Pet Food Recall Updates
Wednesday April 25, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007: China gave the FDA permission to enter the country to investigate the export of contaminated pet food ingredients to the U. S. "The FDA [also] confirmed Monday that it has now opened a criminal investigation into the pet food scandal, but the agency did not name the target or say whether any American companies may have intentionally laced animal feed with banned ingredients."
International Harold Tribune
Tuesday, April 24, 2007:"Thousand of hogs in at least five U.S. states and poultry at a Missouri farm ate salvage pet food that had been laced with the industrial chemical melamine, the U.S. food safety authorities said Tuesday, opening potential avenues for the contaminant to enter the human food supply." Hogs in California, North Carolina, and South Carolina tested positive for melamine, while hogs in New York, Utah, and possibly Ohio, ate the salvage pet food, but have not yet been tested.
The FD is also testing for cyanuric acid, known to be associated with melamine. In addition the FDA intends to begin domestic tests of corn gluten, corn meal, soy protein, rice bran, rice protein concentrate, and wheat gluten imported from China to determine if those products are also tainted with industrial chemicals, although Dr. David Acheson of the FDA's Center for Food Safety said there is "no evidence" those human foods contain contaminated ingredients.
The Boston Globe
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
A House subcommittee investigating food safety heard testimony on food poisoning from witnesses, in a hearing which drew close attention to FDA policies and apparent lack of enforcement. The pet food contamination was also addressed.
CNNMoney.com
In Other News:
International Harold Tribune
Tuesday, April 24, 2007:"Thousand of hogs in at least five U.S. states and poultry at a Missouri farm ate salvage pet food that had been laced with the industrial chemical melamine, the U.S. food safety authorities said Tuesday, opening potential avenues for the contaminant to enter the human food supply." Hogs in California, North Carolina, and South Carolina tested positive for melamine, while hogs in New York, Utah, and possibly Ohio, ate the salvage pet food, but have not yet been tested.
The FD is also testing for cyanuric acid, known to be associated with melamine. In addition the FDA intends to begin domestic tests of corn gluten, corn meal, soy protein, rice bran, rice protein concentrate, and wheat gluten imported from China to determine if those products are also tainted with industrial chemicals, although Dr. David Acheson of the FDA's Center for Food Safety said there is "no evidence" those human foods contain contaminated ingredients.
The Boston Globe
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
A House subcommittee investigating food safety heard testimony on food poisoning from witnesses, in a hearing which drew close attention to FDA policies and apparent lack of enforcement. The pet food contamination was also addressed.
CNNMoney.com
In Other News:
- Sens. Richard Durbin of Illinois and Maria Cantwell of Washington call on the FDA to release the names of the other two pet food manufacturers who received shipments of contaminated rice protein concentrate from China via Wilbur-Ellis importer.
Reuters - Senator Durbin's Office Wants to Hear From You
PetConnection.com
Comments
Regarding this statement: “Sens. Richard Durbin of Illinois and Maria Cantwell of Washington call on the FDA to release the names of the other two pet food manufacturers who received shipments of contaminated rice protein concentrate from China via Wilbur-Ellis importer.” In the Reuters article to which you refer, Senators Durbin and Cantwell are requesting that the FDA disclose the *second* *importer* that has imported tainted rice protein concentrate. That’s a second importer in *addition* to Wilbur-Ellis. It is unknown how many pet food manufacturers use the 2nd importer or who the manufacturers are.
As for the other 2 manufacturers using Wilbur-Ellis, they *have* come forward. They are SmartPak (yesterday) and Drs. Foster & Smith (earlier today). Both have recalled products (see their web sites).
Well, as it turns out, re: the Wilbur-Ellis problem: some of these pet food companies are using the same *manufacturer*. So, there may still be more manufacturers and companies associated with the Wilbur-Ellis recalls as well. Howl911.com breaks this down on their site. It comes down to possible plants in Utah and Kansas still unaccounted for. It never ends.
Margaret says: “In the Reuters article to which you refer, Senators Durbin and Cantwell are requesting that the FDA disclose the *second* *importer* that has imported tainted rice protein concentrate. That’s a second importer in *addition* to Wilbur-Ellis.”
Yes, that’s correct. The article also goes on to say, as I quoted, “Wilbur-Ellis and the FDA declined to name the other two makers. Durbin and Cantwell called on the agency to make those two companies publicly known.”
Margaret goes on to say: “As for the other 2 manufacturers using Wilbur-Ellis, they *have* come forward. They are SmartPak (yesterday) and Drs. Foster & Smith (earlier today). Both have recalled products (see their web sites).”
