Pet-food recall: What we can’t help you with
By Gina Spadafori
April 2, 2007
- If you have a sick pet or a question on your pet’s health, call your veterinarian.
- If you’re new to the site, please check out our general information page (includes links to recalled foods).
- If you want to report a sick or deceased pet, click here.
- If you want to know what you can do, please read our call to action
- If you want to read all our recall-related blog posts, click here.
We continue to get hundreds of e-mails and blog posts from people asking us for veterinary advice or asking us what to feed now.
We can’t help you with either. I used to work for the Pet Care Forum on America Online, and from those days I can tell you we had a saying that applies here: Get off the ‘Net and see your vet. If you know your pet ate one of the recalled products, call your veterinarian for advice, even if your pet isn’t showing symptoms. If your pet is showing symptoms, have your pet seen by your veterinarian. This cannot be said enough.
As for food, we’ve said before: The folks at PetConnection have a wide range of styles when it comes to feeding our beloved pets. Among our families are people who feed store-brand, national brand name, small manufacturer and even fully home-prepared. None of us have any plans to change, aside from (obviously) checking the recall lists and not feeding those products.
We continue to believe this is an isolated incident that points to a problem that the federal government must fix for the safety of pets and people both. That’s why we’ve made recommendations on two fronts: great labeling requirements and greater involvement of veterinarians, recognizing the latter’s critical roll not just in animal health, but in public health.
There is no one right answer for any pet or any pet owner as to what and how to feed. Talk to your veterinarian, do your research and don’t look to us or to any guru for answers.
Our comments section has been yours from the beginning. The only thing we’re not letting through is spam or profanity. We’ve had theories posted in the comments from the first on every possible thing shy of alien babies. But if you’re going to post, have the guts to cite your source. That way, your fellow readers can go to that source and make their own decisions on it.
Finally, I’m going back through all the old posts and changing our early recommendation to have your veterinarian report to the state veterinarian. This was stressed to us by the AVMA, but it’s no longer valid. So … report straight to the FDA, and, if you want, to our self-reported database. Here you can find directions on how to do both.
Update: The FDA has posted a page of information on what its protocol is in dealing with suspect problems in pet foods. Check it out.
Update 2: Yes, we’re getting a lot of traffic. A mind-boggling amount. Fortunately, our wonderful Web folks at Black Dog Studios are adding capacity and engaging other strategies I don’t even know but they assure me are important to keep up with the demand. Love those guys. Especially Henry (the Black Dog), their Director of Marketing and Public Relations.
But … if you can’t get through for a second or two, keep trying. We’re not going anywhere.
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Above and Beyond The Call of Duty.
American pet owners all across the country are still waiting for some Hero’s to emerge from The Pet Food Industry and the Brand Names we purchase.
What have you done, what action have you engaged in to insure that your brand, although not on the immediate recall are risk free?
Comment by Steve — April 2, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
After reading everything I could find in blogs, I went to petsitUSA.com and pulled up the list of mfg’s NOT on recall. Then pulled up individual companies. I then called the companies on my short list and spoke to real people who gave me real answers. I ended up ordering food from Evy at Kumpi in Colorado and obtaining samples from my local Flint River Ranch distributor - both co’s offer both dog & cat food. These are dry foods, with the exception of one you from FRR called DryWater for Dogs - you add warm water to it.
Comment by PM Hill — April 2, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
It’s truly stunning, there must be 50 MSM articles on Google News about the FDA blocking Chinese wheat gluten. These journalists obviously got the information from web sleuths who broke the story because the FDA hasn’t offered a press conference on the issue. This begs questions, why isn’t the FDA keeping people apprised of developments and why don’t they release the name of the U.S. distributor?
Comment by Sandro — April 2, 2007 @ 1:46 pm
Comment by Sandro — April 2, 2007 @ 1:46 pm
It’s not just the FDA that’s silent. We haven’t heard from any other government agencies or representatives, have we? As they say, “what’s up with that?”
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 1:52 pm
Sandro … you echo my thoughts. Two things:
1) Thank heavens this is still America, where the FDA is still required to post alerts (even if they tried to hide it) like the one Joy found.
