FDA Probe of Nutro Pet Food
Update 4-29-09:FDA Denies Nutro Investigation
Update 4-23-09: ABC Action News Detroit: “FDA Not Investigating Nutro Foods”
Update 4-22-09: ConsumerAffairs.com & Nutro Pet Foods: Show us the Goods
Update 4-21-09: Nutro Pet Food Denies ConsumerReport.com allegations.
Question: Are the claims made on ConsumerAffairs.com about a NUTRO® FDA investigation and dogs eating Nutro and experiencing health issues true?
Answer: On April 20, ConsumerAffairs.com posted a story claiming that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has an ongoing investigation into NUTRO® pet food. This is not true. We have confirmed with the FDA’s division responsible for regulating pet food, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, that there is no current or ongoing investigation of Nutro Products, Inc.
We want to assure our consumers, associates, retailers, and all those who feed NUTRO® products to their pets that our products are safe and conform to the standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S Department of Agriculture and the Association of American Feed Control Officials. All NUTRO® products undergo rigorous quality assurance testing beginning with raw ingredients and ending with testing finished products. This includes testing to confirm that no melamine, mold toxins, or pathogenic bacteria are detected in any NUTRO® pet foods.
This is becoming a regular "he says; she says" debate, and without visable proof in the form of copies of communications from the FDA, it is difficult at this point to know where the truth lies. More to follow. . .
Original 4-20-09 Post:
The FDA has made a sort of a "sideways" confirmation that it is investigating complaints of the past two years of illness and deaths of cats and dogs after eating Nutro pet foods. The confirmation came by way of denial of a request by ConsumerAffairs.com, which asked for a list of complaints and lab results the agency has collected regarding NUTRO pet food. According to Lisa Wade McCormick, ConsumerAffairs.com, the FDA's Division of Freedom of Information denied the request, saying that "releasing the information could hamper 'prospective or ongoing' action by law enforcement." McCormick's article goes on to say:
ConsumerAffairs.com continues to receive complaints about NUTRO from dog and cat owners nationwide. In the past year, we’ve received nearly 500 complaints from pet owners who say their dogs or cats suddenly became ill after eat NUTRO. The problems these pets have experienced are similar: vomiting, diarrhea, and other digestive issues.
Nutro Pet Foods, owned by Mars inc., has steadfastly denied claims that its pet foods are responsible for these illnesses and deaths. Its Q&A section on the Nutro Pet Foods site states in part:
Q: Why is the quality and safety of NUTRO® products being addressed?
A:
We have received recent isolated reports of inaccurate information posted online regarding the quality and safety of NUTRO® pet foods products. Many blogs and internet sites can be a repository for misinformation and hearsay regarding many topics.Q: What measures does NUTRO® undertake to ensure the safety of its products? A:
NUTRO® products undergo rigorous quality assurance testing beginning with raw ingredients and ending with testing finished products. This includes testing to confirm that no melamine, mold toxins, or pathogenic bacteria are detected in any NUTRO® pet foods.While consumer concerns about NUTRO® product quality are rare, we take every complaint seriously. When we learn of an issue, we work with consumers to obtain information and request that samples of any product in question be submitted for testing at an independent facility. An in-depth review is performed to determine if an issue does exist.
I have been following the complaints about Nutro Pet Foods since April, 2008, with my first blog on the subject, Nutro Pet Food Under Consumer Scrutiny I noted as time passed that of the large number of blog comments, most had to do with dogs, and few if any respondents had followed up with actual testing of the foods in question. I kept an eye of the subject though, as at that time, Nutro appeared on two or three of my lists of premium cat foods.
By August of 2008, when I posted Nutro Pet Food Concerns Mount, I removed Nutro products from all my pet food lists. The clincher was that a good friend had just called me about her cat suddenly starting to vomit and refusing his food. When she took him off the food and gave him cooked chicken instead, the vomiting ceased. When I asked, she told me that he had been eating Nutro. I've been around long enough to know that "safe rather than sorry" had always served me well.
