Pet-food recall: Let’s look at the timeline
By Gina Spadafori
March 19, 2007
The Associated Press just moved a story with more than a hint of what could have happened if things had been handled differently:
As many as one in six animals died in tests of suspect dog and cat food by the manufacturer after complaints the products were poisoning pets around the country, the government said Monday.
OK, pets have been reported dead, so Menu Foods decides to feed the foods to their own in-house animals:
Menu Foods told the FDA it received the first complaints of kidney failure and deaths among cats and dogs from pet owners on Feb. 20. It began new tests on Feb. 27.
During those tests, the company fed its product to 40 to 50 dogs and cats and some seven animals — the mix of species was not immediately known — died, Sundlof said. The contamination appeared more deadly to cats than to dogs, he said.
Timeline … almost a MONTH AGO the company was getting reports of pet deaths. THREE WEEKS AGO, they tested the product and found one in six pets died in their own laboratories.
And the product was recalled … when? Oh yes, March 16. According to the AP, that’s almost a month after pets started dying.
Here’s the rest of the story. And this piece (thanks, vetcetera) reveals that the widely reported “10 confirmed dead” were the animals who died the testing. Yes, I know that’s because those animals had their variables controlled, but still …
Update: Thanks to Nikki from Howl911.com for this incredible addition to the timeline from the Canadian Press (I moved it up from the comments section, because it’s just too stunning to be overlooked.):
Starting in December, concerns began filtering back to the company through toll-free customer lines about the “cuts and gravy” style pet food.
[...]
One large customer in the United States initiated its own recall after receiving complaints and put future orders for the products on hold.
December. December. December. How many pets died because of the decisions made to press on? We may never fully know.
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“Menu Foods told the FDA it received the first complaints of kidney failure and deaths among cats and dogs from pet owners on Feb. 20.”
My 7 year old malamute mix got sick Feb 01 after eating Priority country stew canned food. I had to euthanize her Feb 15th. She gave me 7 years of love, support and smiles. I wanted 7 more.
Comment by TLRobinson — March 19, 2007 @ 5:52 pm
One in six? I knew the numbers were going to be huge after this was all over, but I didn’t think it would be that high. I hope it doesn’t end up that high. :(
Comment by Janine — March 19, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
I hope so, too, Janine! I hope so, too. I’ve struggled through the day reading all the e-mail from people who have lost pets. I have to step away for a while now … gotta take a break.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — March 19, 2007 @ 6:40 pm
It’s much worse than this report suggests. Canadian press reported that Menu Foods began receiving pet owner complaints as far back as December 2006, but took no action until one of their large U.S. contract customers put all future orders from Menu Foods on hold and initiated its own recall. So, it apprears, Menu Foods chose to blow off the complaints of scared pet owners who called in complaints and only chose to act when forced to do so because of the recall initiated by one of their large contract customers.
Interestingly, Menu Foods reported the U.S. media AND the FDA that they, Menu Foods, received their FIRST complaints of food-related illness and kidney failure on February 20, 2007 — nearly TWO MONTHS after that which was reported in the Canadian Press. So did Menu Foods LIE to the FDA about when they first began receiving complaints? You be the judge:
Canadian media: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/565102.html
U.S. media & FDA: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17650075/
Comment by Nikki — March 19, 2007 @ 6:51 pm
I adopted my little boy 2 years ago when he was ten. After 2 years of becoming a son to me and my partner he was subjected to food that was tainted, and now has passed. Being fed this food over a period of time he was taken within days. Why? Because of a company supplying subsidiary companies a product that has now not only hurt but killed beloved pets who are children to their owners. I am outraged! I promised my boy I would do everything I could. F.Y.I. to everyone, there is a group started under Yahoo for a class action suit against this company. It is not about any money, we NEED to make this injustice right for our companions!
Comment by CJ & Scooby — March 19, 2007 @ 8:17 pm
CJ & Scooby, I am so sorry for your loss. It is a grievous injustice that was done to you and so many (thousands?) others.
To all, a link to the class action yahoo group CJ & Scooby mentioned is on the http://www.howl911.com website, along with a comprehensive collection of news, lists, phone numbers and more, all relating to this tragedy.
http://www.howl911.com
Comment by Nikki — March 19, 2007 @ 8:25 pm
If this December thing is indeed true- and I’m banking it is, seeing as they began manufacturing the questionable food on December 3, and noting how quick the onset of renal issues were.. the food that poisoned my cat (manufactured in late December) probably never should have been shipped out.. let alone sold to me FIVE DAYS AGO.