2) Even though we clearly have some legal protections (such as the requirement that that alert be posted, so it could — and was — found) why isn’t the FDA doing more?
This is beyond the loss of our beloved pets, as difficult to deal with as that as been for us all.
It IS a matter of national security. I hope teh President and Congress get on food safety and import issues — and soon!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 2, 2007 @ 1:53 pm
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 2, 2007 @ 1:53 pm
We need to take it to the top.
This is serious.
The silence is deadening.
Do we have a government, really? What was the date this all began? Oh, my. We do have a problem here.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 1:59 pm
The FDA has to do a better job. They have specific guidelines to comply with the threat of bio-chemicals etc. to our food supply (and to our pets and livestock?) and these products need more intensive testing.
But if it took the FDA and several labs to discover what is happening, two weeks since, how can there be any faith in their testing procedures/methods etc?
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
Here is the link on guidelines for importing food and the bio-terrorism act:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/foodbiz.html
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
Shippers are required to register their facility:
Information required to be submitted in a prior notice includes, with certain exceptions, the registration numbers assigned to the foreign manufacturer’s and shipper’s facilities that are associated with the article of food. FDA’s monitoring of compliance by foreign facilities with the requirement to register under section 415 of the Act will be accomplished primarily through the prior notice review process. If an article of food is from a foreign manufacturer that is not registered as required and is imported or offered for import, then the food is subject to refusal under section 801(m)(1) of the Act for failure to provide adequate prior notice. Likewise, the failure to provide the correct registration number of the relevant foreign manufacturer, if registration is required, renders the identity of that facility incomplete for purposes of prior notice. In addition, if an article of food is imported or offered for import from any foreign facility that is not registered as required, then the food is subject to being held under section 801(l) of the Act.
It seems to me that there should be sub registers: Their sub-agents and suppliers need to be registered too.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:09 pm
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
Obviously, the are not prepared for rapid response. Wonder what the laboratory looks like. Like something at Walter Reed? Who works there?
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
This is what they do and they are failing. How safe are we - these words sound good on paper - so what is the problem:FDA’s current food defense research agenda largely is directed toward foods believed to be most vulnerable or attractive to terrorists (“high priority foods”), based on the Agency’s evaluation of the relative public-health consequences (i.e., the risk of morbidity and mortality) of a range of product-agent scenarios associated with potential tampering or criminal, malicious, or terrorist activity. Research also primarily targets agents that pose the greatest threats to the public, which include some biological agents that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classified as “Category A” or “Category B” agents due to their potential for adverse public health impact and large-scale dissemination, as well as priority chemical agents identified by CDC, and radiological agents.
Our key food defense research goals are the development of field-deployable analytical detection methods and the characterization of microbiological, chemical, and radiological agents in FDA-regulated foods. For some agents of concern, new microbiological, chemical, and radiological methods must be developed, validated, and used to detect, enumerate, and identify non-traditional agents that may threaten the food supply. In other instances, researchers are conducting “in-house” validation and performance testing of existing rapid screening kits for priority agents in high-priority foods, with the goal of having “portable” technologies that meet appropriate performance/validation standards. Characteristics research involves assessment of the abilities of non-traditional bacterial pathogens to survive and grow in food, as well as determination of the stability and activity of chemical agents while present in food. Researchers also are developing a transportable system for radionuclide analysis of FDA-regulated foods.
Intramural food defense research is conducted by the following components within FDA:
The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) is responsible for oversight of the food supply and has an active research program to support its regulatory responsibilities, which include responding rapidly to newly emerging food safety threats to public health. CFSAN’s counterterrorism research agenda is aimed at developing the tools essential to testing a broad array of food products for several biological and chemical agents.
The Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has authority over feed and feed additives and drugs that will be given to animals, including food-producing animals. CVM’s research projects are primarily designed to enhance the Agency’s ability to detect particular substances (e.g., drug residues) in food.
The Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) is the lead office for FDA field activities, including inspections and examinations of food and other FDA-regulated products at ports of entry. ORA’s food defense research efforts largely are directed toward developing tools to rapidly analyze large numbers of samples and to test foods for multiple substances simultaneously.
FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) conducts scientific research that supports and anticipates FDA’s current and future needs, such as counterterrorism activities. NCTR’s projects include both fundamental and applied research specifically designed to define biological mechanisms of action underlying the toxicity of FDA-regulated foods.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
*** GINA ***
Can you create a new blog thread or link off the main page that lists ALL of the recalled, questionable, & 100% safe foods out there?? And, if possible, can you set it up so that you’re the only person who can post comments or updates to that page/paragraph?
Pet owners don’t have a single, clear, & definitive source for all of that information (although ‘Pet Tracker’ & ‘PetsitUSA’ do help). Various forums & posters have tried to start lists but the inevitable flood of comments, questions, & misinformation from the public always end up diluting & confusing the key information - so much so that we never know who or what to trust, nor where to start our search.
So could you (or someone at petconnection.com) please create a ‘closed’ page or paragraph for this information - even if it’s just a list of links to other reliable sites (not just ‘Pet Tracker’)? And if blog readers have updates or confirmable information that they want you (or those sites) to add, then they could email it to the moderators directly rather than posting a comment.
It would just be nice to have a single site (or list of sites) to refer people to when they start asking what to feed their pets & what to avoid…
Thanks SO much. You’re doing an amazing job here!!
Comment by fern — April 2, 2007 @ 2:17 pm
Comment by Sandro — April 2, 2007 @ 1:46 pm
—-and why don’t they release the name of the U.S. distributor?
a. Legal implications
b. Perhaps a Canadian distributor since Menu may purchase out of Canada. Then you have government involved. They’ve gone ‘round about things before.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:18 pm
A mission we volunteers need to focus on here on Pet Connection is being as much of a help here to pet owners across the nation as we can. Those of us with some authority and knowledge on this matter who have been through the fire need to accept that responsibility.
We all know this whole crisis-fiasco-disaster is still right to this very moment being seriously under reported in the Main Stream Media (MSM). To the point of being not only irresponsible, but the mediocrity is mind boggling and inexcusable.
The biggest issue still is what pet food is safe to feed my pet? Or maybe someone is concerned about symptoms their pet is having. Keep an eye out for people coming here who have these types of concerns. Lets be careful to not get to strung out on conspiracy theory to where we go off the deep end and ignore their needs. (Don’t get me wrong I love a good conspiracy theory. A good mental workout)
The question remains the same. As my first post on this particular thread states.
Comment by Steve — April 2, 2007 @ 2:18 pm
I’d like to know what the “specialized” labs are up to.
Comment by Lynn — April 2, 2007 @ 2:19 pm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17915607/
FDA bars wheat gluten used in recalled pet food
Agency blocks imports after chemical is found in Chinese company’s product
Comment by Shirley — April 2, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
The FDA is failing on all fronts as far as I can see. They have a list of foods that they focus on - evidently Wheat Gluten is one of them.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:24 pm
After reading someone’s comment about finding wheat gluten listed on a baby food jar of meat she was feeding to her pet, I started to wonder about infant formula. After a search, I found this:
“In Feb. 2005, the makers of Similac Advance baby formula announced a voluntary recall of one lot of 12.9 oz. cans of Similac Advance with Iron. The recalled products were distributed from mid-September to mid-October 2004, mostly to stores in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and the eastern half of the U.S. A manufacturing problem resulted in black plastic particles being found in some cans in this lot….”
BLACK PLASTIC PARTICLES???
Does anyone know what color melamine is? I couldn’t find any list of ingredients for the formula, so I don’t know if there is any gluten in it.
Comment by gerry m. — April 2, 2007 @ 2:25 pm
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:24 pm
Sorry, isn’t one of them. IS NOT one of them.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:25 pm
Okay so the AP reporter talks to a spokesperson at Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology and they say they sold it on to someone else:
So I looked up Suzhou Textile Import and Export Co. And this is what I found. They have a NEW NAME:
Suzhou Hengrun Import & Export Corp., Ltd. Was founded on the basis of the recorganization of its predecessor-Suzhou Textile Import & Export Co. Which was set up in 1978 as a trade company of textile products and has become one of the 500 largest foreign trade enterprises in China since 1991. It has been awarded the Certificate of ISO9001(2000)for Quality Management Authentication by the China … [ Click for details ]
Contact Details
Suzhou Hengrun Import & Export Corp., Ltd.