In September of 2008 Nutro announced the voluntary recall of a number of its pet foods for suspected Salmonella serotype Schwarzengrund. I covered that recall, and noted that Nutro appeared nowhere on the list. However, I also noted that many of the symptoms coincided with those reported by consumers complaining about Nutro.
As always, I'll continue to follow the status of the FDA investigations and continue to update here, when indicated.
Comments
A correction to your post, you note:
“In September of 2009 Nutro announced the voluntary recall…”.
By my calendar, it’s currently April 2009. Perhaps you meant September 2008?
Myka
I have been having some issues with the Nutromax Lite formula…. Vomiting right after eating and excessive drinking of water. I am taking him off the food heading your advise… “Better safe than sorry”
Julia and Chris:
If you’re writing about the “Do Cats Cry” poll, 98 people have been able to vote successfully. Our poll tools allow only one vote per IP address. So if you’re voting from work, it may be that someone else from your office has already voted. Otherwise I don’t know what to tell you.
Myka: Thanks for the heads-up. I’ve corrected the date.
Hmmm. Okay, first of all, is the FDA in the habit of just opening up their files for anybody who asks, or do they give the same denial to anyone who requests information about any company — _particularly_ when the requestor is a known flaming site like consumeraffairs.com, which is nothing more than a mass blog full of unsubstantiated opinions. I question the validity of ANYTHING that uses consumeraffairs.com as a legitimate source. They style themselves as an online “Consumer Reports” type resource, and sadly, many are tricked into believing that. But I could go there and post that I found out the Red Cross is actually run by vampires looking for an easy snack, and they’d let me. Others would probably post and agree with me (”I never seem them in the sun!!”) Doesn’t make it true!
Having been owned by several cats myself, I know there are lots of things (food included) that can make a cat sick. *I* made my cats sick a few times before the vet told me I had to gradually switch their food if I was changing brands or flavors, because otherwise they’d start throwing up and getting the runs. I’d have to give them something real bland like chicken or rice to get them back on track.
I’m not saying there’s nothing wrong with Nutro; maybe there is! I’m just doubting your source. It’s not like Nutro could hide it if there were actually something wrong; the FDA says they have to announce it. It’s just recalls that are voluntary (I’m pretty sure, anyway.)
It would be sad to me if a group like consumeraffairs.com proved to have the power to hurt a person or company through slander. That’s all!
First of all, Consumer Affairs contacted FDA and provided a quote with a name, I dont see a quote from Nutro. Second of all, FDA doesnt have to announce a thing if a pet food is found to be bad, they have NO recall authority, do your homework. Pet food companies do not have to advertise if they find something wrong with their food, they can just pull it off the shelves and you may not know anything. Go to various pet food sites, if you look in the background, there are alerts to food problems that they never had to advertise nor tell FDA about. My pet died from tainted food in the 2007 pet food recalls, its amazing what one learns after that happens. The PFC’s do NOT have to notify FDA of anything. I am glad Consumer Affairs is looking out for our pets. Nutro has done this to themselves.
I can not agree with Sam more—except I had two cats poisoned in 2007 from eating cat food—the reporter at consumeraffairs was requesting lab results and consumer complaints through Freedom of Information–for those not aware of this—it is worth reading up on it…it is a good thing! Until pet food co’s are forced to disclose food and ingredient problems, pet owners should be glad there is common place to post experiences. I wish I had known about the site in February 2007 when my first cat suddenly came down with acute renal failure—and to those that were sickened starting in Nov or Dec 2006—Not too many would have criticized the site then!
IMHO, this is an industry which has failed to deal with the risks which occur when lowest costs ingredients are obtained from global sources.
The Pet Food Recall of 2007 demonstrated that PROPER quality assurance and quality control processes don’t exist within the pet food industry.