Not to mention, December aside.. they had tangible proof as of March 3 that this stuff was toxic, yet no recall was issued until the 16th? What on earth were they waiting for?!
I wonder how long this would have been allowed to go on, had P&G not made the decision to go forward with its recall. If P&G- who apparently account for roughly 11% of the food produced by Menu annually- had already received 20+ complaints of kidney failure associated with their products prior to the recall, I can only imagine how many complaints Menu must have received regarding the rest of its stock. Yet, they still didn’t feel the need to pull the stuff?
This is absolutely appalling.
Comment by Gwen — March 19, 2007 @ 9:02 pm
It makes me sick that they fed their tainted, poisoned food to “test” subjects in their labs. Why not try testing their food and seeing what the hell is in it and not subjecting animals to suffering? And maybe if MENU FOODS cared just a little about the people putting money in their pockets then they would have sent out an alert in January and my cat might not be in severe kidney failure. THANK YOU MENU FOODS. I will forever link you to to the theft of people’s beloved companions. I hope that Nutro and all the other brands FOREVER cuts ties to this place and they go out of business.
Comment by Rio — March 19, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
Lets just hope there isn’t something wrong with the dry food too. I’m sorry for everyone’s loss and i will be calling my local pet store to make shure they have taken these products off the shelves.
David
Comment by David — March 19, 2007 @ 10:43 pm
I, too question the need to feed the stuff to unsuspecting test subjects. I’ll be honest, I don’t know the first thing about what would qualify as proper testing protocol in an instance like this. For all I know, maybe it’s standard operating procedure. But it seems wholly unnecessary, IMO, to have put those animals through this.
Comment by Gwen — March 19, 2007 @ 11:52 pm
While I sympathize with those who wish to reduce suffering to animals, I can’t agree with some of the comments here that Menu should not have tested the food on other animals.
First, kidney failure has many causes. Menu had to confirm a link between their food and the adverse events. That often can’t be done just from random bits of epidemiological data (i.e., the reports they had from pet owners).
Second, simply testing their food might seem like an obvious step and for all we know it is one that Menu undertook, but consider that probably millions of potentially toxic compounds exist. I’m no toxicologist, but I suspect even working through a list of the most common toxins could take weeks or months. Far better to try to narrow the list so that you can better target your area of testing. That means you need to know what the food is doing to the animals (what changes it is causing in the kidneys and other internal organs). Why couldn’t they use already deceased animals? Well, for all we know, they might have. But I can see a simple reason why they might not have been able to: Toxins break down over time, some quite quickly. They would have had no guarantee that any of the deceased animals would still have traces of toxins.
Please understand, I’m no fan of industrialized food production and companies such as Menu, and I think that animal testing is in many cases unjustified. However, I feel based on what little is known at this point that the testing Menu undertook probably was justified (whether it should have been done sooner is another issue).
Comment by Catmanager — March 20, 2007 @ 12:45 am
You definitely raise some very valid points there. Though the testing situation still leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, it is possible that it was indeed justified.
Comment by Gwen — March 20, 2007 @ 1:07 am
I don’t want to spread more alarm but this is really scary and weird. Sudden kidney failure everywhere just doesn’t seem ordinary at all!!
It seems South Africa has been experiencing kidney failure and deaths in their pet populations too! But we never hear about this. It has been happening for nearly a month and the culprit in their case is dry food, tainted with ethylene glycol (antifreeze ingredient.) It’s strange because antifreeze is one thing that animals love the taste of and will eat. Only a teaspoon will kill a kitty or small dog. It also causes nearly instant kidney failure. I wonder if somehow the supply of gluten in these foods got contaminated by it? And how?
Below are a couple articles from South African newspapers.
Sincerely,
Rosy
>
SPCA issues alert over dog-food scare
February 23 2007 at 01:53PM
By Natasha Prince and Murray Williams
The SPCA has warned pet owners who may have fed their dogs with
contaminated dry dog food to visit a vet immediately.
A local pet food manufacturer, Aquanutro, warned this week that
ethylene-glycol had been found in a limited number of batches of some
of its dog food products. The substance is a type of coolant,
popularly known as anti-freeze.
One of Aquanutro’s biggest customers is Woolworths, which pulled the
products from its shelves this week and warned the public in an
advertising campaign.
Aquanutro said it had first been alerted in late 2006 by dog owners
and a veterinary surgeon that some of its products had allegedly
caused kidney failure within dogs.
“Extensive tests were conducted by accredited laboratories within
South Africa and were initially found to be negative, until an in-
depth and very intensive … analysis tested positive for the presence
of ethylene-glycol,” the company said.