Company Name: Suzhou Hengrun Import & Export Corp., Ltd.
Company Address: 201 Zhuhui Rd., Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
City/Province: Suzhou/Jiangsu
Country/Region: China
Zip/Postal Code: 215006
Telephone Number: 86-512-65595569,67173223
Fax Number: 86-512-65298929,65188511
Contact Person: Aisha Huang/Allen Wang
Mobile: 86-13962128946,13962122907
Contact form for Aisha Huang/Allen Wang
Showroom: http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/clive130
Homepage: Homepage link
Anyone speak Chinese?
Comment by spocko — April 2, 2007 @ 2:26 pm
FDA bars wheat gluten used in recalled pet food
Agency blocks imports after chemical is found in Chinese company’s product
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17915607/
Updated by MSN - AP report
Comment by Shirley — April 2, 2007 @ 2:27 pm
There is an article (I wont call it interesting, for me I found it rather offensive) on Vetcetera. I have posted my thoughts to it, other might want to also.
Comment by Sandi K — April 2, 2007 @ 2:27 pm
Okay so the AP reporter talks to a spokesperson at Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology and they say they sold it on to someone else:
So I looked up Suzhou Textile Import and Export Co. And this is what I found. They have a NEW NAME:
Suzhou Hengrun Import & Export Corp., Ltd. Was founded on the basis of the recorganization of its predecessor-Suzhou Textile Import & Export Co. Which was set up in 1978 as a trade company of textile products and has become one of the 500 largest foreign trade enterprises in China since 1991. It has been awarded the Certificate of ISO9001(2000)for Quality Management Authentication by the China … [ Click for details ]
Contact Details
Suzhou Hengrun Import & Export Corp., Ltd.
Company Name: Suzhou Hengrun Import & Export Corp., Ltd.
Company Address: 201 Zhuhui Rd., Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
City/Province: Suzhou/Jiangsu
Country/Region: China
Zip/Postal Code: 215006
Telephone Number: 86-512-65595569,67173223
Fax Number: 86-512-65298929,65188511
Contact Person: Aisha Huang/Allen Wang
Mobile: 86-13962128946,13962122907
Contact form for Aisha Huang/Allen Wang
Showroom: http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/clive130
Homepage: Homepage link
Anyone speak Chinese? I will be writing them.
Comment by spocko — April 2, 2007 @ 2:28 pm
Comment by Nadine Long “a. Legal implications”
I was under the impression health implications trumped all that, especially now that Del Monte has confirmed the wheat gluten was marketed as human grade.
Comment by Sandro — April 2, 2007 @ 2:28 pm
I’d like to know what the “specialized” labs are up to. Comment by Lynn — April 2, 2007 @ 2:19 pm
In this case of these testing labs on this fiasco probably sitting around the water cooler saying, “Good gawd’. what a disaster. Beam me up scotty.”
Comment by Steve — April 2, 2007 @ 2:29 pm
Comment by fern — April 2, 2007 @ 2:17 pm
This is a good site for the pet foods not on the recall list.
http://petsitusa.com/blog/?p=210
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:29 pm
Steve, what I’m wondering about is why we are not using the facilities (labs, etc.) we do have in place for bio-terrorism when they can’t figure out what the problem is. Is it because “it’s only pet food” that is causing the apathy? Are they all that stupid not to realize the bigger picture? I can’t believe that.
Yes, we need to have a source for pet owners to go specifically for food questions. That’s an immediate priority. This blog can’t take responsibility for any food advice, but suggestions can be offered up, as Gina has said in what not to feed. We don’t know what IS safe yet and all we can do as we’ve done is share what our pets HAVEN’T died from to date. At least human food is an alternative temporarily, just like we do when the pets are sick.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:30 pm
The FDA has identified certain foods that are high priority. So what prevents a terrorist from obtaining this list, avoiding those foods, and going after Wheat Gluten or some other lesser known but readily used product to carry their poison?
Remember, the FDA didn’t find the poison plastic - an independent lab did and I believe it might have been another pet food company.
