Today's pet food recall news

[Critters2]

For all the latest recall news, go to www.itchmo.com

Full details:
http://www.itchmo.com/read/nutra-nugget-recalled_20070522

NEW RECALL: Nutra Nuggets Lamb Meal and Rice Dry Formula for Dogs Recalled
May 22nd, 2007

We have been able to confirm that Nutra Nuggets (made by Diamond Pet Foods) is recalling their Lamb Meal and Rice Dry Formula for Dogs with the Best Buy dates of October 9-10, 2008. We spoke with a vet at the Nutra Nuggets recall line and he said that so far, they had only heard of 2 cases in which the dogs had renal diseases (confirming the news report from yesterday).

He said that it was due to cross-contamination due to food being produced for Natural Balance (Natural Balance had recalls in mid-April). At this time, he said that no other food produced by Nutra Nuggets was being recalled.

[ceile]

1. Just got this from Hill's:

Good. My diabetic cat only eats Hills.


"The people of Hill's are committed to earning your trust every day. As pet nutrition professionals and pet owners, we love animals as you do. Because of this, we work extremely hard to deliver nutritional products that promote the well-being and long life of your pets as well as our own.

So it is extremely troubling to Hill's people that even a single pet would ever be exposed to harmful ingredients, as has happened with the recent industry recalls. That's why we are determined to continue to lead the industry with further initiatives to safeguard pets:

Hill's is working to ensure that the very few ingredients we now get from outside North America will in the future be obtained only where food safety procedures are most reliable. In the meantime, we will continue to test all ingredients rigorously.
In honor of the special relationship we have with pets, Hill's is providing a one million dollar grant to fund a major collaborative effort among key leaders in the veterinary profession to help ensure improved pet health in the future.
Hill's is actively supporting the National Pet Food Commission in their efforts to improve pet food safety throughout the pet food industry.
We do all these things in our continuous improvement efforts to offer your pet the best food possible. You've trusted our brands for nearly sixty years because they promise:


Safety First — Our rigorous safety procedures are the foundation for your
pet's well-being.
The Best Nutrition — Precisely balanced nutrition through continuous research
and innovation to meet the specific needs of your pet.
Great Taste — The delicious taste pets love, in the varieties of flavors
you like.
Outstanding Value — The cost per day of feeding our food is less than
you think.
Highest Quality — The highest quality food backed by your veterinarian's
endorsement and our 100% guarantees.

Our commitment means simply this: you can confidently feed our products to the pets you love. We value the special love that comes from pets and the happiness they bring. Because of this, we continually strive to provide the food choices that will extend the relationship you share with your pets. This is the promise I've made to my cats, Kipper and Spot, and the promise I'm making to you and your pets.


Bob Wheeler
Chairman & CEO"

[Critters2]

2. If they're still buying ingredients from outside North America

I won't be buying their stuff. My "buy local, buy organic" rule applies to pet food, too. For my pets' safety.

[ceile]

3. I think about my pets' safety as well.

I have a diabetic cat that requires a special diet and for the time being Hill's is what I can afford that I KNOW will keep his sugar in check.

[Critters2]

4. I do understand that.

My cat has flutd and was on Hill's. When I raised concerns with my vet, he switched him to another brand.

[ceile]

5. What organic brand do you use? n/t

[Critters2]

6. I use Wysong, which uses some organic ingredients, and buys

ingredients from local farmers in Michigan and Wisconsin where their plants are located. They also manufactured two canned foods at the Menu foods factory, but have stopped that for now--and none of those foods were recalled. I won't feed the canned foods until I'm sure they're not going to go back to Menu foods. I've talked to people there, and they are trying to source more things organically, and they say (I'm a wee bit skeptical) that more ingredients are organic than the packaging says, but when this current run of bags is done, the newly printed ones will reflect that. The thing I like is that they identify the factories that make their prescription foods (I've tried, but Hill's won't say where their food is made--which does not inspire confidence), and they understand the importance of local ingredients. They own the factories that make this food. Unlike Hill's which contracts out their manufacturing. Wysong also encourages supplementation with fresh foods, and for this I buy organic and local (I have parishioners who raise organic chicken, eggs, and beef--I buy from them).

I wish there were a company making a fully organic prescription food line, but Wysong is the closest there is for now. My other pets eat Pet Promise (petpromiseinc.com) which uses overwhelmingly organic ingredients. I have friends in Iowa who raise Bison for Pet Promise, so again, I know where the ingredients come from.

[napi21]

7. I just spoke to two people at Diamond Pet Foods.

I wanted to know just how this could happen?

Here's what I was told.

