Massive pet food recall---ANIMALS HAVE DIED

[Katie]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pet owners were worried Saturday that the pet food in their cupboards could be deadly after millions of containers of dog and cat food sold at major retailers across North America were recalled.

Menu Foods -- 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, the company 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.

'Cuts and gravy' food sold in cans, pouches recalled
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 December 3 and March 6 throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

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

Menu Foods said it makes pet foods for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies, including Procter & Gamble Co.

Procter & Gamble 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, Kansas, and Pennsauken, New Jersey, 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.

FDA also working to target brands
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.

Below are lists of specific brands recalled by Menu Foods, in addition to Procter & Gamble's recall of certain Iams and Eukanuba products. Menu Brands lists the brands on its Web site, www.menufoods.com, and advises consumers to call 1-866-895-2708 for more information.

Recalled cat foods
Americas Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Best Choice; Companion; Compliments; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog; Food Lion; Foodtown; Giant Companion; Good n Meaty; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Li'l Red; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Nutriplan; Nutro Max Gourmet Classics; Nutro Natural Choice; Paws; Presidents Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Sophistacat; Special Kitty; Springfield Pride; Sprout; Total Pet; My True Friend; Wegmans; Western Family; White Rose; and Winn Dixie.

Recalled dog foods
America's Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Award; Best Choice; Big Bet; Big Red; Bloom; Bruiser; Cadillac; Companion; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat; Shep Dog; Food Lion; Giant Companion; Great Choice; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Mixables; Nutriplan; Nutro Max; Nutro Natural Choice; Nutro; Ol'Roy; Paws; Pet Essentials; Pet Pride; President's Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Publix; Roche Bros; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Springsfield Pride; Sprout; Stater Bros; Total Pet; My True Friend; Western Family; White Rose; Winn Dixie and Your Pet.

========================================



Check you pet's food!!!! My dog is pretty sick right now

[Mr. Snackpants]

Really?!?! That's too bad...hope it gets better.

[Raph's Girl]

Gah... Western Family... hrm... so it's just the "Cuts and Gravy" kind and not the other kind??? like the Delux Dinner or turkey and fish???

[Katie]

I'm disappointed in Iams, Eukanuba (which is the higher end version of Iams) and Nutro. those are premium pet foods. I used to be a manager at a pet store and have an almost 20 year old dog that witnesses the benefit of premium foods.

Now I find out they make the canned stuff in the same factory that cans the low end supermarket stuff. My dogs and cat eat Eukanuba, apparently I would have been better off feeding them from the table. And poor Zoe the hyperactive doximation (and my best buddy in the whole world) is paying the price for me thinking I was doing a good thing for her

[Jo Dawn]

Ah, yeah... I got this from our dear Damnhooligan a few days ago. Sad, huh? Even pet food's not safe anymore.

*is glad her bunnies don't eat wet foods*


EDIT - Man, I suck at telling time, hehe. It's only been a few DAYS, not a week. Time flies by fast enough... I don't need to help it along, any!

[Cascadia]

My dog's food is not on the recall list...he gets Natural Balance, which is natural and extremely high quality. My dog is a Whippet-mix and this type of dog has sensitive systems. He used to be on Nutro, which he developed an allergy from and this food was on the recall list.

[KROW]

Thankfully, we buy Beneful for our dogs, which wasn't on the list. Our husky, Winter, was sick enough as a puppy to have to go through another bout of illness, a possibly fatal one at that.

What surprised me was Ol' Roy was on the recall list. Usually, that brand is pretty reliable.

[Jo Dawn]

Originally Posted by Katie

Recalled dog foods
Companion; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat...

Hahaha, sorry, that made me laugh.

[Cassidy]

Symptoms to look for would include lethargy, loss of appetite, increased drinking, and increased urination.

The list, from what I understand, is growing; so it's a good idea to keep checking the original site's recall list.

[Death's Head]

Human error continues to grow, I'm afraid.

[Jo Dawn]

Yeah, it seems we just keep getting worse and worse, huh? When, really, we should be getting better. Technology seems to be just as much of a curse as a positive.

[CudleyCowlick]

My mom's cousin called me about that, she was concerned because the phone number they gave was constantly busy and she didn't have a computer, so no way to find out if she could feed her animals or not. I hadn't heard, but now I'm all snatching away my poor cat's food until I find out if it's tainted or not, and I spend forever trying to navigate the website, finally finding out the real deal.
Luckily my cat gets Innova, which is great by the way. Full of real meat, grains and vegetables with no fillers, and preserved with Vitamin E. If you love your kitty you should try it.
Oh and my mom's cousins animals were good to go as well.

[Cascadia]

A variety of my dog's brand (Natural Balance) was added to the list. Luckily, my dog is on Duck & Sweet potato. The one that is recalled has rice from China in it.