Pet food recall: USA Today reports on FDA wheat gluten alert
By Gina Spadafori
April 1, 2007
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USA Today is first national media to report the source of the wheat gluten:
The FDA has not publicly identified the firm that supplied the contaminated wheat gluten to the USA. But on Friday, the agency issued an import alert — found on its website — saying wheat gluten from the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. of Peixian, China, could be detained without inspection until it produced results from “the firm’s investigation(s) into the problem of melamine contamination” and documents showing that corrective action had been taken.
Here’s the rest of the story. I’m guessing this isn’t going to be “just” a pet-food story for long, considering that (from the company’s Web site):
Wheat gluten meal is also named wheat vital protein. The flour is used as its raw material, and from which extracts a light brown natural
Grain powder through intensively processing. It is a good solubles protein, containing fifteen amino acid essencial for human body. After all, it can yet be regarded as a plant protein food looking good, smelling good and tasting good.
Yes, the “human body,” emphasis mine. Look quickly. I doubt this Web site will be up for long. And let’s say a prayer that the FDA is right, and that none of the wheat gluten from the tainted lot got into the human food chain.
Update: Have we had this yet? Sorry if someone posted before and I missed it. Getting a little punchy and waiting for the “night shift” (Hello, Christie!).
Anyway, here’s the Web site of the company referenced in the FDA alert. Thanks to the reader who tipped us to it.
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Hurray for USA Today. The rest of the media should be ashamed of themselves.
(and fyi, that same wheat gluten description is on at least one other site - my guess is anywhere they have their products listed for sale they have the ‘item description’ like this.)
Comment by Kim — April 1, 2007 @ 6:53 pm
DANGNABBIT!!!!
I am SO frustrated right now that my blood is boiling.
My mother is 87 years old and she would give any of you a run for your money with her European genes. Seriously, she is a healthy and vibrant woman.
In February I was afraid she was going to die! She got so feeble, I was making her doctors insane with calling them. I got stool samples checked, I mean I was over at her house multiple times a day.
She wouldn’t get dressed. She was having these weirdo dreams and hallucinations.
Her stomach HURT, she had diarrhea and abdominal distention. NO she didn’t eat any peanut butter, if you’re thinking that way.
Now she is fine, but I will bet anything she suffered from food poisoning. She does not eat out, she eats pretty darn healthy and we talked many times that it must have been something wrong with some food she ate. She checks expiration dates, etc.
Folks, if she wasn’t a STRONG woman she would have died. It wasn’t the flu, or a virus - so many things were checked off that it wasn’t. She struggled to sit up, her hair hurt, everything hurt. She was so weak and getting delusional too. She is fine now thank God, but for how long?! She is strong strong like bull, so I know she can rally to fight again.
The doctors treated me like I was some kind of fool. PLEASE elderly, diarrhea don’t mix! I pumped her full of probiotics and EmergenCee sports drink mixes for the electrolytes, a buttload of more probiotics.
It took her weeks to get past it. And purified water - LOTS of water while the doctors just passed it off as IBD. Jeez. Happy to say she doesn’t have IBD but I think that she and I nailed it with the food.
DAMN I’m telling you, OUR PETS ARE THE CANARIES IN THE COAL MINE FOLKS!!!!
Comment by Evy — April 1, 2007 @ 6:53 pm
No wonder this is a cover up job.
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 6:58 pm
I don’t really care who sold it in China. What I want to know is WHO WAS THE U.S. MIDDLEMAN WHO BOUGHT IT?????????
Comment by Sue J — April 1, 2007 @ 7:15 pm
There’s still a big problem with the human food supply that I can see. This is something used when the wheat is grown - so it is not something exclusive to the “Gluten” process - so are they looking into the other derivities of this wheat poison and also the flour? It has to be in the flour too. And what other companies are using this same poison fertilizer junk?
I sure hope our govenment is up to speed on this.
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 7:29 pm
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 7:29 pm
More like they are using stalling tactics.
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 7:42 pm
Exactly Steve.
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 7:43 pm
God help us, Gina is right, this wheat gluten is sold for human “foodstuff” as well as animal “feed additive”. See their website before it is pulled down.
http://www.xzay.com/english/index.asp
Any media monitoring these posts needs to jump on this and run with it right away. Kudos to Elizabeth Weise and Julie Schmit over at USA Today for breaking this first on major media.
Thank you Gina and Petconnection… So many of us have depended on you!!!
Comment by Laurie — April 1, 2007 @ 7:52 pm
It’s in sauces and I wonder if they put it in baby food? I wonder if it goes into soups? Found wheat flour not wheat gluten.
It is not in canned fruit. It’s in our breads..
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 7:56 pm
Not sure if anyone else has posted this, but if it’s true.. not good.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....44743.html
Comment by Gwen — April 1, 2007 @ 7:57 pm
Good article Gwen. I figured there was an American Company middle man - wonder if he is on the west coast - San Francisco or Oakland?
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 8:02 pm
All quiet on the Western Front
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 8:04 pm
Um, yeah. Just like we suspected. Oh, s**t.
Well, maybe this’ll prompt some action by the FDA. Sad, but true.
Comment by Laura — April 1, 2007 @ 8:07 pm
The company would be an importer of grains and wheat? Wholesaler.
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 8:08 pm
I just made myself a cup of Nestle hot chocolate and for the heck of it, checked the ingredients. No wheat flour or wheat gluten in the ingredients but it says:
“MADE ON EQUIPMENT THAT ALSO PROCESSES MILK, SOY AND WHEAT”.
Ya know… this is absolutely remarkable…
I’m drinking it anyway!
Oh, and by the way, I’m in San Jose, CA and we have a Del Monte plant out here too.
Comment by Jamie — April 1, 2007 @ 8:09 pm
The American media might be ignoring this, but the Guardian in the UK has done an intelligent story here:
http://business.guardian.co.uk.....72,00.html
From the piece: “The value of buying super-premium brands will also be brought into question and could hurt the bottom line of those suppliers. Pet owners will be wondering why they are paying higher retail prices for premium food even though the cans and pouches contain the same ingredients as bargain-basement store brands from the likes of Wal-Mart and Safeway.”
Comment by Cathy — April 1, 2007 @ 8:15 pm
Three weeks ago, I questioned the safety of a type of cat litter in the presence of my vet, and she said, “I’m sure it’s safe. They wouldn’t sell it if it weren’t safe.” Right.
Comment by Cathy — April 1, 2007 @ 8:18 pm
First I want say what a great job Gina, howl911, and itchmo are doing.
So does anyone here speak good English and Chinese? Here is the contact info for the Xuzhor Anying Biologic.
Company Name: Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co, Ltd
Contact Person: Kaipin Liu
Address: Wangdian Industrial Pei County Jiangsu P.R. XuZhou JiangSu
Zip: 221600
Telephone: 86-516-89741888
Fax: 86-516-89741156
Web Site: http://www.xzay.com
I know that the contact person is correct, I used a trading sight to ask him a question via email about WHO they sold this product to in the US, distributor and names of companies that purchased it. If the MSM isn’t going to dig, we need to. This is the kind of info that is vital. Then we can track down where the gluten was inserted into pet food and by whom. (Into human food?)
BTW, I think that the three websites/blogs working on this should have a phone conference call (if they haven’t already). I’d be happy to set one up via Skype if you all want to talk.
I think the info you all have is very useful for the rest of the media and if you team up you can keep the press from only quoting the company officials and FDA and using old statistics on the number of dead cats and dog. 200 dead is a huge difference from 2,600. (But I don’t forget that even one dead pet means the world to someone)
spockosemail at gmail.com
2:43 PM
I also think that some pet food company needs to prove to people their food is good. Via independant experts. That is something I see people are begging to know, “What can I feed my pet safely?!”
This is in addition to people knowing what they can’t feed their pets.
Comment by spocko — April 1, 2007 @ 8:19 pm
GM foods are bad enough. I suppose they never took into consideration the Human Body might consider these molecules foreign intruders and create it’s own new and unknown anti bodies who toxicity in itself might have harmful effects on us?
Food Science for Profit
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 8:22 pm
The Waiting Game
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 8:36 pm
FYI … are they SURE the wheat gluten was from China, or are they passing the buck?