Diamond Pret
Foods only buys their wheat & rice gluten from US manufacturers. The possible contamination originated with a Natural Balance dog food product that they manufacture FOR Natuaral Balance. Natural Balance supplies all the raw materials. The production run of Nutra Nuggets was the next product on the production line after they ran the Natural Balance product. They are getting the test results back tomorrow from an independent lab that will confirm or deny if the Nutra product was really contaminated.

There is uncertainty about what product was fed to the pets who were reported to have renal failure from the Nutra product becasue the owner didn't have the bag or sales slip from Costco anymore and wasn't sure which product she fed the dogs for sure...only that she had purchased the dog food from Costco.

I told this person I would call back tomorrow to find out the test results.

The other thing I asked was what in the world kind of production procedures they use? I worked in a food mfg. environment for 13 years, and I KNOW that a good mfg. operation COMPLETELY CLEANS the mfg. equipment before changing to another product run. I didn't really get an answer to that question, only that she agreed with me. I also suggested that in the future, they don't let any other companies provide the raw materials for any products that they are going to manufacture. I realize the buyer of the RMs are responsible for testing them, but if they do a poor job, YOU as the mf.g are drug into the mess!

I'll let everyone know what I find out tomorrow!

[Critters2]

11. Thanks for researching this!! nt

[SoCalDem]

15. Isn't corporate cannibalism great.?

:puke:


I'm thinking that if you RUN a damned petfood company, then you ought to MAKE IT YOURSELF..not just farm it out to the lowest bidder and have them slap your label on it.:grr:

This lowest-bidder stuff is throughout our whole industry base..not just foods.

When a Tv craps out because the company used imported cheapo components, it's irritating, but when pets & people you love get sick and/or DIE, it's a whole other thing..


We NEED a corporate accountability law, and if companies cannot be trusted to use proper diligence, they need to have their company shut down..not just sold off to the next corporate raider.

We have Reagan to thank for this shit.. We had dogs during the reagan years, and I remember there being MANY different companies making dog food...not just a few making many VARIETIES of foods..

[napi21]

16. I doubt Natural Balance was looking for the lowest bidderin this case.

I don't know for sure, but my guess is they wanted someone to mfg. a product that required a specific technology that Diamond had and they didn't.
The problems here seem to be two.

1. Diamond let Natural Balance supply the raw materials and assume all the responsibility for their finished product.

2. Diamond didn't perform a thorough cleaning of the equipment during a changeover to another product.

The first problem isn't really Diamond's fault, allbeit they will have to suffer the bad publicity for taking the risk of not testing the raws materials themselves.

The second problem IS Diamond's fault, and I told them so!
Any good mfg. always does a complete sanitation cleaning between changeovers, specifically to prevent cross-contamination!

The major problem I see in this whole mess is that we can't really trust ANY manufacturer! I sure don't! I've been making my own moist pet food since this whole thing began, but I can't find any recipe's for making any dry food. I've been feeding my furkids Kirkland Chicken, rice & vegies for about 2 years, and so far there have been no problems with it, but that doesn't give me much comfort. My supply is all gone now and I have to replace it with something. I haen't decided yet wether to buy another bag of Kirkland or to try something else. I just don't feel that I can trust any of them!

I have 4 furkids. Ages 17, 13, 6 & 5. The younger probably would be able to withstand ome illness and still survive, but the older babies wouldn't! It's a very frightening situation!

[Shallah Kali]

18. Who to believe? WilburEllis sold rice gluten to Diamond. Natural Balance denies ever using riceglut

Natural BAlance denies ever using rice gluten. Natural Balance and several other companies including Diamond had stuff made for them by American Nutrition & say AMI added rice gluten without permission. AMI said they DID call for it.

and so we have another recall not from any of the companies checking for toxins after finding just about every brand has toxins in it many from cross contamination. Why the heck aren't they looking if they really do give a darn about their customer's pets? How many more recalls do there have to be to outsiders testing for them to do the right thing???

[movie_girl99]

23. will you make sure to post what you find out?

we were feeding our dog the Kirkland/Costco brand canned food until I read it was recalled. I had my dog tested (blood & urine) and he checked out fine. My vet said he wouldn't recommend any canned food because everyday there is a new recall everyday. He said if our dog wouldn't eat kibble alone, to boil some chicken and add that to it.

[Duer 157099]

26. Damn. I feed my dog the Costco lamb/rice food

and I was nervously awaiting this sort of thing... even though I was cautiously optimistic because I was assured that they didn't use Chinese ingredients.

GOD DAMN IT

[EFerrari]

8. Thank you for putting this up, mycritters.

All six of us are grateful. :(

[Critters2]

12. You're welcome

I hope all six of you are well!

[KoKo]

9. Seems the Media is asleep on this. More pet food recalls and they just

give a big ho-hum or don't mention it at all. Thanks for the post. I sometimes think only DU is following these recalls.