If you still use commercial pet food, please contact the company, and ask very specific questions such as:
Who manufactures your food? What is the source of your chicken meal? What country does it come from? What tests are performed on it before you use it? What were the test results on the last batch you used? What tests are performed during manufacturing? What were the results? What tests are performed on the finished product? What were the results? Do you post your test results online?
Well, you get the idea.
After the Pet Food Recall, I tried to find a safe commercial pet food, and spent many hours calling pet food companies. With few expections, they were either unable or unwilling to answer questions because “that information is proprietary”.
All I can say is: Those who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.
Sam, I _have_ done homework on this. Per the FDA CFR Title 21, if a product is deemed dangerous, and the company doesn’t do a voluntary recall, they are subject to a court initiated mandatory recall by the FDA. And part of the Recall Strategy approved by the FDA includes a whole section on “Public Warning,” which is generally released BY the FDA.
Any company that tries to pull an Enron and hide something that’s really wrong is NOT a company that is going to survive in our litigious-happy society for long.
You’re painting an entire industry with a broad brush, when odds are not EVERY one out there is a horrible capitalist pig out to destroy our pets and turn a profit at the same time. Until you have all the information (and I’m talking FACTS,) it’s just slander.
I have fortunately not lost any cats to tainted food, and I hurt for those who have. I have, however, had a human friend who got salmonella poisoning from peanut butter. This type of thing impacts everyone; we find out if there’s a problem, and deal with it, then move on with a hair trigger for a while.
I bet nothing will come of this with Nutro. I certainly hope I’m right, and not for my sake, but for the sake of my kitties.
If only there weren’t about 60 lobbists per elected representative in Washington, D.C., maybe more of those CFR’s could be enforced.
Here’s some interesting CFR trivia:
In 1999, Novartis Corporation petitioned the EPA to amend 40 CFR 180.414 by establishing tolerances for residues of the insecticide cyromazine and its metabolite melamine.
The proposed rule is here:
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/1999/September/Day-15/p24047.htm
Please notice that the “EPA also proposes to remove melamine, a metabolite of cyromazine from the tolerance expression since it is no longer considered a residue of concern.The Interregional Research Project (IR-4) and Novartis Crop Protection, Inc., requested these tolerances under the Federal Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996.”
According to folks at EPA, FDA, and USDA, with whom I spoke, even though Novatis’ petition involved melamine as a metabolite of cyromazine, the rule change may have been interpreted by food producers as the “OK” to use melamine as an ingredient in the production of food/food ingredients.
The CFR’s are posted online for all the world to see, so it wouldn’t take much imagination for unscrupulous ingredient producers to take advantage of such information.
Also, we know that less than 10% of imported foodstuffs are inspected at the borders.
So it shouldn’t surprise anyone than melamine has been found in everything from infant formula to pet food.
We are very naive in the USA.
These are all good reasons to make your own food. That way you KNOW what your babies are ingesting.
Let me try to connect the dots.
The EPA announced to the world that melamine is no longer a concern.
The “protein” test used by food producers is 100 years old and doesn’t test true protein. Instead, it tests for nitrogen and infers the protein level.
There’s plenty of nitrogen in melamine.
Pet food companies have inadequate QA/QC procedures, use “least cost” formulation, and refuse to answer questions.
Less than 10% of imported foodstuffs are inspected.
And then, when melamine is discovered in food, there’s “shock and awe” from CEO’s and bureaucrats?
To me, this sounds like a formula for disaster.
ISSUE UPDATE – NUTRO® FDA Investigation Claims by ConsumerAffairs.com
Background
For the past year, ConsumerAffairs.com, a self-described “independent Web-based consumer news and resource center,” not affiliated with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission or Consumer Reports, has been selectively posting consumer complaints and authoring its own statements that draw false links between isolated instances of illness and death among pets, and the consumption of NUTRO® pet food products.