MANILDRA USA
MANILDRA MILLING CORP.
Member of International Wheat Gluten Assn.
One of two U.S. Members (the other is Archer Daniels Midland; see Member Directory)
Wheat is from Australia and the U.S.
Website: http://www.iwga.net
Offices are located in Shawnee Mission, KS, which is less than 100 miles from Menu Foods Plant in Emporia, KS. Manildra plant listed as being in Hamburg, Iowa
Website: http://www.manildrausa.com
Comment by Nadine Long — April 1, 2007 @ 8:37 pm
FWIW, I was greatly heartened when I visited out local Safeway today to return unopened canned and bag cat foods. All and I mean ALL of every single brand that was recalled was removed from the shelves. Shelves were taped off with signs posted with information on websites and the recalls.
This pleased me greatly because on Wednesday of this past week, I saw multiple packets of the Priority food that has made my cats so sick.
There is some serious sleuthing going on this site and it is impressive! Kudos to you all.
Comment by Sharon — April 1, 2007 @ 8:53 pm
?????????
Duane Ekedahl, president of the Pet Food Institute, acknowledged many important unanswered questions remain about the recall and current safety of pet food.
“Pet food is one of the most highly regulated products on grocery shelves, but we’re very, very eager for this investigation to be concluded to know what the facts are so that it doesn’t happen again,” said Ekedahl, who has cat and a dog.
http://southernillinoisan.com/.....799533.txt
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 8:55 pm
I was ecstatic to see that our local Stop & Shop had finally pulled everything, and put up very conspicuous signs advertising the recall and directing customers to places (like the Menu site, and various companies’ hotlines) where they could find more information.
Comment by Gwen — April 1, 2007 @ 8:55 pm
Nadine, Manildra came out right away and denied involvement in this.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/.....p;refer=us
Comment by Jackie — April 1, 2007 @ 8:56 pm
Dick Durbin, Senator from Illinois questions the FDA’s “weak links” in the pet food inspections.
http://durbin.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=271715
Comment by Gayle — April 1, 2007 @ 8:56 pm
Yikes. . .”Pet food is one of the most highly regulated products on grocery shelves”!?!
Comment by Jackie — April 1, 2007 @ 9:01 pm
It apparently isn’t ADM, either. Their press person told me that, though they don’t as a rule issue blanket statements, they have “not sold wheat gluten to Menu since before 2006.”
So there’s probably some other distributor in the mix. Small enough to go unnoticed, probably not registered with the usual lobbying groups, but offering a deal on wheat gluten that turned out to be too good to be true for many pet food manufacturers who couldn’t pass up a good deal.
Comment by Laura — April 1, 2007 @ 9:01 pm
Still Waiting Old Mother Hubbard
http://www.omhpet.com/
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 9:06 pm
“Pet food is one of the most highly regulated products on grocery shelves”
I smell damage control and hefty campaign contributions in the works…
Comment by Sandro — April 1, 2007 @ 9:07 pm
Thanks for all your great work!
I am wondering if anyone knows whether wheat gluten would have to be listed on the label if it contained in any dry dog food or whether it would be one of those items just noted as protein? Thanks again.
Comment by ArleneK — April 1, 2007 @ 9:07 pm
I wonder how many people are ill with unexplained kidney problems right now, that the doctors have no clue or ways to tie this in. We have a friend that is ill right now with kidney problems, doctors keep testing her. I told her mother in law yesterday about this. I hope she gets better. This is very scary, and I’m not one to panic, but this really scares me, how long has this been going on? What’s the real problem? Who all is involved, and what is causing the toxic reaction, have they really found the problem? There are so many more questions that aren’t getting answered. Will we ever get all the answers? I think more and more gluten free is the way to go right now, but next month, or next year, it will be something else, so what is safe to eat and feed to our pets? Our cat died in Feb, but we still have a dog.
Comment by Darlene — April 1, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
What’s the real problem?
Comment by Darlene — April 1, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
We don’t know because they are being total cowards about it. Their on the run.
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 9:18 pm
As expected, more disturbing by the day now. Unreal.
Comment by jm — April 1, 2007 @ 9:21 pm
Darlene, this is a dilema I’ve been struggling with and the only way to be sure is to prepare your own pet food. This is not something to be taken lightly and needs extensive research as well as a considerable investment in time. Anything less and you could be doing more damage than feeding them commercial pet food. This site and many comments provides resources to holistic alternatives, do a little digging and you’ll find them.
Comment by Sandro — April 1, 2007 @ 9:22 pm
Darlene - avoid IAMS. Avoid anything with wheat or corn and all gluten.
Try to find a company that only has U.S. grown ingredients - I believe Natural Balance Allergy formula does - maybe some meat is from New Zealand.
Even if it says Organic, check all the ingredients - just be real careful.
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 9:26 pm
Lawyers: Pet Owners Won’t Do Well In Lawsuit
What they aren’t saying is a class action is what will hit a corporate giant where it hurts.
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 9:26 pm
Thanks, We bought Paws Professional, it says it has no wheat gluten. Anyone heard of this before?
Comment by Darlene — April 1, 2007 @ 9:29 pm
Okay, I’ve heard “corn” mentioned a couple of times - I’m asking all of you here what your opinion is on corn gluten or any other corn additive to pet foods. I mentioned it to my vet yesterday and he said that corn was “safe” because it is grown here. Ya know, I don’t trust anybody except ALL OF YOU to tell me the truth.
Comment by Jamie — April 1, 2007 @ 9:30 pm
Good post I found
“My initial reaction to the news that the FDA refuses to identify the US Distributor … what major GOP donor is being protected?”
on April 01, 2007 at 11:07pm
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 9:34 pm
To Jamie
I am in Fremont, CA. I just finished looking at the ingredients in my peach cobbler. It too, was process at a plant that uses wheat.
I ate in anyway as well.
Comment by Kellie — April 1, 2007 @ 9:36 pm
What if it is a Flour company or some very large food producer that bought some of this gluten, since it was human feed quality and sold the excess off to the pet food company -
Now something like this would mean - we don’t want PANIC in the streets and lots of lawsuits etc. - they need hard facts and proof, not speculation so they keep it a secret, at least for now!
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 9:38 pm
We need someone looking through the trash cans of the people in charge of this from the FDA - what are they throwing away - then we will have our answers.
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 9:39 pm
I do not like corn. It’s really just a cheap filler and a cheap source of protein. Corn gluten is the by-product of corn. A dog really can’t fully digest the protein in corn.
Comment by Eskie Lover — April 1, 2007 @ 9:40 pm
Comment by Jamie — April 1, 2007 @ 9:30 pm
Jamie, so far no one in a “position of authority” is talking about corn at all. (I’ll let you do the math on what that’s worth.)
To be fair, there’s no large-scale indication corn is a problem. But there have been many posts from folks who use foods that don’t include wheat that report some of the same symptoms.
Does that mean it’s all the foods? Absolutely not. Unfortunately, animals (and humans) die every day from kidney failure. Are there more cases than there used to be? Well, yes, because we’re all managing not to die of *other* things before our kidneys go. Most kidney failures are not due to tainted food - though, having lost my old kitty boy to CRF, I can certainly understand the desire to find something to make it all make sense. (No, it wasn’t the food for him. It was just old age.)
Still…I’ve seen stories about folks with cats and dogs just a year or two old dying of acute renal failure. That’s not really too common. Some pets may have gotten into other toxins, but surely not all of them at one time. And not all their owners were feeding products with wheat.
That’s probably not much help to you, and I’m sorry about that, but there isn’t much that’s clear right now - except that the FDA knows more than it’s telling. That’s what’s making me mad.
Comment by Laura — April 1, 2007 @ 9:42 pm
Re: Comment by Darlene
Corn is grown here is it? Have a look at these snake oil salesmen (link below), a comment by MFEMFEM says he/she saw MADE IN CHINA in small print on their bags:
http://www.bynaturepetfoods.co.....es_dog.php
Comment by Sandro — April 1, 2007 @ 9:43 pm
This is part of a article on usatoday.com I just read:
“Though the industry expressed relief that the culprit appears to have been found, toxicologists are baffled. Scientific literature says melamine is not very toxic, says Steven Hansen, a veterinary toxicologist and director of the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center in Urbana, Ill.