Of course, by now, we both know that the two companies you mentioned do *not* manufacture their recalled products. They both use Chenengo Valley Foods to manufacture those particular products.
SmartPak PR
F&S PR
>>>>It never ends.<<<<
It’s certainly looking that way, isn’t it?
Franny
Who ever doing this is cruel and our government shouldn’t take this lightly. If this is happening to the animal food, what do you thing might be happening to our food that were eating. The villian needs to be caught so this can be stopped before its to late for all of us.
When all this is finally over with, will people actually be punished and given prison time, or are we looking at
just a slap on the wrists and a fine?
Pets deserve safe food just as much as
people do so how can we now trust any
petfood company with all these sudden
companies jumping in and finally admitting things? If it’s so easy for
poisons or toxins to get into mass quantities of pet foods, isn’t the government concerned about how easily this could happen to people food?Scarey
to think that what we eat or feed our
pets could be poisoned. No excuse is
good enough to justify the death of
any animal and someone should be punished severely for this.
Wow! Is it really this easy to taint our food supply? First they kill our pets and then they give us the poison through ’salvage’ food being fed to the hogs & chickens? I sometimes feel that the best thing to do is move to an isolated area and have enough land to grow what my family eats. Maybe then, the husband, the kitties and I won’t worry about every mouthful. What should your average american do now???
I read today that there are no regulations in production in China & that they are putting melamine, which is made from coal, in because it costs less and is a ‘fake’ filler that shows there is more protein in the product & that they regularly ship contaminated product to other countries, which now includes us! The thing to do is stop importing things we can grow ourselves in this country just to make larger & larger profits for shareholders. Now they are saying it might be in our food supply, when is too much proift too much? WE, the people of this great Country can stop this by writing pet food manufacturers & tell them we will not buy their products as long as they use foreign ingredients. This has to stop. We have 2 cats & 1 6 month old kitten & their lives depend on our choices.
Pet Food Manufactorers: earn my patronage by using no ingredients from China. Other companies, boycott China. For heavens sakes they no only forcibly abort children, they also eat them. They are monsters!
Pet Food Manufactorers: earn my patronage by using no ingredients from China. Other companies, boycott China. For heavens sakes they not only forcibly abort children, they also eat them. They are monsters!
If you look at all the political connections to hog farming in the Carolinas you can bet it is politicians who are buying the tainted products and introducing it into the human food chain via animal feed to make a profit. Greed wins over ethics every time.
One other important point or question: with so many farmers struggeling and many have lost their farms, why did the United States allow purchase of products from other countries when it is already grown here? Isn’t American grown wheat good enough? As to how easy is it to tamper with our food supply, just look at how they did it to the pet foods and that should answer your question. Anything eaten by humans or animals here, should be inspected before being used. I niavely thought that it was. Best thing one can do if your finanaces allow, is buy organic products. Have a small garden and can or freeze things, if you can. There are also many community garden markets where you could buy from and know it’s safe.
I’ve become a Vegetarian and have not eaten meat since January,2007. One important reason is the deplorable way animals are kept and treated in Factory Farms. It’s heartbreaking and disgusting. No wonder the animals are fed any garbage available. Now they’ve been adding poison. We all should take a good look at how animals are treated by humans at these places of Horror. I feel we’re going backwards. Soon we’ll be living in caves again(actually, that might be a good beginning).This entire Pet Food Recall should Never have happened. Hey, who in the world is responsible for getting to the bottom of it?? It’s been months!
Are we really this disinterested in our own food suppy? Why are we giving the crazies in this world access to ours and our pet’s food suppy? I like Laurie’s comment, I think it is time we grow our oun food again. Our ancestors did and I see no reason why we can’t do it again. Importing our food it just stupid. We can get that food here in hte USA, and our farmers benifit too..
Debby’s comment is no different from what people used to say about the Jewish, and thus racist.
However, bottom line is we have to look in the mirror and point the finger at the person we see. We want stuff cheap. We go to Walmart because it’s cheaper. They get stuff from out of our country because it’s cheaper to produce there. We like it becuase it’s cheaper to buy than at a smaller Mom&Pop store who have to charge more to justify their expenses.
Put your money where your mouth is and support your own local businesses. It will cost more - but are you willing to pay that price?
The Buck Stops Here - Senator Patty Murray of WA State!