The FDA is looking for the usual, the known, they are not searching for some obscure agent from an isolated production company in some far off locale in China.
The FDA needs to have all companies that these importers deal with on file with the main supplier’s information - otherwise its a game of finger pointing and faulty record keeping and claims of innocence from many thousands of miles away - and the original source of the poison plastic junk remains unknown.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:34 pm
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:34 pm
I agree. Did you see the latest AP release from the FDA? I’m encouraged to learn that someone is in charge of Crisis Management. Perhaps our questions and concerns can be directed to her.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:39 pm
Re what foods people are switching to: Today I got some Canidae dry food for my dog. Here’s what a notice on their site says:
“CANIDAE® canned foods in no way is affected by the recall, nor are any of our products produced in any of the recalled production facilities.
CANIDAE Pet Foods also does not produce cuts and gravies, pouches, and does not contain corn, wheat or soybeans in any of our products or formulations, and all ingredients are of US origin.”
Their site: http://www.canidae.com/. They also produce cat food.
Comment by Cathy — April 2, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
Linda,
Oh, also…your suggested scenario would be too simple. Nothing like that could ever happen…just like…who ever though someone would drive an airplane into the WTC?
I jest.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
Nadine, finally it’s a crisis now. And still we don’t know what really is causing the deaths - they keep saying the quantities are not large enough to kill our pets?
Science or the FDA, someone needs to do a better job!
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
Nadine - exactly!
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
“nor are any of our products produced in any of the recalled production facilities”
You do know what that means, produced by Menu Foods but not in the plants where the Chinese gluten was used. And of course, consumers have to take Menu Foods’ word for it.
Comment by Sandro — April 2, 2007 @ 2:43 pm
Linda, the name of the person in charge of FDA crisis management is in the AP report. I think we should write to her, call her, email her, direct her to this link.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:43 pm
Del Monte recall AND Dingo treats recalls on the FDA website now (see recalls for specific items):
https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0704a&L=fda-recalls-l
Del Monte Pet Products Voluntarily Withdraws Specific Product Codes of Pet Treats and Wet Dog Food Products
Eight In One Announces Nationwide Recall of All Lots Of DingoR Chick’n Jerky Treats for Dogs, Cats And Ferrets
(Apologies if this has been previously posted.)
Comment by Sarah — April 2, 2007 @ 2:46 pm
Comment by Sandro — April 2, 2007 @ 2:43 pm
Yes, that is right, but not any guarantee to anyone for anything at this point. Just a smoke screen of mere words.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:46 pm
Nadine where do I find the AP report. I looked for it?
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
Comment by Sandro — April 2, 2007 @ 2:43 pm
So, what I see also as part of our mission here is to apprise the unknowing, trusting general public of things just like this.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:30 pm
Nadine having occasionally browsed the net this past week when not here and researching and digging into this debacle it looks to me like everything is leaving a state of managed chaos into compete chaos. No ones in charge and no one knows what they are really doing or where everything is going. We’re in uncharted territory. And the media isn’t helping by force feeding the public a constant overwhelming blitz diet of “fluff and puff” on just about everything from which 08 Candidate is yanking in the most dough to Britney’s latest escapade.
Your question regarding where is the government especially in regards to utilizing our top facilities I can not answer. It’s seems astounding with our technology we can’t get control of this situation. Perhaps we should check Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive to see if any important people who should be on top of this thing just happen to be shoe shopping in the upscale boutiques at the moment.
Comment by Steve — April 2, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
CANIDAE’s website did say they were not produced by Menu foods until I last check it. They changed the wording to “nor are any of our products produced in any of the recalled production facilities” probably after the other facilities were added.
Comment by Bj — April 2, 2007 @ 2:50 pm
Linda - here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17915607/
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:50 pm
Nadine, I looked on the Drudge report and its AP wire looks. Didn’t see the Crisis Mgmt in charge. The FDA has a seperate division for Crisis mgmt. Whose in charge I do not know.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
Comment by Steve — April 2, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
You took the words right out of my mouth!
Like I said yesterday: I sometimes wonder how people dress themselves in the morning.