Situation Update
On Monday, April 20, ConsumerAffairs.com posted an article titled “FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses” which asserts that there is an ongoing FDA investigation into NUTRO. According to the reporter, the FDA denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by ConsumerAffairs.com seeking a list of complaints and lab results collected regarding NUTRO® pet food, citing an ongoing investigation wherein “The document(s) constitute record(s) compiled for law enforcement purposes, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”
Since Monday, the blogging community has widely reported on the ConsumerAffairs.com story, and CNN Headline News ran three mentions of the ConsumerAffairs.com story in Tuesday’s early morning news cycle.
Mars contacted the FDA regarding this matter and confirmed with officials from the division that regulates pet food (CVM, the Center for Veterinary Medicine) that there is no current or ongoing investigation of Nutro Products, Inc. At this time, the FDA press office will not issue a statement, but we will continue to monitor the situation and readdress with them if needed. However, the FDA will allow Mars to reactively confirm that there is no current or ongoing investigation.
Action Taken
We sent our updated statement to CNN Headline News in an effort to get them to update their story, and prevent them from reporting further on the ConsumerAffairs.com article. We also provided a response to ConsumerAffairs.com in the hope that they will post our statement and amend their article.
I have received this-above- the article about Nutro is false. I have been feeding my pets nutro for about 5 years now and they have never been in better health. They are much more active and less shedding which is a must for me to have pets as I am asthmatic. I can only try to guess who is behind rumors such as these.
Seth, please elaborate. You say you received the article you posted – from whom? I didn’t see a source listed.
As for my opinion of Nutro – I fed my cats Nutro before it was bought out by Mars and they were fine with it. I switched them to Eagle Pack during the pet food recalls, just in case, and they are in even better health. I like the ingredient list for Eagle Pack much better than Nutro’s current list, and, if their behavior during the food switch was any indication, my cats prefer Eagle Pack. So, while I personally have no negative experience with Nutro, I’m satisfied with the switch.
I have checked directly with FDA. According to their Deputy Director of Communications, there is NO FDA investigation of Nutro Products, Inc.
Please see this post for more details:
http://efoodalert.blogspot.com/2009/04/more-nutro-news.html
Wow. It is unbelievabl that in today’s economy Blogs like consumersaffair.com are further hurting US companies by false tesimonies. I hope Nutro goes after the person or persons and this website for telling false stories. I feed Nutro and will not change because of the awesome coat my dog has. I have used other foods and nothing comes close. Kel
We just brought our dog home from the hospital today with acute end stage kidney failure. He ate ONLY Nutro Natural Choice– no treats, no chews because we don’t trust the source. He started throwing up and exhibiting the symptoms in the article last week. The ultrasound showed no tumors but toxicity is suspected. He stays at home and goes out only in the backyard, supervised all the time. Nutro was great, and our dog’s health was great, right until our last 30# bag….
I called the FDA myself to inquire about the “Nutro investagation” posted by consumeraffairs.com. I was contacted after 2 days directly by an FDA rep to tell me that there is “NOT” a investagation into Nutro products. This website should be shut down for posting slander aganist the FDA and Nutro. It is a shame that someone can post anything on the internet and cause harm to others and get away with it. After the Menu Foods thing in 2007, the government should do something to consumeraffairs.com for trying to cause fear in the people over its flat out “LIES”!
Chris, I think you’re being unfair, for a number of reasons.
Finally, what would you say to the hundreds of people who have reported the death or illness of their pets after eating Nutro? Or those who reported pets becoming very sick after eating Nutro, then recovering when switched to another brand of food?
I wouldn’t know what to say to any of them. However, I definitely would not accuse ConsumerAffairs.com or the people who reported these illnesses and death of telling “flat out LIES.”