[cosmicdot]

10. recommended

thanks for posting

here's another Itchmo link to the Nutra Nuggets info
http://www.itchmo.com/read/dry-dog-food-nutra-nuggets-not-on-recall-list-test-positive-for-melamine_20070522

I hope someone posted last Friday night's news' dump recall info ...

in case someone missed it:

More Recalls from Chenango Valley Pet Foods
http://www.itchmo.com/read/new-recalls-more-recalls-from-chenango-valley-pet-foods_20070518

[Critters2]

13. Thanks! nt

[StarryNite]

14. Thank you for keeping us

up to date on this dreadful issue.

[Catshrink]

17. Does someone have a link to recipes for pet food?

This stuff is scaring the crap out of me and I don't want my fur babies to suffer. I won't cook for myself, but I'll move mountains for them.

[cosmicdot]

20. this group might have info

Yahoo Group: Totally_Home_Cooking

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Totally_Home_Cooking

[alstephenson]

24. We have a PETS forum here on DU, too...

There were several threads on the DU PETS forum with recipes. Everyone, please cross-post your pet food recall information there. Thanks!

[canetoad]

25. Hey! I just posted this an hour ago

over in the pet forum. I've started making my own dog food and have not looked back.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=243x26282

[cosmicdot]

19. Menu Foods updates the May 2nd Canadian list

items should have been on the May 2 list
`````````````````````````````````````````

Recall Expansion: Menu Foods Adds Two More to Canadian Recall List

In a press release dated today, Menu Foods has added two more items to their Canadian recall list:

1) Western Family Canada Chicken Cuts/Gravy canned dog food dated December 11, 2009 to March 7, 2010 (624g)

2) Western Family Canada Chunks of Chicken/Gravy canned cat food dated December 11, 2009 to March 7, 2010 (374g)

Menu Foods said that these two items should have been added to their recall expansion on May 2 and just recently noticed that they were omitted.

~snip~

http://www.itchmo.com/read/menu-foods-adds-two-more_20070522

[WiseButAngrySara]

21. Nutro is not the same as Nutra? So confusing, all of this. ....n/t

[Critters2]

22. As I understand it, they are not the same. nt

[Duer 157099]

27. I just spoke with my local Costco manager

He was completely unaware of this, and is going to contact corporate for the scoop and has promised to get back to me.

DAMN!!!

[Duer 157099]

29. He was really good, called me back twice already with updates

Apparently the Costco notice just went up within the past hour.

He said they pulled all their stock, even though it's not in that date range.

I'm so lucky! I live in CA. I bought a bag of this food in mid-April! And I threw away the bag after I emptied it into a plastic container, so I don't even know if it's the "bad" stuff.

He said just put it in a garbage bag and return it.

[Duer 157099]

28. Here's the recall notice from Costco's website:

http://www.costco.com/Service/FeaturePage.aspx?ProductNo=11223793

I posted this in LBN

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2856774&mesg_id=2856774

[cosmicdot]

30. Lab reports cyanuric acid in unrecalled dry food

Itchmo Update

EXCLUSIVE: Lab Reports Cyanuric Acid In Unrecalled Dry Food

UPDATE: The company that tested the food requested that we remove the image of the report from this post after being contacted by Proctor & Gamble, the parent company of Iams.

UPDATE 2: We received a call from an Iams spokesman. We have update the story with their response.

UPDATE 3: We believe the bags in question are located in the Denver area.

ORIGINAL POST: Itchmo has learned that a toxicology test reported the presence of cyanuric acid in an opened bag of what is alleged to be Iams Large Breed dry dog food.

According to the report obtained by Itchmo, the results have been certified by a forensic toxicologist. We have obtained a copy of the toxicology report. Iams Large Breed does not list rice protein concentrate or wheat gluten as ingredients.

In response, Iams says they are “fully confident” that no cyanuric acid or melamine entered their products. They also defended their “exceptional response” to handling customer complaints. When asked if they were testing for melamine and cyanuric acid after the manufacture of their products, Iams said that they were “constantly improving their quality control processes.”

We cannot stress this point enough: This test was performed on a sample from an opened bag. We do not know if this is an isolated case of contamination before or after the sale, or if it is widespread.

This information requires verification and we are asking for your help.

Itchmo is asking you to find an unopened 20 lb. bag of Iams Large Breed dry dog food that matches the lot number: 260608 70574173 F4 US30940 with the expiration date of 6/26/08.

If you find an unopened bag, please email us at [e-mail] and we will provide further instructions. If it’s the right bag, we will pay for the cost of the bag of food, shipping and testing. There will be no cost to you.

If an unopened bag is found and tested, we will release the results as soon as they become available regardless of the outcome.

http://www.itchmo.com/read/lab-reports-cyanuric-acid-in-dry-food_20070524