Levels for the melamine were as high as 6.6% of the wheat gluten, FDA’s Sundlof says.
That would mean if a wet pet food contained even 5% wheat gluten, it would have 3,300 parts per million melamine, Hansen says.
But a study on dogs in 1953 fed them 30,000 parts per million of melamine for one year and “nothing happened,” says James Popp, president of the Society of Toxicology.
Hansen notes that cats are more sensitive to toxins than dogs.”
Comment by Brenda — April 1, 2007 @ 9:44 pm
Brenda there is something contradictory about that USA Today article. It ends by saying cats are more sensitive to TOXINS, is melamine a toxin or not. Feeding my pets toxins whether they tolerate it or not isn’t my idea of responsible pet care.
Comment by Sandro — April 1, 2007 @ 9:48 pm
Brenda - and what is the rest of the story? There’s much more to this - what exactly I don’t know. But not letting that wheat gluten in the country is a good start.
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 9:49 pm
Is the melamine disturbing? Sure. But it probably isn’t what’s killing our pets, IMHO. I honestly don’t think they’ve figured it out yet.
But it’s worth noting that every time any scientist of any stripe announces they think they *have* figured it out (aminopterin, melamine), the pet food stocks jump in value.
No pressure there, right? Just find something to pin it on, make it go away, and we’ll all stop asking uncomfortable questions and start buying their crap again.
Comment by Laura — April 1, 2007 @ 9:50 pm
Through all this bad stuff — a little good humor may or may not help.
Made about 40 pounds of wet food for my lab this evening and boy did he go for it. All healthy fresh human grade foods and NO Wheat.
Well, just a few minutes ago, my 22 year old son told me that the stew was a little ‘bland’ — just needes a little garlic and black pepper!
Now it looks like the family can ‘eat’ out of the same bowl!
I am not making light of the situation. It has been over two weeks since I lost my four-legged love to these awful events and I grab a little humor (relief) any way that I can.
Everybody needs to hold on tight because this ride is going to get worse. Tell everybody that will listen and don’t give up.
My own brother hung up on me tonight when I tried to let him know what was happening. He has the mind-set that if it’s not in the news, it ain’t real. How sad!
Comment by Sunshine — April 1, 2007 @ 9:52 pm
Comment by Sandro — April 1, 2007 @ 9:43 pm
Growth Opportunities
Menu is of the view that it is well positioned to leverage its established market position to capitalize on growth opportunities. Menu’s growth strategy is to increase sales to new and existing private-label and contract manufacturing customers.
Menu believes that sales to existing customers can be increased principally through adding products to its product lines sold by such customers and by increasing the penetration level of current products supplied to those customers. Management anticipates that some of that increase in penetration will be derived as retailers de-emphasize the use of secondary brands on their shelves and as they re-deploy that shelf space between the leading national brands and the retailer’s own private-label offering. New customers can be attracted by the quality, breadth of products and economy of scale offered by Menu together with geographical advantages of its multiple plant locations.
In addition to the general private-label trends and the expected decline of secondary brands, management sees additional opportunities for growth being generated from the “pouch” product line. In May 2001, Menu introduced a line of premium wet pet food products in a “pouch” format. This product line is gaining market acceptance, and from 2001 to 2005 Menu made significant investments to increase its manufacturing capacity for this product line. Menu believes that pouches are attractive to consumers because they are easier to open and serve and that it is the only private-label supplier and contract manufacturer in North America currently offering this format.
Menu Foods Income Fund
8 Falconer Drive
Streetsville, ON
Canada L5N 1B1
Tel: 905.826.3870
Fax: 905.826.4995
Copyright 2006, Menu Foods Income Fund, All Rights Reserved.
Best viewed using Internet Explorer
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 9:53 pm
How about shipping container companies and ports? they usually have a manifest of everything that comes in or out. Someone at a port knows exactly who received what from where and when.
Comment by Gary — April 1, 2007 @ 9:54 pm
“Menu Believes”
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 9:54 pm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/n.....call_N.htm
Though the industry expressed relief that the culprit appears to have been found, toxicologists are baffled. Scientific literature says melamine is not very toxic, says Steven Hansen, a veterinary toxicologist and director of the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center in Urbana, Ill.
Levels for the melamine were as high as 6.6% of the wheat gluten, FDA’s Sundlof says.
That would mean if a wet pet food contained even 5% wheat gluten, it would have 3,300 parts per million melamine, Hansen says.
But a study on dogs in 1953 fed them 30,000 parts per million of melamine for one year and “nothing happened,” says James Popp, president of the Society of Toxicology.
Umm.. then what the heck is killing all of our pets?
Comment by Andrea — April 1, 2007 @ 9:55 pm
Umm.. then what the heck is killing all of our pets? Comment by Andrea — April 1, 2007 @ 9:55 pm
Greed
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 9:59 pm
Re: Comment by Steve
Seems Menu glossed over the fact their sourcing raw materials from China would help them “penetrate” market share.
Comment by Sandro — April 1, 2007 @ 10:00 pm
That was my point, I don’t think they know what is the real culprit. And I have been wondering from the start, if they didn’t know what was in the wheat gluten that was killing are pets how did they know that it was the wheat gluten in the first place? what did I miss?
Comment by Brenda — April 1, 2007 @ 10:02 pm
My question is: Is there really not enough wheat in the United States that we need to import it from China???
Comment by Amanda — April 1, 2007 @ 10:03 pm
It was a timing thing - pets dying - new wheat gluten supplier.
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
Andrea,
I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s melamine.
http://forums.murc.ws/showthread.php?p=622586
I said this on another thread, but I’ll say it again here…I think it’s some type of fungus on the grain. There was an aflatoxin outbreak just a couple of years ago. And it’s been a wet, warm couple of years lately in China.
Why I think so:
Mycotoxins are common in pet foods. They’re usually knocked off though high heat or the use of mycotoxin binders. Unless, of course, you’re doing it on the cheap.
Mycotoxins are notoriously hard on the kidneys, GI tract, and neurological systems - all symptoms we’ve seen a lot of folks talk about here. (Not to mention bleeding from the nose - some cause lesions in mucous membranes.)
Mycotoxins are “patchy” - that is, they can affect some pieces of food more than others.
That may say something about why so many pet owners have lost one or two healthy animals, yet some less healthy ones have survived.
But all that aside, you’d think myco would be the first thing the FDA, Cornell, etc. would look for. They haven’t found it yet. So - WTF?
Comment by Laura — April 1, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
That’s why I thought of Oakland here in CA and then taken to San Fran and put on trains or trucks.
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 10:06 pm
Re: Comment by Amanda
Actually, not long ago North America had so much wheat the stuff was rotting in silos. The market for corn has become so lucrative (alternative fuels) that many farmers have converted to growing corn instead.
Comment by Sandro — April 1, 2007 @ 10:07 pm
I don’t remember mentioning corn in any of my posts, but that was interesting information anyway, thanks. We feed our dog dry food, we switched her to Paws Professional which according to the ingredients has no wheat gluten, my fear is that it may not be the only contaminated ingredient, the only reason our cat got wet food was due to canker sores in his mouth. He died in Feb. after eating recalled Special Kitty, this was before the recall. I’m sorry and I hope that this doesn’t offend anybody, but we have a saying in our house now, Special Kitty, Sick Kitty, Dead Kitty, No More Kitty. He suffered so much and everyone misses him so, so I guess this morbid sense of humor is my way of coping with the death of a special friend, I hope there are others who can understand. My heart hurts for everyone who lost a friend like ours.
I also remember reading somewhere that corn and wheat can be used interchangably, which is kinda scary right now.
Comment by Darlene — April 1, 2007 @ 10:08 pm
I’m going off. Thank you all - seems there’s some great minds here researching and finding the truth and brain storming - its refreshing and just plain wonderful - The American Spirit at work.
All of this means our pets have hope that changes will be made and the truth will be made known!