What I don’t understand is how people can continue to put their pets’ health at risk by choosing pet foods and treats from a company, like Nutro, that has so much controversy swirling around them. Two years later and Nutro is still making news! Unless you work for Nutro, and feel the need to support them, why else would you buy their products? With the countless reports of pets becoming sick and even dying, isn’t that enough to switch foods before it happens to your pet? Those hundreds of complaints can’t all be false. Even if you believe with all your heart that the product is safe wouldn’t it be wise, for the sake of your pet, to temporarily switch them to another product until this issue is resolved… just incase it’s all true? Isn’t your pet worth that much? Do you really want to take a chance of buying the next bad batch? People would switch baby foods in a heart beat if a particular baby food company had as many cases making babies sick. It’s not like Nutro is our only choice. People get way too technical about how the FDA operates and how other companies, like consumer affairs, reports issues like this. Regardless of our complaints, IMO, these companies will always operate in a way “they” think is best. So, in the meantime, while these companies are working this out (or not), why not feed your pets a food from a company with less controversy? Your pets are sooo worth it!
Thank you so much, Lynn! Your comment is like a breath of fresh air. Your reasoning is very similar to mine when I removed Nutro from my recommended lists of canned and dry cat food. Although there is still no empirical evidence that the food is at fault, I couldn’t take the chance with my own cats nor those of my readers.
Frankly, I wish the FDA would investigate these reports. It could then either clear Nutro pet foods from the cloud of suspicion. OR it could pinpoint the cause of these reports of sickness and deaths, and if it was something in Nutro’s formulas, the company could take steps to correct it.
Thanks again!
To Franny,
Wouldn’t it be nice if the FDA (and whoever else is in charge of regulating) could think the way we do? If they could put a stop, at least a temporary one, to the production of a product on the grounds of probability (due to the numerous complaints… all of which seem to garner the same symptoms), I imagine companies would think twice about tainting their products or accepting the tainted ingredients. The money they would lose, due to a standstill, wouldn’t be worth it for them. Not to mention the vital example that would be set forth for all companies. Because it is (seemingly) obvious these companies CAN get away with it, they will continue to do so. Of course some people don’t believe this is the case with Nutro. After two years of (continued) complaints, sicknesses and even deaths of beloved pets from this company, I beg to differ. Just look at the history of this company, it isn’t good. If I owned a company that manufactured pet foods and I had nothing to hide, but was being accused of killing pets, I would personally invite the FDA to come and take every toxicology test imaginable and I would air the results live on the news. Also, if I were innocent but had suspicions of potential toxins going into my products I would pay the FDA to perform tests for the sake of millions of pets and not sweep the issue under the rug. Our pets are so vulnerable and at our mercy to feed them. The inhumane shenanigans with the pet food industry are unforgivable. Sorry, this topic upsets me very much… I had to vent!
I’m sure I speak for many people when I say, “Thank You, Franny!” for having our pets best interest in mind when you decided to remove Nutro from your recommended list. Your consideration is very much appreciated… as is not the case of another website, created by a woman who has absolutely no credentials, in which her ratings of Nutro products are still available for the public to view, causing unnecessary confusion. Many of her readers have asked her how she can rate a Nutro product so highly when it has been recalled and she has told them it is an older rating and needs to be revised. People not taking the time to ask her this will surely be misled into buying a product that will potentially make their pets sick or die… So, having said that, I thank you again, Franny, for being responsible to your readers.
God bless you!