The company had already alerted its customers that it was undertaking
the tests and confirmed the traces of the substance this week.
The SPCA’s Cher Poznan-ovich said they had received many calls and e-
mails about animals that had died or were showing signs of poisoning,
but she could not say how many reports they received.
Friday Woolworths spokesperson Dorothy McLaren said: “We have no
evidence, whatsoever, linking our product with the death or illness
of any animals.”
Despite already pulling Aquanutro’s products from its shelves, it was
continuing with extensive in-depth tests to establish any risk to
pets.
Aquanutro said the supplier of the ingredient had been notified and
the company had cancelled all orders.
SPCA vet Miles Penfold warned: “If you have fed your dog this food
and even if they are not showing signs of poisoning, it is best to
take them to the vet to be checked.
“Once the symptoms are visible, it is often fatal.”
Symptoms include excess drinking and urinating, vomiting and looking
off colour.
This article was originally published on page 5 of Cape Argus on
February 23, 2007
Comment by Rosy — March 20, 2007 @ 4:21 am
This is a good time to make sure that New Laws are put in place to protect our family pets so things like this NEVER happen again. We have many dollars , and many years of love and caring invested to just let this pass without making sure that our Law Makers protect our Loving Animals. That are not only part of our family but also our living property. I pray for all families that have taken a sad loss.
Comment by Fred — March 20, 2007 @ 4:43 am
Hey All,
The scum that run these companies make decisions based on greed and nothing else. The testing methods that they utilized (IMHO) were a forced response that took them since early December to give into. Lets face it the only reason they even did the testing was an effort to appear concerned and an attempt to save their business.
They had the weeks and months (since December 6) to do the testing without killing more animals let alone admit that there was a problem and pull their poison off the shelves. Instead they decided that the lives of these animals and members of our families were not as important as the money they were making.
Why are we cutting these people a break? It is clear that they made a choice to put off any resonsibilty for their actions until they were backed into a corner hence the type and timing of their response.
There are a lot of big companies involved in this and I suspect in the end that no harm will come to them. It is such a warm fuzzy feeling I get when I think that our beloved pets and ourselves will have been the only to sacrifice for these people.
Comment by Rob — March 20, 2007 @ 6:54 am
My 2 cats passed away at the end of December 2006 and at the end of January 2007 from frighteningly similar symptoms. We spent thousands of dollars, radical medical treatments - that involved tube feeding the younger one when he would not eat and giving him MORE wet food, and we lost them both. Because the information on this recall came out so much later, it may not be related at all. But the worst part is that it has been long enough that we no longer have any of the cans or pouches that we used during this time period, so there is no way to ever know definitively if these circumstances are related. Either way, my heart is broken for the loss of my cats, and for all of the pet parents that are going through similar pain, worry and suffering currently.
Comment by Carrie — March 20, 2007 @ 8:12 am
I have sent my information to an attorney in Seattle, WA. I’ve never been involved w/ a class action lawsuit but I would like to see the guilty parties show accountability. The timeline for the recall shows a disregard for the well-being of our beloved pets. My sweet Lhotse suffered for 2 weeks until I finally realized that to euthanize her was to release her from her suffering. I accepted the loss at the time not knowing what the cause of her renal failure was, however now I am angry. She might not has been affected if Menu Foods acted in a timely manner to their own findings of contamination. Mr Meyers is a start to legal remedy.
http://seattle.injuryboard.com/class-action/
Comment by TLRobinson — March 20, 2007 @ 1:43 pm
I stopped feeding my Lhasa on March 16, after finding that a pouch of gravy had one of the contaminated batch numbers. A tablespoon was put on kibble (not recalled) twice a day for years before.
Had the vet do a panel of blood tests, they came out negative (normal), continue to watch her for any display of stated symptoms;ie, excess drinking, vomiting, urination, lethargy.
My question for anyone on the board: How insidious is the rat poison? It has been 8 days. Can it cause renal failure a month fron now, 6 months, a year…? Anyone know on its longevity/residual before it flares up? Thanks!
JM
Comment by J. Miller — March 24, 2007 @ 9:55 pm
Recently lost my dog Maybelline Italian Cane Corso of renal ARF/CRF failure two days prior to the pet recall, find out its the food that I have been feeding her.. that killed her..just 2 years old, and now i’m worried about her mother Lucia had her tested no signs as of yet…. Is this an on going epidemic or will it ever be resolved…. the fda and the goverment just hide the fact.. and on top of that… its the dog treats…
Comment by Melissa Abdi — April 6, 2007 @ 8:02 pm