Comment by Linda — April 1, 2007 @ 10:09 pm
I am a human being that lives everyday of my life with an allergy to gluten (like hives but a hundred times worse and impossible to get rid of). This is an allergy I have had for nearly 25 years. A gluten-free diet is EXTREMELY difficult, but the medication I take helps control my outbreaks very well.
About three months ago my outbreaks began getting worse. The medication was increased by 1/3. Still not controlled. Medication has now been increased by double and I am beginning to get relief.
Is it related? I have to wonder. I wrote it off to winter and not being as cautious.
Scarey stuff and no one who has any control over food issues cares!
Comment by PJ — April 1, 2007 @ 10:09 pm
With the news that Nestle has placed some of its Pounce cat treats on the recalled list, it’s getting to the point “What the hell can we feed our pets?” I lost one dog due to IAMS, and the other dog I am now preparing everything she eats - main meals and dog biscuits. She “ain’t” getting anything prepared; she’s eating table scraps and doggie recipes. I’m not trying to cook for my cat yet; he’s eating Nine Lives wet and Purina dry food. Hopefully it’s OK; so far he seems fat and healthy.
Comment by M. Burch — April 1, 2007 @ 10:09 pm
Re: Comment by Laura
You’ve mentioned this a few times, but if I remember correctly, the first news releases from Cornell, the FDA and others mentioned that’s the first thing they looked for and didn’t find.
Comment by Sandro — April 1, 2007 @ 10:12 pm
It just seems that they are covering it all up because it must have gotten into the human food chain and they know it will cause a panic and they feel fairly safe regarding lawsuits over the animals because they are considered “property” but lawsuits over people getting sick will be more costly. Corporate greedy MTFs!
Comment by Brenda — April 1, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
Comment by Sandro — April 1, 2007 @ 10:07 pm
It’s all about fuel-energy baby. We’ll import our wheat, you grow corn, we’ll make fuel.
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 10:14 pm
Laura…
It’s interesting you speak of the GI tract. I had taken my cat to the vet on Sat Feb 17th and they took blood and gave her subQ fluids. The next day, she got even worse and I took her to the emergency hospital. When they did an X Ray, they said she had multiple gassy pockets throughout her body. They thought she had some sort of GI trauma. This was, of course, on top of all her other kidney symptoms. Her BUN and creatine was off the chart and I had to put her to sleep that evening. I spent the next month beating myself up for not taking her to the vet sooner, not knowing that, if I had, I would have just taken her home and poisoned her with Special Kitty again.
Comment by Big Ron — April 1, 2007 @ 10:17 pm
I must tell you something about GMO corn produced in the USA - tests in Europe found out that your fine genetically improved American corn kills rats.
America’s FDA doesn’t allow American citizens to know what they eat. In Europe it is law to state it on the package and therefore we can avoid poisonous American products. You believe you don’t have the mad cow disease in the USA? Forget it!
Comment by Guenter Monkowski — April 1, 2007 @ 10:19 pm
They are waiting for people to go back to work tomorrow before they put more bad news onto the wire.
Bets?
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 10:19 pm
I know, Sandro, and that’s what’s so weird. The progression of this thing has been so similar to the aflatoxin outbreak.
One woman here tonight even mentioned orange vomit - a hallmark for those of us who remember the Diamond Foods outbreak: http://www.news.cornell.edu/st.....g.ssl.html
But Aflatoxin generally hits the liver, and this seems to be aiming at the kidneys.
If it were that easy, I can’t imagine how they wouldn’t have caught it right away. But still. It just rings too many bells.
Comment by Laura — April 1, 2007 @ 10:21 pm
Ron, I know what you mean. I feel the same way. We fed our cat Special Kitty, and even had he survived, we would have taken him home and poisoned him some more, because until the recall we didn’t even think it could be the food. It never even occured to us. He had canker sores, which is why he got special kitty in the poisoned pouches. He was put down in Feb. due to kidney failure. He was healthy up to the last week of his life, and the last day he couldn’t even stand up. He went downhill so fast it was soooooooo sad to watch.
Comment by Darlene — April 1, 2007 @ 10:26 pm
I’m so sorry, Big Ron.
It’s worth noting that a lot of other toxins could have caused what you’re describing, too. I’m not a vet, though I’m married to one.
But whatever it was, I hope you’ve stopped blaming yourself by now. God knows there’s plenty of other targets available. :) You did everything you could. And if all of us took every pet we have to the vet every time we thought maybe, just maybe, we ought to, we’d all go broke. :)
Comment by Laura — April 1, 2007 @ 10:27 pm
Thanks to everyone who commented to me last night. Nick hasn’t thrown up since last night, but he isn’t eating too much today. Mostly dry, kind of avoiding the wet. Still drinking and sleeping more than normal. I’m calling the vet first thing in the morning.
The more I read and learn about this ongoing fiasco, the angrier I get. I don’t know what is safe to feed any of my family anymore. My local PetCo is still being very callous about the entire recall. We have a Del Monte plant here as well (Stockton, Ca) and I am tempted to march over there tommorow and ask my own questions….if anyone would let me. There is not a single, viable shred of evidence out there that suggests (1)That rat poison was NEVER in the foods, (2) That melamine is toxic to animals in the quantities found, (3) That the human foods we all consume are not tainted with something that is going to cause us problems down the road, and (4) That they have found what is REALLY making these animals ill.
Kind of makes you wish that we could all survive on nothing but boiled water, at least we would know it was sterile!
Comment by Amy Boda — April 1, 2007 @ 10:30 pm
This is far from over and already, my eyes have been opened in the past few days how corrupt, dirty, unethical, immoral, lying, criminals living right along side us all.
People forget your party, base who you vote on by how your favorites are behaving right now and don’t forget it at election time. Get these thieves out, your life depends on it literally.
Comment by Gary — April 1, 2007 @ 10:31 pm
How many dogs have you seen grazing in corn fields!? None. . .they know it is crap. It doesn’t belong in their dog food either, in MHO.
Has anyone here with tainted food had it tested by an independent lab?
Comment by Jackie — April 1, 2007 @ 10:31 pm
The point still is that Menu and others failed to test and inspect this product upon arrival at their facilities. If they had done so they would have rejected the toxic-poisonous ingredient.
In the criminal law, criminal negligence is one of the three general classes of mens rea (Latin for “guilty mind”) element required to constitute a conventional as opposed to strict liability offence. It is defined as:
careless, inattentive, neglectful, willfully blind, or in the case of gross negligence what would have been reckless in any other defendant.
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
I’m sorry, I need to stop reading all these pet loss stories now, I’m outta here. My sympathies to everyone for their losses. Just remember, if there’s anything these pet food barons want more than anything else, it’s for people to grieve in silence. Don’t give them that satisfaction !
Comment by Sandro — April 1, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
Comment by Amy Boda — April 1, 2007 @ 10:30 pm
Amy,
You can always try the classic “GI insult” diet. This can help for a couple of days if you can’t get right in to the vet.
Boil a little plain white meat chicken, and mix with rice (brown is better if he isn’t gassy already, but whatever he’ll eat/whatever you’ve got is okay). If you don’t have chicken, you can try cottage cheese and rice, especially if he has diarrhea.
But only give a little at a time…see if he holds it down for an hour or two, then try a little more.
And all the water he can drink, of course. Whatever’s in him, it’ll help flush it out.
Good luck with your Nick. I’m sorry he’s sick.
Comment by Laura — April 1, 2007 @ 10:41 pm
Right Steve, I’m astounded, the stupidity of these guys at Menu. They have all these companies they make food for at incredible profits and they didn’t have the brains to test everything along the way, especially new shipments. Real dummies!
Comment by Gary — April 1, 2007 @ 10:41 pm
Interesting. . .
“Unable to pinpoint what was wrong with the pet food with their own equipment, scientists at Cornell University sent samples of the tainted pet food to Albany. Chemists here quickly got to work, three days before a nationwide recall of 95 pet food brands manufactured by Menu Foods of Ontario, Canada. Numerous tests eliminated hundreds of possibilities, from heavy metals to deadly fungus.”
http://www.nctimes.com/article.....181728.txt
Comment by Jackie — April 1, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
Real dummies! Comment by Gary — April 1, 2007 @ 10:41 pm
Dangerous Dummies
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 10:48 pm
I’m very skeptical about these testing labs now. More than likely, that PR and Law firm that Menu hired have contacted all the possible labs and are plying their evil deeds of deception. And, what was Menu doing in the delay before the recall? getting rid of evidence and preparing for the big lie?