Hey…What’s the latest on Anna or Brittany? Geesh.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
I called my reps in Congress and spoke to their aides - or at least the people answering the phones and told them both to look into this. They said they would. I made them promise. I wonder which Congressman(woman) will break this wide open. We have an election coming up - the war and healthcare is not all that is happening.
Our pets are dying and our food supply is questionable.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
It is Ellen Morrison: See article in Washington Post.
They are looking into the human food supply.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....736_2.html
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
I don’t have a clue. I dropped EVERYTHING regarding the circus maximus of daily news and gossip on March 16. to focus all my efforts on this.
Comment by Steve — April 2, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
Linda,
FDA names mentioned in the latest AP release:
Ellen Morrison, Director of FDA Crisis Management
Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, Director
David Elder
Michael Rogers
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 3:03 pm
Here is her e-mail:
ellen.morrison@fda.hhs.gov
She is out of Rockville MD and I have her phone number too. I’m calling her.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:03 pm
Call her or fax her - don’t overload her e-mail:
Morrison
First name Ellen
Middle name F
Agency FDA
Organization DHHS/FDA/OC/OCM
Job title DIRECTOR OFFICE OF CRISIS
Building PKLN
Room 12A55
Duty station Rockville MD 20857
Mail stop HFA-600
Phone 301-827-5660
Fax 301-827-3333
Internet e-mail ellen.morrison@fda.hhs.gov
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:05 pm
I left her a message on her phone. I told her to call me back. I didn’t want my children to die or my pets by this poison/plastic wheat gluten stuff.
She most certainly is with the department of Crisis Management.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:07 pm
I left a message on Ellen Morrison’s voicemail to return my call. We’ll see what happens.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 3:11 pm
Good. I hope she does more than P/R work - this is getting worse and the FDA knows it too!
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
Now I have to get some work done. Check in later. Thanks so much Nadine and Steve and everyone here, especially Gina, for being so up to speed with everything.
Remember people, pick up your cell phone and call your representatives in Washington D.C. and ask them to investigate and do something about this poison/plastic pets dying - people at risk etc. wheat gluten fiasco.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:18 pm
I am very grateful for this source of information, since the mainstream media has decided they don’t want to pursue this investigation, apparently.
Comment by Elizabeth — April 2, 2007 @ 3:18 pm
MSNBC has a lead story on this. Just read it. Guess what? They say the FDA is reporting the suspect Wheat Gluten was minimally labeled and probably didn’t get into our food supply?
Right and I have a used car that I’d like to sell you too….
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
One of the few mentions of this on NPR this morning: still using FDA#’s in the teens. The spot mocked hedonistic petowners who take their dogs to doggie spas and doggie daycare. The audacity of it! How dare they demand real food, uncontaminated food, food that is not poisoned for the profit of the petfood industry and veterinary businesses!!
Comment by 4lgdfriend — April 2, 2007 @ 3:25 pm
4lgdfriend -
Is this a Fellini movie and am I just dreaming all of this? NPR is just showing their ignorance by mockery of pet owners. THEY are the minority, not we, so don’t let it get to you.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
On itchmo(see link)http://www.itchmo.com/read/peeling-back-the-onion-layers-story-of-menu-foods-recall_20070402#more-300
Other suppliers imported from this tainted producer, yet unknown, wheat gluten toxic waste. Of course, and what? The FDA said it didn’t get into the food supply - RIGHT!
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
Ms. Morrison, Dr. von Eschenbach, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Elder need to be apprised of this website.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 3:35 pm
I’ll fax her.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....Id=9277348 Pet Food Firm Sued (AM STORY)
This is more like it: http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....454EVENING STORY - audio avail 7:30 The Food and Drug Administration has blocked imports of wheat gluten from a company in China, saying that it suspects the gluten was contaminated with melamine that found its way into pet food. Tainted food is believed to have caused kidney failure in dogs and cats across North America.
Last month, Menu Foods of Canada recalled nearly 95 brands of “Cuts and Gravy” pet food. And now there have been recalls from three more companies: Nestle Purina Pet Care, Del Monte Pet Products and Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
Initially, pet owners were told the contaminant might be a drug used as rat poison. Last week, the FDA said it had found melamine, a chemical used to make plastic products, in the wheat gluten samples it tested.