I think Nutro is a low-grade dog food in the first place! It is certainly not a quality dog food! I have never fed my dog or cat any Nutro products, nor would I ever, that is half of the problem with dog and cat owners, they buy whatever is the cheapest and Nutro definitely is cheap! The saying is true, “you get what you pay for”! Now, I’m absolutely not saying that only cheap dog and cat food can be bad or tainted, not at all, but it certainly is more likely that they will be contaminated, rather than the more expensive, higher quality brands would be! Which is the only brand, when I did feed my dog dog food that I would ever buy, no matter what the cost! I fed him the same kind all of the time! I stopped once and for all though feeding him dog food all together, and I absolutely positively never, ever, ever will feed him any kind of dog food ever again! I do not now and will never trust the idiots that make dog food, they cannot be trusted with the health and safety of my baby!! Hell NO!! Even if the food is not contaminated, it still is nothing I want to feed my pet, they put all kinds of disturbing, gross and odd things in pet food, dog and cat food alike! I’ve heard and read things like newspapers, dead animals, roadkill, whatever is laying on the floor you know, kinda whatever gets them to fill their quota and fill that can!! It is nasty, disgusting and so unforgivably horrible to knowingly put these things into pet food, I mean, what kind of people are they?!! If you are in the business of doing things for animals, wouldn’t you think that maybe you had a little heart or a little compassion or empathy at that?! Obviously, in some cases though, I guess, obviously, NOT!!
How damn sad! Not to mention, our pets’ food does not even get checked out correctly or at all for that matter, like the other person here posted, there is no quality control for pet food! WHY??!! Why the hell not! They deserve good quality food that doesn’t have any chemicals or foreign objects too, right?!
I will never again feed my dog any dog food! I cook him his own food, every single day, he gets either hamburger, whole wheat brown rice and carrots or green beans, or chicken breast with the latter as well!! That way I can do my own quality control and I know the quality is what is good and healthy and most importantly SAFE FOR MY DOG!!! I wish all pet food makers could be like that, hopefully, one day they will all be like that!!
God Bless all of the poor dogs and cats that lost their lives to idiot morons greediness and utter stupidity!!
I hope they all get swine flu!!
Dogs and cats rule!!
Earlier this week I picked up a bag of Nutro Max Adult Roasted CHicken Flavor dry cat food from PetCo. The bag says it’s best when used by 09 01 10 27
My 12 year old Calico has been enjoying their canned food for about a year now but she doesn’t seem to be keeping on as much weight as I would like. I was hoping some dry food would give her some extra calories.
Probably within a day of first feeding this to her she began running around the house coughing up vomit. Although she frequently does some “recreational vomiting” I had never seen her like this in the 11 1/2 or so years she’s shared my apartment.
The following day the cat who normally pokes me starting around 5 am demanding food was suddenly nowhere to be found. I finally found her sleeping in a box. Her litter box was particularly stinky and she refused to eat anything more for a day.
She seems to be better today, eating normally and back to her 5 am routine but I haven’t given her any more dry Nutro Max dry food. She’s an indoor cat, not a chewer, and not exposed to any other cats or disease, so it seemed like the change in her diet was the most likely cause. I decided to google Nutro Max Cat Food to see if anyone else had a similar experience. … lo and behold!!
I understand how some people can think Consumer Affairs.com is not a good site. I, personally, am grateful it is there. I was dealing with a dog who was lethargic, vomiting, forcefully expelling a unpleasant discolored “water” from his bowels, sad, droopy, and obviously in pain when I tried to pet him. After going through the house trying to find the culprit, to no avail I decided to call Nuto to see if they changed their formula. He had previously been on lamb and rice, switched to lite and in the process of switching to sensitive stomach. I looked for the website on-line and found consumeraffairs.com. For those of you who think that anyone could post any garbage think of the people, like me, who read some stories, realized they were talking about MY dog and telling me what helped them. I IMMEDIATELY changed his food and he came back to me. Not completely, I’m finding that he has recurrences when he loses weight (he was a 25 pound pug, down to a low of 16 and regaining slowly). The part that bothers me the most is that no one wants to listen. I’ve been to 4 vets, including a specialist and they all have said that he needs exploratory surgery and biopsies. They also all say he’s not clinical for his low red blood cound, low protein and anemia. He has had so many blood tests to check the basics, it’s frustrating. I have a couple of other tests I want them to do – I am really thinking pancreas issues. That seems to be a frequent diagnosis from other people on CA and from what I’ve read on it I would like him to be tested. Still hoping for answers…