled brands. The company has confirmed the deaths of 15 cats and one dog.
Menu Foods last week recalled "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food. The recall sparked concern among pet owners across North America. It includes food sold under store brands carried by Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and other large retailers, as well as private labels such as Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
One would hope they should know the source soon given the new Homeland Security regulations for food plants.
from another story:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2975912&page=1&US=true
"A source close to the investigation tells ABC News that the rodenticide, which the source says is illegal to use in the United States, was on wheat that was imported from China and used by Menu Foods in nearly 100 brands of dog and cat food."
More love from China and Walmart. They even want to kill our pets.
Wheat from China
hmmm?
"Terrorism has already been ruled out!"
Not....by....me.....
;-)
At first the idea of it being accidental didn't seem plausible but these companies buy their ingredients in bulk. I suppose it's possible that one of their suppliers screwed up. After all, it would have had to be a large amount of poison.
Time will tell I guess.
They must have put it on the wheat in a warehouse or something and they obviously put a lot of it.
Sabotage. Good luck finding the criminal.
~~~~
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2975912&page=2
Yes, they do. I hope their next try isn't a people food factory.
Carolyn
That was my initial thought, but warfarin causes bleeding...the kidney failure didn't make sense. With further reading down the thread, I see it is some sort of rodenticide not approved in the US, from China.
By the way, we used this product to exterminate mice in our garage. Unfortunately, we found that our little female American Eskimo puppy loved the product. We called the vet and he advised us to give the dog a couple of tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide. Did it work? You bet! After about three minutes, up it came.
You know....on a board in the SunSentinel newspaper.....one guy said that the Bush Admin recently loosened the FDA standards on pet foods? Does anyone know?????
When you are buying your Easter candy this spring, be sure to check the label. A suprising amount of it is coming from China, especially anything with a tie-in (Spongebob, Barbie, Dora, etc.). This holds true for Halloween and Christmas candy, too.
I check all my labels now, since I found some apple juice brands import their juice from China.
One would think that rat poison would be more expensive than the ingredient being adultrated. Not a cheap exercise by someone.
I note that the answers are coming from the states, not the Canadian corporation. I wonder how long they've known what the cause is, and why they haven't let folks know.
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