Comment by Gary — April 1, 2007 @ 10:54 pm
Comment by Jackie — April 1, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
It’s worth noting, though, that when the Diamond Foods outbreak happened, they didn’t even have a test for aflatoxin in companion animals - Cornell had to invent one on the fly. That was less than two years ago.
So I guess I wonder exactly what fungi - and how - they tested for.
Comment by Laura — April 1, 2007 @ 10:56 pm
Last Post for Tonight
http://www.consumeraffairs.com.....i_fda.html
See you all AM
Comment by Steve — April 1, 2007 @ 10:57 pm
ALL PET FOOD NEEDS TO BE TESTED and the TRUTH needs to COME out Now!!!!! Our Furry Babies are dieing.. I have so much sadness/grief over losing Miss Cuddles my Precious Companion kitty for 13 yrs she was healthy, then I found her in the kitchen by her cat food helpless.. I held her all night on the Living room carpet made a Shrine toys,blaikiets pics It was a matter of hrs no time for the Vet.. I took her to bed that evening.. and at 10 am she coughed twicw had a seizure and died.. My Baby Angel.. I put her in a casket made for her She is in Cold Storage till May..when the Ground untaws so I can bury her.. I am mad and Sad.. I called the news they put this story out in the Front page.. I need more Proof.. she made need an Autopsy.. I love my Angel Miss Cuddles She’s All I HAD!!!
Please Plase Resolve this and Get at the TRUTH!!!!!!!!!
I miss My Miss Cuddles with Love and Many TeArs.. I am HEART BROKEN!!!
Love Kelly 4-Cuddles Alway!!!
Comment by kelly B — April 1, 2007 @ 11:01 pm
What I found interesting in that article. . .isn’t Cornell the lab that found the melamine? So, they send the food out THREE days before the recall cause they are clueless, then a week after this other lab finds RAT POISON, they get to be the experts, and say it is melamine?
Better find something not so scary before sh*t hits the fan!
Comment by Jackie — April 1, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
Kelly, I’m so sorry. I have lost a lot of kitties too through many years going back to 1980. Each time, it’s just as hard and never gets easier. Only enough time will soften things for you but you will never forget. It helps a little bit to register her with a place like the rainbowsbridge.
http://rainbowsbridge.com/
Sorry.
Comment by Gary — April 1, 2007 @ 11:15 pm
I’m not sure if Menu Foods has filed suit yet against those that supplied or brokered the gluten once it arrived in the US. If they have not yet done so,eventually Menu Foods will have to provide names of the companies and buyers. Hopefully there’s a pet lover out there with access to court filings in the USA and Canada [with Menu Foods as plaintiff].
Comment by Lynn — April 1, 2007 @ 11:20 pm
You know another thing that is starting to bug me. . .”Five shipments of wheat gluten uncontaminated by melamine must pass third-party laboratory analysis before the FDA will consider releasing the detention order, according to the notice.”
So, we are not going to test this wheat gluten for aminopterin, only melamine according to the FDA. WTH is up with that?
Comment by Jackie — April 1, 2007 @ 11:22 pm
thanks Gary, i will go to that Sight.. She was my Angel ,and i miss her.. Thanks for oyur support, I pray All the Whole dirty Truth comes out and all suffered pets and owners gets Compensated for Neddless pain and Suffering we lost our Family member Due t othere Negigence and Irresponsibility.. Lets all Make Sure All PET FOOD is TESTED!! On Behalf of the LATE GREAT Miss Cuddles.. who saddenly and REgreattanly passed Away Feb.17/07 in my bed.. Been on the Couch Since!!
Comment by kelly B — April 1, 2007 @ 11:26 pm
A girl goes away for a little while and looks what happens. :)
My 2 cents in 2 posts:
My Darlings,
I have scraped myself off of the pavement to talk with you one more time tonight.
We are the choir. No need to preach. I am a minister’s child, so know of what I speak.
That being said, dear friends, our beloved 4 legged companions are feeling the cosmic brunt of it all. Be strong and brave. For them if not for yourself.
There is no panacea, but I offer this to those who know of what I refer, as we, in our house, saw significant change today based on it, all Bach:
Clematis
Gorse
Mimulus
Rock Rose
Star of Bethlehem
Sweet Chestnut
White Chestnut
SHARE with your neighbor/friend, as they are dear in price. It works for cats AND dogs. Our darling four-legged animals are not idiots. They feel the great, staggering loss around them, in the U.S. and beyond.
I know there are thousands of essences out there, none of which are a cure to poisoning, but can help immensely with mental status and these worked today for our beloved felines, after days of hopelessness.
If you don’t know what I am talking about, look it up. xxoo
Comment by Lois Kimball — April 1, 2007 @ 11:31 pm
Actually, the second isn’t necessary because no one has gone overboard here with CAPS, thankfully.
But I will reiterate:
Sweetest dreams to those with broken hearts.
The courage of a lion to those still fighting.
Comment by Lois Kimball — April 1, 2007 @ 11:33 pm
For those looking for a few recipes. Univ of TN skin vet offers these recipes for kitties & doggies:
http://www.utskinvet.org/hando....._diets.pdf
Comment by Kat — April 1, 2007 @ 11:36 pm
kelly B
I reposted your comment about Miss Cuddles on my blog. I think that people who are working within these companies need to read your story.
CEOs need to listen to Kelly B’s story of Miss Cuddles
You have my condolences. Hopefully these companies will read your story and take effective action.
Comment by spocko — April 1, 2007 @ 11:56 pm
about the human food chain: First off, both my cats were taken off of IAMS and put on PET PROMISE yesterday. They have responded well, but both of them have high fevers. I am not getting scared yet, but one of my cats, has never had a high fever.
Today, I opened up some MorningStar Vegetarian Sausage, and noticed that Vege Protein, contains wheat gluten.
Does anyone know how MorningSTAR gets it’s wheat gluten?
Comment by Jim — April 2, 2007 @ 12:08 am
The company that sold the wheat gluten, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development, also sells ‘Zinc Oxide of Feedstuff’. Wait a minute! Zinc is very toxic to dogs. It looks just like the wheat gluten. ‘Of Feedstuff’? Could it have been mixed up, maybe accidently? Why would zinc oxide be a feed additive? The FDA is questioning why the melamine is having such a deadly effect. Symptoms of zinc toxicity include kidney and liver failure so it would be worth checking out.
Comment by Sue Dunn — April 2, 2007 @ 12:16 am
It was NOT the FDA that told us the name of the company.
The FDA is a bunch of lying flunkies and we cannot trust them, not with our pet’s lives and not with ours.
I will never , never buy another product from China.
I will never use a product made by any company that does business with menufoods.
And I have a big mouth and since two of my pets are dead I have lots of free time to spend on my new hobby.
Comment by E. Hamilton — April 2, 2007 @ 12:24 am
I’m so sad reading the posts about the beloved lost pets. :*
Wheat gluten is in just about all store white bread and rolls including the whole grain white. I don’t know about wheat bread but I’d guess it has to be there too. I checked Wonder Bread, 7-11 brand and Walmart hamburger buns and all had wheat gluten in them. So its as easy as eating bread to be consuming wheat gluten :(
I’m disgusted at all the Natural Dog and Cat foods out there as well. Some are made by Menu, some by Purina, some by Diamond (who had the toxin that killed many a short few years ago). So where does that leave all of us and our beloved pets: In the same boat as those of us who bought Eukanuba and Iams and Nupro. Will we be any better off feeding one of these compared to stuff made by Mars who so far hasn’t recalled anything that I know of although a lot of their stuff including dry does have wheat gluten but according to Mars none of it the same wheat gluten as Menu used.
Comment by Maureen — April 2, 2007 @ 12:30 am
I have been looking high and low for a decent food all weekend this is what I cam up with.
http://www.kumpikat.com This is her cat food.
http://www.kumpi.com This is her dog food.