Melissa Block talks to Elizabeth Weise of USA Today, who has been covering the story.
Comment by 4lgdfriend — April 2, 2007 @ 3:38 pm
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
Wonderful! I’m taking a break but will check back later.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 2, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....Id=9293454 NPR EVENING 7:30 The Food and Drug Administration has blocked imports of wheat gluten from a company in China, saying that it suspects the gluten was contaminated with melamine that found its way into pet food. Tainted food is believed to have caused kidney failure in dogs and cats across North America.
Last month, Menu Foods of Canada recalled nearly 95 brands of “Cuts and Gravy” pet food. And now there have been recalls from three more companies: Nestle Purina Pet Care, Del Monte Pet Products and Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
Initially, pet owners were told the contaminant might be a drug used as rat poison. Last week, the FDA said it had found melamine, a chemical used to make plastic products, in the wheat gluten samples it tested.
Melissa Block talks to Elizabeth Weise of USA Today, who has been covering the story.
Comment by 4lgdfriend — April 2, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
The sleeping dragon awakes - about time!
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
Certainly some interesting tidbits here. . .
http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....food_N.htm
Comment by Jackie — April 2, 2007 @ 3:46 pm
Don’t know if this was posted yet, I haven’t had time to read all comments. Its basically China statement of denial.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....food_N.htm
Comment by Doug — April 2, 2007 @ 3:50 pm
Beat ya to it !
So, we have 400 FDA investigators working on this. That’s bigger than just pet food, folks!
Comment by Jackie — April 2, 2007 @ 3:53 pm
Each importor is required by the FDA to list its location and company contact information etc - what also is needed is anyone these company buy from - all of it needs to be registered with the FDA - otherwise it is difficult to follow the trail.
Read the Itchmo article -
What does this main supplier say now? they know who sold them the plastic wheat gluten? Sounds like it to me.
If they know that other suppliers bought from this producer in China, in that isolated locale, then they know who the supplier is -
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:53 pm
They need a crisis manager for something really big - no wheat gluten anything for me - all fresh! I have very large hungry dogs - but I may begin making their food too!
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
It was interesting that according to that USA today menu foods also admits it was human grade gluten.
Comment by Doug — April 2, 2007 @ 3:57 pm
to managers of site - a neighbor just mentioned to me that it would be helpful for their to be a section somewhere on this site and translate basic information into Spanish. There are many people that need the information. Someone said eralier today that we are many people from many walks of life and we have in common unity on this topic - well those that don’t read english well need this information too and have pets too - so that is just a thought. I know it would be impossible to get all fo the information transalated but at least the basics would be helpful.
Comment by Doug — April 2, 2007 @ 4:00 pm
This is from the Washington Post article:
Geng Xiujuan, Xuzhou Anying’s sales manager, said the company was aware of the FDA’s import alert and was looking into it. However, Geng said the company, based in the eastern province of Jiangsu, had not manufactured the wheat 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.”
If they sold it to another Jiangsu company then they must know who they bought it from shouldn’t they - they must have it identified otherwise how do they know they sold it - unless they sold everything to this other company. Not very likely.
This doesn’t make sense!
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 4:06 pm
Here’s a story from the Toronto Daily News about other food imports from China that have been tainted:
http://www.torontodailynews.co.....08pet-food
It appears to be based on slightly old info (it says the only contaminant is aminopterin) but has otherwise reputable-seeming information about lax standards in Chinese agriculture and dismal security by the FDA.
From the story: “According to a recent report by the Associated Press, the FDA has sharply reduced its inspections of foreign food and today physically examines only 1.3 percent of all food imported into the United States.”
Comment by Cathy — April 2, 2007 @ 4:07 pm
I believe it. They have a protcol they are following and it is slim pickings and leaves us all vulnerable. We simply can’t count on the government or on most private companies or even pulbic ones it appears.
Sad very sad.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 4:09 pm
Steve said: In this case of these testing labs on this fiasco probably sitting around the water cooler saying, “Good gawd’. what a disaster. Beam me up scotty.””