Your pets were poisoned thanks to unrestricted trade with China and now our human food supply is tainted, too. Who is the biggest promoter of free trade in our government? Senator Patty Murray of Washington state. Check it out on her own website. All that seems to matter to her is the huge amount of money free trade with China brings to the elite of Washington State. (Don’t blame most of us WA state residents: the money does not trickle down!) And don’t blame the average Chinese citizen, either. They are being poisoned, too, and their honest exporters’ websites had warnings about cheap, contaminated grain proteins as far back as 2005. The ethical Chinese business people are being hurt, too, by the criminals that have taken over our foreign trade system.
Here is a link to Senator Murray’s web page about her position on free trade:
http://murray.senate.gov/trade/trade-work.cfm
And here is a link to e-mail her and let her know how trade with China is currently impacting you:
http://murray.senate.gov/email/index.cfm
Let Senator Patty Murray know that we demand safe trade!
How gullible are we?? Green is the name of the game.. Why did the CFO of Menu Foods sell of 14,0000 shares of stock on Feb.26,2007??? Check the dates of the first recalls… It’s “Free Trade”…. yeah,right…
Hopefully the food I am giving my dogs & cats are safe. I have contacted the companies & they tell me they do not deal with China or any other countries. Should I believe them? I am paying more for the food but aren’t pets part of my family? They deserve the best! Hopefully this will be resolved soon & I want to see someone pay big time!
I AGREE - WE DON’T KNOW IF WE CAN TRUST THE PET FOOD COMPANIES AND MANUFACTURERS. THEY NOW STAND TO LOSE A LOT OF MONEY.BUT IF THEY DON’T COME CLEAN NOW, THEY STAND TO GO OUT OF BUSINESS FROM LAWSUITS - IF PETS KEEP GETTING SICK AND DYING. HOPEFULLY ALL OF THIS TRAGEDY WILL CAUSE A GENUINE REFORM IN THE WAY AMERICA DOES BUSINESS. TRYING TO SAVE MONEY - BY IMPORTING QUESTIONABLE FOOD COMPONENTS - IS NOW COSTING MORE IN RECALLS,TESTING AND LAWSUITS THAN COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED.
I am from Hong Kong and also am very disgusted to find out about the contaminated pet food scandal this week while I was surfing the net about IAMS dry food which was recommended to me by a pet shop where I’ve got my new kitten.
Hong Kong rely upons and imports a large amount of vegetable, fruit and fish from China and almost EVERYDAY our governmental laboratories found contaminated substances in even these fresh food. This is a really common thing in China and I don’t need the results to come back to confirm that these manufacturers are indeed misconducting.
It really is a shame especially when they are trying so hard to improve their ‘image’ since 2008 Olympic is coming up soon, but I guess China being so big and whilst economy is shooting up so fast, there are just so much need to be done.
However, as a consolation, I am not sure how much you will appreciate it for them to admit it and broadcast it on the national TV news about these misconducting unethnical manufacturers of all sorts. The Chinese government and the media are working hard to destroy and disclose these manufacturers but unfortunately it will take quite a while.
What you can do about it? Try to be a clever consumers and don’t buy cheap stuff.
Thanks for reading this.
These recalls scare me to death and I’ve been seriously thinking about making my own cat food. While I don’t think the Chinese are monsters, Debby said the truth when it comes to human treatment in China (I heard it from actual Chinese people). Nevertheless, foreign ingredients are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the nasties in commercial pet foods. It has been admitted to contain rendered zoo, animal-control, 4D (dead, dying, diseased, and disabled), and euthanized pound animal carcasses (yes…metal tags, flea collars, and body bags and all) in it. The chemical used to euthanize, by the way, is NOT broken down in the rendering process. On top of all this crap, commercial cat foods are often deficient in taurine, calcium, and other important ingredients (some well over 90% deficient). Scary doesn’t cover half of it and I’m at a loss of what to feed my cats…
Oh yeah….I forgot to include roadkill.
Luckily there are still good brands like Nutro Balance, Innova and Felidae.
I fecently switched to Innova because of this mess My sweet onery Siamese, Precious (she was a throwaway that my son found as she fell out of a tree having been chased up there by someone’s dogs} We had her 14 years & no health problems until a Saturday in Dec where she was sick and died on Monday Bad food? I’ll never know we all miss her badly
Laurie,
Actually Debbie’s comments are neither racist or any way tied to the Jewish people. I believe she was referring to the fact that they eat aborted fetuses Please read the following article. I agree that buying from China is very questionable.
http://www.trosch.org/lif/baby-eat.html
Well per ABC news here, not only has
the tainted food been fed to hogs, but also now the tainted wheat gluten is in chicken feed that was fed to chickens in Indiana. They claim it was watered down so they are NOT recalling the chickens. Ahhh being a vegetarian is suddenly sounding really safe to me.
