Del Monte Pet Products Voluntarily Withdraws Specific Product Codes of Pet Treats and Wet Dog Food

Del Monte Corporation ^ | 3/31/2007 | Del Monte Press Release

[Political Junkie Too]

Del Monte Pet Products Voluntarily Withdraws Specific Product Codes of Pet Treats and Wet Dog Food Products

SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2007—As a precautionary measure, Del Monte Pet Products is voluntarily recalling select product codes of its pet treat products sold under the Jerky Treats^®, Gravy Train^® Beef Sticks and Pounce Meaty Morsels^® brands as well as select dog snack and wet dog food products sold under private label brands. A complete list of affected brands and products is below.

The Company took this voluntary recall action immediately after learning this morning from the FDA that wheat gluten supplied to Del Monte Pet Products from a specific manufacturing facility in China contained melamine. Melamine is a substance not approved for use in food. The FDA made this finding as part of its ongoing investigation into the recent pet food recall.

The adulteration occurred in a limited production quantity on select product codes of the brands below. This recall removes all Del Monte pet products with wheat gluten procured from this manufacturing facility from retail shelves.

No other Del Monte Pet Products treats, biscuits or wet dog food products are impacted by this recall,and no Del Monte dry cat food, dry dog food, wet cat food or pouched pet foods are subject to this voluntary recall. The affected products comprise less than one-tenth of one percent of Del Monte Pet Products' annual pet food and pet treat production.

Del Monte Pet Products has proactively engaged and fully cooperated with the FDA since the start of its investigation. The adulterated ingredients were used in limited production over the last three months for those items identified by specific product codes. Del Monte Pet Products has not used wheat gluten from this manufacturing facility in China in any other pet products except those described below.

Consumers should discontinue feeding the products with the Product Codes detailed below to their pets.

Del Monte Pet Products are 100% guaranteed and all returned product will be refunded.

Del Monte Pet Products customers can visit our website or contact our Consumer Hotline at (800) 949-3799 for further information about the recall and for instructions on obtaining a product refund.

BRANDED	Production Code/Best By Date
Jerky Treats Beef Flavor Dog Snacks	Code: Best By:	TP7C05 Aug 05 08	TP7B07 Aug 07 08	TP7B08 Aug 08 08	TP7B09 Aug 09 08	TP6B10 Aug 10 08
		Code: Best By:	TP7B15 Aug 15 08	TP7C05 Sep 02 08	TP7C06 Sep 03 08
Gravy Train Beef Sticks Dog Snacks	Code: Best By:	TP7B19 Aug 19 08	TP7B20 Aug 20 08	TP7B21 Aug 21 08
Pounce Meaty Morsels Moist Chicken Flavor Cat Treats	Code: Best By:	TP7C07 Sep 04 08	TP7C12 Sep 09 08

PRIVATE LABEL	Production Code/Best By Date
Ol' Roy Beef Flavor Jerky Strips Dog Treats	Code: Best By:	TP7B06 Aug 06 08	TP7B07 Aug 07 08	TP7C05 Sep 02 08	TP7C06 Sep 03 08	TP7C07 Sep 04 08
	Code: Best By:	TP7C08 Sep 05 08
Ol' Roy Beef Flavor Snack Sticks Dog Treats	Code: Best By:	TP7B19 Aug 19 08	TP7B20 Aug 20 08	TP7B21 Aug 21 08	TP7C08 Sep 05 08	TP7C09 Sep 06 08
Ol' Roy Bark'n Bac'n Beef & Bacon Flavor Dog Treats	Code: Best By:	TP7C14 Sep 11 08
Ol' Roy with Beef Hearty Cuts in Gravy Dog Food	Code: Best By:	BC6M21 Dec 21 09
Ol' Roy with Beef Hearty Strips in Gravy Dog Food	Code: Best By:	BC7A19 Jan 19 10
Ol' Roy Country Stew Hearty Cuts in Gravy Dog Food	Code: Best By:	BC6M15 Dec 15 09
Dollar General Beef Flavored Jerky Strips Dog Treats	Code: Best By:	TP7C06 Sep 03 08
Dollar General Beef Flavored Beef Sticks Dog Treats	Code: Best By:	TP7B20 Aug 20 08	TP7B21 Aug 21 08
Happy Tails Beef Flavor Jerky Strips	Code: Best By:	TPY7B08 Aug 08 08	TP7B09 Aug 09 08
Happy Tails Meaty Cuts with Beef in Gravy Dog Food	Code: Best By:	BC7A29 Jan 29 10

[Danette]

Actually, he's never eaten dog food...He's 10 years old now. I just make extra at every meal. He eats roast, meatloaf, porkchops (no bones), hamburger, steak...anything we're eating. Once in a while he'll eat some veggies and fruit. It's like having another hungry teenager in the house...that's how much he eats!! We love the little dude. Yoshi.