After several emails to the President of Krumpi, Evelyn Serpa [kumpi@earthlink.net] and asking where she sources her food (US with the exception onf Lamb which is New Zealand). I went out and bought it. She has responded very well to any questions I have had concerning her foods contents. I bought some for my neighbors as well just because I knew they have cats and love them as much as I do.
I almost went the make your own cat food route, but knew it wouldn’t be practical.
She only sells dry food since she doesn’t trust the reliablilty of wet food in the market.
This is how I originally found out about her product. http://www.itchmo.com/read/a-p.....p_20070329
I am going to avoid using wet food from here on out, luckily we stopped using Iams wet months ago because the cats kept gaining weight. Too many other bad things that I have seen by doing a search about wet food in the past (fungus ect.).
Hope this helps someone out there who is searching for a new food, I found it very confusing at best.
Its not cheap, but the way I look at it if it saves my kitties lives and possible vet bills then its money more than well spent.
Comment by Jonathan — April 2, 2007 @ 1:19 am
I feel like using caps but not the typing kind. More like putting a cap in someones ass.
Comment by Jonathan — April 2, 2007 @ 1:27 am
I really hope our government doesn;t drop the ball on this one as they have on so many other recent things.
Comment by Jonathan — April 2, 2007 @ 1:29 am
I lost my Shih Tzu Meeko on Feb 07. He went in less than a month. He had a special gift of being able to tell when my body was going to go spasm on me, so I could sit/lay down. When the neighbors dogs were particularly lonely (their parents worked), Meeko would lay by the fence & bark at them. He made it his duty to keep others happy (2 legged or 4 legged..no difference)
I miss my little guy so much. SHAME on the people who knew of this problem prior to letting the public know. I COULD BE HUGGING HIM….
Comment by Lynn — April 2, 2007 @ 2:03 am
My biggest concern is that the North American public, our governments, the self-serving corporations, & even the FDA will use this as an excuse to become irrationally protectionist. But, by foisting all of the blame on “the Chinese” (& “the Canadians”) and announcing that “we should only buy American” etc, we’ll only be distracting ourselves from the true culprit and setting ourselves up for another devastating deathtoll in the future.
Stop blaming the Chinese company. They were only following the (far too lax & outdated) agricultural & animal welfare laws that exist in their own country. Not to mention the fact that they would quickly bow to international standards (such as they are) if international distributors & end-users refused to deal with companies that did not meet or exceed their own local laws. They’re entirely governed by the law of supply & demand. So let’s use that to our advantage.
More importantly, however, I think that instead of pointing our collective finger at some perceived ‘foreign threat’, we take a look at the three most crucial & obvious reasons why this tragedy has occurred:
(1) There is NO real regulation of the pet food industry beyond the humane treatment of slaughtered animals, the cleanliness of manufactoring plants, & health-related claims on labels. Other than that, there’s no one looking out for pet health, honest labelling, the safety & necessity of ingredients, processing methods, or even food pricing… unless you actually think that these corporations care one iota for anything other than their own profit margins.
(2) There has been a virtual monopoly of all pet food processing by a single mega-corporation and a stranglehold of the pet food industry by a handful of massive multinational corporations like Nestlé and Procter&Gamble. These are not the mom & pop ‘animals before profits’ companies that they (or the dozens of pseudo-brands they cloak themselves in) want you to believe. They use fillers, shortcuts, & substandard meats all in the name of their bottomline.
(3) Last but not least, it was the food companies themselves who couldn’t be bothered (& didn’t care enough about our pets) to carefully investigate EVERY step involved in the production of each ingredient used in their products. They should have known where the wheat was grown, what herbicides & pesticides were used, how the grain was harvested & processed, what quality control measures were in place & what proof there was that they were ever adhered to. That’s called good corporate policy and should be the standard for any company selling food or medicine regardless of whether the product is made for pets, livestock or humans, and REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE INGREDIENTS COME FROM KANSAS, CHINA, OR IRAQ!
We have to stop simply sticking our heads in the sand and allowing ourselves to be manipulated into believing that protectionism & new labelling rules will solve the larger issues at play.
Instead we all need to standup, be counted, hold the REAL culprits accountable, and ensure that fundamental (& legislated!) changes are made to the pet food industry so that some other mega-corporation doesn’t simply pick up where Menu Foods left off.
Comment by fern — April 2, 2007 @ 3:11 am
PS: Here are two really informative websites that every pet owner should visit before opening up a can of food for their beloved dog or cat…
a) http://www.api4animals.org/fac.....amp;more=1 - Contains lots of info about the pet food companies themselves, their list of supposedly “safe” ingredients, how the foods are made, & what we’re REALLY feeding our pets.
b) http://www.api4animals.org/fac.....amp;more=1 - Gives really useful tips on what to look for in a safe & healthy pet food, and what to avoid.
Comment by fern — April 2, 2007 @ 3:18 am
This wheat gluten was for human consumption. Any producer, in China or elsewhere, has a moral obligation to make certain it is safe - regardless of government oversight and regulations. So yes, China is at fault here - remember we have been testing and testing trying to find out what is wrong. So yeah, It’s China’s fault.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 6:46 am
I’ve mentioned it before, but this is a monumental failure across the board. However, there needs to be an investigation into criminal negligence by the pet food manufacturers for two reasons:
1. They were late, very late in stopping production (some may still be pumping out the poison) and initiating recalls.
2. Manufacturers are the last link in the food inspection chain. There needs to be MANDATORY and EXTENSIVE testing of raw materials with the FDA receiving the results of this testing on a regular basis. As we’re all witnessing, self regulation just doesn’t cut it when it comes to food production.
Comment by Sandro — April 2, 2007 @ 6:55 am
This is worrisome - we have bio-terrorism requirements - companys must comply with the rules of the FDA - so what is up? How come this can happen to human quality wheat gluten - seems to me we need to do a better job Mr. FDA.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 6:56 am
Menu acted recklessly and with no sense of duty to protect our pets or their now sorry reputation.
It is so plain. We are not safe. Our food isn’t safe. Our pets aren’t safe. This took much effort to discover - so I just wonder how we can make companies find - hard to find substances that are unknown?
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 7:00 am
This is how the food chain starts in China. No less than three (3) distributors had their hands on it, which one used melamine as a cutting agent?
“Geng said the company based in the eastern province of Jiangsu had not manufactured the gluten but had instead bought it from companies in neighboring provinces. She said Xuzhou Anying sold it onward to another Jiangsu company, Suzhou Textile Import and Export Co.”
“There are many other exporters and I don’t see why they would just blame us,” Geng said. However, “We are doing the self inspection now,” she said, adding it was too early to announce any results.
Source: iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/02/asia/AS-GEN-China-US-Pet-Food-Recall.php
Comment by Sandro — April 2, 2007 @ 7:15 am
This is how the food chain starts in China. No less than three (3) distributors had their hands on it, which one used melamine as a cutting agent?
“Geng said the company based in the eastern province of Jiangsu had not manufactured the gluten but had instead bought it from companies in neighboring provinces. She said Xuzhou Anying sold it onward to another Jiangsu company, Suzhou Textile Import and Export Co.”
“There are many other exporters and I don’t see why they would just blame us,” Geng said. However, “We are doing the self inspection now,” she said, adding it was too early to announce any results.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap.....Recall.php
Comment by Sandro — April 2, 2007 @ 7:16 am
Laura
If it were a mycotoxin they would have found it a long time ago in the wheat gluten. My guess is they probably ran multiple tests and used different kits just to make sure. Yes, you can miss fungal contamination in a load of whole grain, but it would be pretty hard to miss in a processed product, which has been ground and mixed together. The most likely one would have been Ochratoxin A. The VIN treatment website mentions all the possibilities for causing kidney damage and Ochratoxin A is one.
There are 10 minute tests for Ochratoxin A in products.
http://www.vicam.com/products/ochratest.html
Let’s give the scientists a little credit for knowing their job. Once you get past the most obvious reasons for kidney damage, they’re out there in the fog with no lighthouse.