I want to know if “Royal Canin special Exigent dry food for fussy” cats is ok. here is the ingredient:
Ingredients
dehydrated Poultry meat, maize gluten, animal fats, poultry liver, vegetable fibers, minerals,vegetable oils soya protien isolate, ground corn, brown rice, chicken fat, rice, natural chicken flavor, pea fiber, rice hulls, soy protein isolate, dried beef pulp (sugar removed), dried brewers yeast, soya oil, potassium chloride, dried egg product, sodium silico aluminate, calcium sulfate, fructo-olligosaccharides, DL-methionine, calcium carbonate, salt, choline chloride, sodium tripolyphosphate, taurine, vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), niacin supplement, biotin, riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2), D-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, vitamin A ocetate, vitamin D3 supplement], paprika, borage oil, minerals [zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, calcium iodate], greet tea extract, rosemary extract, naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols, and citric acid
Please help, I’m very much worried
Dr.Fayza, contact the manufacturer of
that catfood and inquire. What I have
read and seen on the news, is that the
wheat gluten and rice gluten and protein
is what was contaminated. You need to
ask where they purchased either or both
to see if any of it was imported. If
your pet has been eating it all along
and so far is ok, maybe just talk with
your vet to ease your concerns. I’ve
switched my cats to all products that
basically don’t have those items in it.
I have also got 2 books loaned to me by
a dear friend on how to make your own
pet foods. That’s something you might want to look into also. I would like to
see pet foods so pure that humans could
consume them with no ill affects. We
spend plenty in the store for it and some are even more expensive than human
foods, so why aren’t these foods as good or not better, let alone safe?
I still think those responsible for all this should have a hearty meal of the tainted food, but that’s just my opinion.
I am furious that this mess is taking so long. What is the PROBLEM! This should have been cleared up bu the companies like Menu Foods (Never will I buy anything from them) and the others that found that there was contamination… now it’s chickens!!! That is what I have been feeding my two beautiful beloved kitties and fish… and US. Who ever is responsible should pay a huge price like jail, loss (permanent) of business, boycotts, riots, eliminated from the planet. Fix this darn mess and remember who is doing a good job and reward the for it… punish BIG TIME those who are not taking this seriously and giving us the ’spin’ talk and doing nothing. For shame. Never again. We will not trust you EVER again. We will take matters into our own hands and you big business
jerks can “eat it”!.
Check the food recall site on Menu Foods now, there are many new ones
recalled as of today. I think there
needs to be a class action suit filed
by those of us pet owners stressed with
worry about their pets and all proceeds
go to benefit no kill animal shelters.
Also these companies involved should be
made to donate safe food to these shelters for 50 yrs and pay for all
medical costs for the animals. Companies
only feel badly when you attact their
bottom line of money.
Any suggestions of a SAFE food to buy??
I’m even unsure of my cat’s “natural foods”.
I say as soon as we find a company that can guarantee safe food, we should all give them and only them our business.
I’ve mentioned my thoughts on this before but I want to know if anyone else feels this way?
Someone, please help me understand ..maybe i’m missing something here?
Why are we being forced to believe the reasons for the recall from the very agencies who have lied to us from the very beginning? They care about money..not our pets. They’re not trying to soothe us, they only care about saving their profits. Why hasn’t an outside group been allowed to investigate this?
Instead of allowing those scumbags to continue lying to us and giving all the media power to them why not expose the pain we’ve indured due to only one reason..MONEY.
When all I hear is “it’s not in the human supply” or “it’s only 1% of the pet food supply” that just infuriates me because it’s as if our pet’s life is the very least of their concern.
As awful as this may be..I bet this country would stand up and take notice if we’re forced to watch the suffering of our pets instead of a bunch of corporate stiffs making excuses. Thousands of lives have been detroyed once again by thoughtless human beings..and for what?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGt7HkzNC68
Watch this video..tell me that is the reason we need to fight this.
Focusing on China is EXACTLY what the industry wants..that’s just not the only problem.
I want to know if that melamine-contaminated chicken found it’s way into the host of cat & dogs food (dry & canned that contain chicken (which is most of them!)!!! Also, to echo Lois Jesek, what about the people who feed their pets a partial, or all, raw-food diet. The chicken, they say, is safe for us, but what about them?! I’ve contacted my local TV station about this, as I have not seen these issues addressed since the tainted chicken was announced!