[SkyDancer]

I won't feed my dog what I wouldn't eat ... she eats Nutra Nuggets which is primarily lamb and rice .... no wheat or corn products or chicken, period. She's a Border Collie.

/r/ jane

[Brad’s Gramma]

BTTT!

[Slings and Arrows]

Coming up next: A recall on all products containing dihydrogen monoxide.

[DaughterofEve]

Purina One is now partially recalled!

http://www.purina.com/company/press/2007/MightyDog.aspx

Alpo® Brand Prime Cuts In Gravy Canned Dog Food Voluntary Nationwide Recall
No Dry Purina Products Involved
St. Louis, Missouri, March 30, 2007

Nestlé Purina PetCare Company today announced it is voluntarily recalling all sizes and varieties of its ALPO® Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food with specific date codes. The Company is taking this voluntary action after learning today that wheat gluten containing melamine, a substance not approved for use in food, was provided to Purina by the same company that also supplied Menu Foods.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Links everyone might want to read. Helps to know before you buy:

What's Really in Pet Food

Identifying better products

Ingredients to avoid

Dog Food Ingredients & Nutrition

[tubebender]

I'm not satisfied that the real contaminate has been found yet. I have seen reports that the melimine is parts per million or even parts per billion. Then you have labs saying they have not found any aminopterin in samples as was found earlier. I'm still waiting for another shoe to drop...

[Arizona Carolyn]

Links everyone might want to read. Helps to know before you buy:

What's Really in Pet Food

Identifying better products

Ingredients to avoid

Dog Food Ingredients & Nutrition

[lastchance]

Some years ago a some dog foods were recalled because they contained phenobarbital. Ol Roy was prominent on that list. Roy isn't showing too good of a track record.

[Arizona Carolyn]

This is so hard you people are killing me... please read the links I've given here and get your dogs and cats off 3-D meats.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Your cat likes it because of all the sugar, salt and preservatives in it.... it is very poor quality and cats are obligate carnivores who need real meat no grains in their diets.

[Arizona Carolyn]

The phenobarbitol is because some pet food companies use euthanized dogs and cats in their food; this is no rumor, it was proven by a televison news that went underground t search the truth and in the investigation followed a truck of dead dogs and cats from a pound to a processing plant. They euthanize with phenobarbitol and it ends up in the food.. along with teeth and I've even heard people say they found other dog parts in the dry food over the years.

[Texas Mom]

I'm going to keep feeding my dog table scraps for now.

I'm cooking for my dogs. Got chicken legs and thighs and also some ground beef.. Cook it, add some brown rice.

[Arizona Carolyn]

They don't need the rice, just add some vegetables instead.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Ain't no tellin' what's in the food now days...

[beaversmom]

Did you see this? Gravy Train is part of the products Del Monte is recalling.

[Political Junkie Too]

What'd I do? What's a 3-D meat?

-PJ

[tubebender]

I think I should buy cattle futures because when 30,000,000 Americans start feeding their pets red meat there ain't gonna be enough ribeyes left for weekend grillin and what is left will be $50 a pound...

[Tolsti]

What do you recommend that's not a bank breaker?

[Arizona Carolyn]

3D Meat Stands for "Dead Dying and Diseased" and meets AAFCO standards for dog food. It is the meat we wouldn't eat ourselves. Ingredients such as "meat byproducts" or "chicken byproduct meal."

This meal comes from animal parts that include heads, bones, blood, and organs. Now, from a healthy animal that may not be such a bad thing for our carnivores, but under AAFCO rules it's perfectly legal for the food to contain parts taken from sick or dying animals.

When this meat arrives at a rendering plant the manufacturers grind the byproducts and ship the meal to pet-food makers. The petfood manufacturer combines this meal with things like corn, thickeners (wheat Gluten) guar gum, vitamins, minerals, food coloring, and preservatives, lots and lots of preservatives.

For canned food they heat this "stuff" in a pressure cooker and can the food or seal it in a pouch. For kibble it is heated, dried, and packaged. The expensive brands (not grocery store or WalMart) have fixed formulas; cheap brands (grocery store/Walmart) change recipes according to how the price of ingredients rise and fall. They can decide on a whim to replace corn with wheat, for example, if wheat prices were especially low -- or they get a cheap shipment from China.

We've all been trained to read a label and the first item listed is in the largest proportion in the product.... well, that isn't the case in dog and cat food.... note the FDA allows pet food manufacturers to manipulate the label and list meat or meat byproducts first when in actuality other incredients -- like corn or wheat gluten is the majority ingredient. This allows them to make it look like there is more meat than grain in the food even when it's not the case.

The problem I have with vets is they have virtually no nutritional training, what they do have they get from the manufacturers who also give them scholarships to vet school and our dogs and cats are the losers in the equation..

People think they are saving money buying Purina vs one of the other more nutritional brands (like Nature's Variety or Nature's Logic, but in the end the vet bills more than make up for the savings in food.