Comment by Cathy — April 2, 2007 @ 7:20 am
Thanks Spoko.. It All Sounds Like a Big Conspiracy to me.. Let t theTruth Come out..
and It will I trust God’s People.. My cat deserves to be at Peace.. and So do aAll the Wonderful, hurt ,sick or dead Pet.. and there
Owners.. I would say “ENOUGH is ENOUGH”!!!
We need Truth, Action and Healing Love Kelly B!!!!!
Comment by kelly B — April 2, 2007 @ 7:22 am
Sandro - thank you. It is not so easy.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 7:24 am
IS ANYTHING REALLY SAFE????
Now the Chinese company implicated in the melamine tainted wheat gluten is saying they did not manufacter the product in question. If what they say is true then this tainted wheat glueten could be coming from any number of suppliers. This could have some VERY far reaching consequence.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap.....Recall.php
Geng Xiujuan, Xuzhou Anying’s sales manager, said the company was aware of the notice and was looking into the accusation that large concentrations of melamine had been found in its wheat gluten, a protein source used as an ingredient in the pet food.
However, Geng said the company based in the eastern province of Jiangsu had not manufactured the gluten but had instead bought it from companies in neighboring provinces. She said Xuzhou Anying sold it onward to another Jiangsu company, Suzhou Textile Import and Export Co.
“There are many other exporters and I don’t see why they would just blame us,” Geng said. However, “We are doing the self inspection now,” she said, adding it was too early to announce any results.
Comment by mal — April 2, 2007 @ 7:24 am
Why am I watching the today show and its 25 minutes in and yet there is no mention of any new recalls from the weekend and nothing about any of this. I have lost my faith in the media (not that I had much to begin with) and will no longer believe anything they say about pretty much anything. Yes, I realize there was an earthquake & tsunamia in the south pacific and agree that is news, but guess what - the next story coming up is one of the “fathers” of anna nicole smiths baby is mad at how high is lawyer bill is. The media should be ashamed of themselves.
Comment by Doug — April 2, 2007 @ 7:28 am
Pet food is not safe. Our human food is in question and this isn’t news? Wake Up NBC, ABC, CBS - it’s easy - just pull your head out of the sand……and that’s being nice!
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 7:32 am
My sister and I are both celiacs. Which means gluten found in wheat, barley, rye, oats and other grains are poison to us. It destroys part of the lining of our small intestine and prevents proper nutrient absorption. It produces a wide variety of symptoms and effects. We have been attempting a gluten free diet for some years and believe me, it is extrememly difficult. You cannot eat comfortably in restaurants, their kitchens are gluten contaminated to the max. Gluten is found in nearly all processed foods and labeling is inadequate. Any celiac org. can give you lists of acceptable foods and gluten free sites are helpful on internet. Hopefully contamination of gluten for human or pet consumption is not rampant, but many strange sensitivities and symptoms having a gluten comnnection seem t o be appearing. Fibromyalgia, RA, Lupus and many others often suggest some kind of link. Luck to us all.
Comment by Cathleen — April 2, 2007 @ 7:41 am
Natura’s Response to Menu Foods’ Recall: ‘We Will Operate our Own Canning Facility’
April 02, 2007 09:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time
SAN JOSE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Although not implicated in the recent massive Menu Foods canned food recall, Natura Pet Products has pledged to either acquire or build a canning plant so that the company can exercise complete control over its product lines.
In a video message to Natura customers, Peter Atkins, one of Natura’s founders and owners, made assurances that no Natura canned food contains the suspected contaminate, wheat gluten from China, or wheat of any kind. Furthermore, Natura’s canned foods are made exclusively in a Menu Foods South Dakota plant, rather than in the affected Kansas and New Jersey plants. Nonetheless, Natura plans to remove any doubt that they are producing pet foods with unsafe ingredients.
continued. . .
http://home.businesswire.com/p.....ewsLang=en
Comment by Steve — April 2, 2007 @ 7:56 am
Frankly, I hope it shows up in the human food chain so that MAYBE the FDA will do its job and figure out what the problem is. We can never let Menu Foods forget about this. We owe it to those animals that died not to go back to “business as usual” and buy from this company. I know I will never do that again.
Comment by Elizabeth — April 2, 2007 @ 7:57 am
Folks I need some help. I have been monitoring this wonderful website every few hours all weekend. On Saturday (on my home computer) there was a link which provided the brand names in alpha order, with detailed info on where their products were manufactured, etc. I am at work now and can’t find that link so if someone could post it I would really appreciate it.
Secondly, I am in total confusion now. At this point I don’t know what to feed my 5 cats. The usual has been Hill’s Prescription diet C/D or I/D. So far no one has shown signs of being sick (thank goodness). I need to find something else to feed them as reading posts of some folks who’s cats have become sick on Hill’s. The list I mentioned above had Wellness - I believe if I remember the list Wellness wet is manufactured at Menu Foods. Don’t know where the dried is - but the dried that I bought on Saturday does not have any wheat in it. But do I feed that to my cats now? Even though their wet is made at Menu? I have bought food at the grocery store to make my own but so far they don’t seem interested. Can ANYBODY suggest a good, safe food at this point? Perhaps Natural Balance (there are 2 stores in my area). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and thank you for this website.
Comment by Lois C. — April 2, 2007 @ 8:00 am
I think it wise to for all with small children to only cook fresh for awhile. Not to use packaged anything and especially bread, hard to do, but we needs to know more and right now I am not comforted. I read a blog that Gina had up about Del Monte President saying in a news report that it is probably in the food chain already. Don’t know where it went. But I read it?
Gina what is up - where did it go?
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 8:01 am
ok yes, now the TOday show is reporting on Donald Trump on Wresltemania. Definitely breaking new for a national morning news show to report on a Monday. What is wrong with you people (the entire media), really!
Comment by Doug — April 2, 2007 @ 8:06 am
For those of you who have cats who cook their meals - have you had success with your cats eating the food? If so can you share some recipes?
Comment by Lois C. — April 2, 2007 @ 8:08 am
Anyone ever think that Xuzhou Anying is just a convenient scapegoat to divert media attention from the BIGGER story??? The media runs with that, it puts America at ease that they found something and are proactively doing something about it, as I believe they did with the aminopterin, and it gives the government and manufacturers time to find out what’s really going on. It’s all a cover up!! They are just buying time until they can piece together the whole story. They still don’t even conclusively know that melamine and/or aminopterin are the sole contaminants.
Comment by nikandboots — April 2, 2007 @ 8:10 am
Comment by Elizabeth — April 2, 2007 @ 7:57 am
It is important not to get overwhelmed and stay focused. And not get buried in a avalanche of spin and distraction. The Pet Food Industry has completely lost all credibility. The other battle is Corporations, and the politics involved and money passing hands. But that is another arena.
We need to do one thing well. It is going to be hard enough weeding out the corruption in The Pet Food industry at this point.
Choose a cause and dedicate yourself to it.
Comment by Steve — April 2, 2007 @ 8:12 am
Comment by Lois C. — April 2, 2007 @ 8:00 am
Lois we have all entered in unknown territory.
I will offer a progress report later on the brand we feed our cat. So far so good. But I can not be held liable for any information I offer. At this point nothing has been declared completely safe and we are on our own when we make a choice.
The bottom line is no matter what The Pet Food industry says right now, “It’s Safe” is not good enough for me. My trust has been completely blown out the water.
Comment by Steve — April 2, 2007 @ 8:19 am
I would like to see the CEO’s of the companines involved & the top 20 people in the FDA sit down and eat some soup with wheat gluten in it while dipping a sandwich with some wheat bread in the soup. With their families of course. And then feed their pets some food that has not been recalled YET but has wheat gluten in it. On live tv of course. What is the chance of that happening.
Comment by Doug — April 2, 2007 @ 8:29 am
After reading the news report in which the named China supplier said basically “why are they just blaming us”. I searched “wheat gluten & Jiangsu”. . .there are a lot of wheat gluten manufacturers/suppliers in China (Mainland)! As an aside, ADM is in Shanghai.
http://www.alibaba.com/trade/s.....t=+Search+
Comment by Jackie — April 2, 2007 @ 8:35 am
Comment by Steve — April 2, 2007 @ 8:12 am
I came across this last night while sleuthing. Why, in mid-January was this agent in Toronto in such a hurry to buy 500MT per month of vital wheat gluten? He posted his request on every supplier site under the sun. Thatsa’ lotta’ gluten!
Why does the distributor for the tainted wheat gluten have to be from the U.S.? Why not Canada?
http://www.tradekey.com/buyoff.....104233.htm
http://www.made-in-china.com/t.....luten.html
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 8:40 am
Comment by Doug — April 2, 2007 @ 8:29 am
What a good idea for a Reality Show. NBC?
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 8:44 am
In response to Lois C.
I have been feeding my cats Halo Spots Stew (Halo has their own USDA approved facility) and Merrick (they manufacture their own food as well). I have also just purchased Instinctive Choice which is a holistic cat food that contains no wheat or corn, or grains. 2 of my 3 cats ate it right up. Unfortunately my cat Peaches, who was eating the recalled Nutro only ate a bit of the new food, however, she loves the Spots Stew.
Comment by Lisa C. — April 2, 2007 @ 9:08 am
For those interested, go to this site:
http://www.alibaba.com
There you will find all sorts of information on Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co”, including the many other things they make, sell, etc - their locations, company info and notice in the same province, another big product is wood products and MELAMINE. It has the best info search pages, oh….this company also sells GARLIC…nice photo’s of it.
Comment by Eileen — April 2, 2007 @ 9:11 am
I’ve been following this blog for a week or so now, more often than not shaking my head in disbelief at what’s going on. You guys are doing a heck of a job, Gina—thank goodness somebody is.
My heart goes out to everyone who has lost a pet.
Thought I’d add this: the google cache of the Chinese wheat gluten page (which was on http://www.alibaba.com/ but was gone as of 11am on 4/2) is here:
Comment by Susan Nunn — April 2, 2007 @ 9:20 am
http://www.usaexportimport.com.....m=22&0
Anyone interested? …
Comment by Vitaly — April 2, 2007 @ 9:21 am
Not sure why my url didn’t show up… trying again:
http://tinyurl.com/2xo3nx
Comment by Susan Nunn — April 2, 2007 @ 9:21 am
Not sure why this didn’t show up in my last post:
http://tinyurl.com/2xo3nx
Comment by Susan Nunn — April 2, 2007 @ 9:23 am
One last try: the google cache link is:
http://tinyurl.com/2xo3nx
Comment by Susan Nunn — April 2, 2007 @ 9:31 am
Jackie, dogs and cats both love corn. I had a dog, Shelly, who would sneak into the garden and eat the corn while it was on the stalk. We had a cat, Tina, who only got up on the kitchen table if there was corn left out.
Also, my dog Spice could only eat Purina Senior when she got older. The pet store talked me into trying their “better” brand because they claimed the Purina Senior had too much corn in it. The “better” brand made her sick. I put her back on Purina Senior and she was fine. She died in 1999 at the age of 14 after many years on the dogfood they said had too much corn in it.
Comment by Jeanette — April 2, 2007 @ 9:52 am
Thanks Lisa C. I will put check out that food. Halo Spots Stew and Instinctive Choice. Has anybody ever heard of Felidae? (specifically Felidae Platinum)?
Comment by Lois C. — April 2, 2007 @ 10:10 am
I just started my cat on dry Felidae. I like the ingredient list, the cat really likes it; however, I wish I could tell you I have confidence that I am doing the right thing, and that this food won’t be next on some recall list. But I have little trust and can’t do that.
Let me say that of what is available, it seems to be a good product. (If my cat would eat the home cooked things the dogs are, I would be doing that instead. But cat feeding is more complex, and my cat has had real problems with food issues in the distant past).
Comment by TC — April 2, 2007 @ 11:01 am
I agree with Jeanette on corn. I have multiple cats in the house and one 12 year old healthy tabby loves corn on the cob when we have it for dinner and gets his own ear. Each of my(19) house cats eats different. Some eat wet and dry. Some only dry. One absolutely refuses to eat any cat food , wet or dry. She only eats baked chicken. She is healthy and her vet. says not to worry. Might be allergic to many things, and this cat knows it. I have been buying fresh chicken quarters in 10 lb bags at Wal-Mart for many years as a supplement to their commercial cat food.. A bargain at 39 cents a lb. I have stopped however, with any cat food that has wheat gluten in their ingredients, regardless who makes it. I donot feed the top premium brands(too expensive on my limited budget), most are Purina One varieties. The one time that I bought from my Vet. Hill’s prescription diet dry food, none of them would eat it and one of them even pee’d on it.As to tainted wheat gluten in people’s food. For years , we have been eating with and from Melamine products. Undoubtedly ingested some of it with our food with no apparently ill effects. However I did have one melamine pet food dish that I have now replaced with a stainless steel one, like all the others.
None of my cats are sick or sickly, including the 25 strays/ferals I feed outside. Sofar lucked out on any of the recalled foods.
Comment by Serijna — April 2, 2007 @ 11:56 am
Cargill, the second largest (agri) US Corp. and a private corporation, has a Purina feed mill in NanJing (capital of Jiangsu, China, where Xuzhou Anying Biological is located) and also a Cargill facility in the Netherlands. At Cargill’s website they state activities at their Netherland location include ‘production and sales of glucose, starch and starch derivatives’ and ‘transport and logistics’. In addition to Archer Daniels Midland, they are another potential but unconfirmed source.
Comment by Sue Dunn — April 2, 2007 @ 12:13 pm
*****REPLY TO LOIS C.*****
I’ve been feeding my cats Evanger wet food since the recall and they’ve been pretty happy with it.
From what I’ve gleaned over the last little while, I think the only TRULY safe brands (i.e. unrelated to Menu Foods in ANY way) are:
1) Evanger
2) Merrick
3) Nature’s Balance
4) Ziwi Peak (?)
Here are a couple places to read up on each brand:
— http://www.mudbay.us/recall/statements.htm
— http://www.thecatsite.com/foru.....p?t=120147
— And of course, this great site right here :)
Comment by fern — April 2, 2007 @ 1:54 pm
*** TO LOIS C. & ANYONE ELSE LOOKING FOR A LIST OF BRANDS:
Here’s an even better & more comprehensive list of brands: http://petsitusa.com/blog/?p=210 They’ve not only got verified information about most brands of pet food, but they go into impressive detail about each one.
That’s the list to check!!
Comment by fern — April 2, 2007 @ 2:26 pm
I just bought Dr. Pitcairn’s book on Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. It has a lot of good advice on pet nutrition. I heartily recommend it!!!!
Comment by Janice — April 2, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
The middle man seems to be Canada, and the U.S. knows it!!
shock yourself by how many wheat products come from Canada!
Now I know why I have dark urine after eating Canadian wheat cereal!
Comment by j — April 2, 2007 @ 6:22 pm
>My question is: Is there really not enough wheat
>in the United States that we need to import it
>from China???
The answer is simply that they can get is cheaper from there. It doesn’t matter whether or not we can provide it, they want it cheap cheap cheap. The problem is that countries like China do not have the same sanitation and food handling standards that we are required to do here in the US. Because of this, we are all at risk. The FDA can’t oversee 1,000,000 cans of food on a boat. If they do check, they would only do sample tests which will not be very much of the shipment. This means that if most of the shipment is garbage and they open up and pass it, we get garbage in the store. I think we should boycott companies that are risking the health of our animals, and our health as well because of flat out greed.
Comment by Scott — April 3, 2007 @ 9:34 pm
Dr. Pitcairn’s book on Natural Health for Dogs and Cats is a terrific resource - have used his recipes in the past. One suggestion if you go that route - cook the meat. Pitcairn is into raw & that can be iffy. I whipped up big batches and froze it in 1-2 day portions. Not that big a deal - all ingredients are readily available at health food stores.
I’m with those of you who are concerned about this crap showing up in people food too. Our Safeway pulled all store brands of bread products on 4/1. When I contacted them for an explanation, I got a world class line of BS (including “the shelves were empty because we sold it all”), but eventually an admission that they pulled bread that day all the way from Eugene, OR to Seattle, WA because of a “potential problem” in their regional bakery. Do I smell a little wheat gluten problem?
Comment by nancy — April 4, 2007 @ 10:30 pm