I admire your tenacity, but this kind of thing is highly uncalled for. Comments like this are not only unfair but malicious. You want to tell me how you’d test for an “unknown” chemical? I think people need to focus on getting the system fixed, not bashing everyone and his chicken. It is obvious to me that there aren’t enough labs to deal with a situation like this. It is not obvious that the actual people involved are sitting around picking their noses.
The comment section has become almost useless. Don’t waste space and bandwidth with one liners. Think of all the people just coming here and having to scroll through mounds of chat to get to information. Please.
Comment by CathyA — April 2, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
Greetings.
Hi. My name is Jacky, and I am 13 years old.
I have lost my cat Georgie last December, Goober last monday who was only 7 months, Bunky who was only 6 months and Spyro, who was 9 weeks last Friday. All because Del Monte and Menu foods didn’t put out recalls soon enough.
I absolutely loved Bunky, Georgie ,Spyro and Goober. I always used to take Bunkers with me to auctions, and packed him around everywhere.
He was the most beautiful black Miniature Schnauzer you’d ever laid your eyes on. I don’t have any little brothers or sisters,or many friends, so I had pets. They were my family, and I loved them like they were my little brothers. But last December, Georgie fell ill, and he couldn’t move, meow, play, eat, or drink, and was depressed. He was obviously poisoned. He was dieing, and there was nothing I could do about it. Only recently I learned the food he was eating had toxins in it. Two weeks ago Goober became sick, and he was lathargic, and he couldn’t function at all. He couldn’t eat, drink, or even move in the slightest bit. The same happened to Bunky, Baebae Sheree and Spyro, and we did everything we could possibly do to keep them hydrated and alive, but it was useless. Only Baebae Sheree was getting better, because we fed her table scraps because she was so tiny, instead of dog food. Bunky and Spyro died right in front of me. I am still in shock that they died such a slow, painful, horrible death. They didn’t deserve it. It was like watching my siblings die right in front of me. I still miss my Bunkers, but I realize he’s in Heaven, where there is never pain or sadness. I am furious at the FDA, Menu Foods and Del Monte, though. It’s horrible about how they are trying to cover everything up, and how they act as if nothing bad is happening. I hope they are forced to eat the tainted dog food. Bunky didn’t deserve what happened to him, neither did any of the other pets who suffered the same fate.
Comment by Jacky — April 2, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
CathyA:
The scary part is, that even now we aren’t sure if they have located the correct substance that is killing our pets. I too believe it is difficult to test for some unknown substance and it may not even be one element - it may be a combination or a reaction of several factors. The none of this is very encouraging for the pet owners or for the general public.
Comment by Linda — April 2, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
Yeah, I noticed that too, Doug. I’m reading it again cause there’s some substance.
Linda, on one of the dog lists I subscribe to there was a couple recipes for making your own dog food from Monica Segal, AHCW, and author of “K9Kitchen”. http://www.monicasegal.com/
It’s long and she requested the entire e-mail be cross posted, so that’s why I haven’t posted it (don’t wanna be accused of wasting space!) If anyone is interested in these recipes, lmk, and I’ll post Monica’s e-mail.
I find Steve’s humor a needed distraction! There’s no one more dedicated to this cause right now.
Comment by Jackie — April 2, 2007 @ 4:18 pm
I think someone mentioned it before, what if this blog was categorized? ie: Food, Manufacturers, FDA, etc. and maybe a search function. Each category with a recent posts column.
Comment by Gary — April 2, 2007 @ 4:29 pm
Amazingly, my voice was heard. I called and emailed PETA on Friday reguarding losing our 5 year old papillon to eating Iams dry. I got a message today on my voice mail, so I went to their website to see what was being reporting and I found this letter to the FDA.
Here is the link……
http://www.peta.org/pdfs/IGCFax.pdf
Here is the link to our story if you haven’t read it.
http://jules4265-menufoodrecal.....index.html
Don’t give up, keep putting your story out there.
Comment by Julie — April 2, 2007 @ 4:29 pm
Linda,
Yes, I understand that people are frightened and no it’s not encouraging that we still don’t know what’s going on. But in the end it’s science, just science, not a conspiracy, not a failure of science and not to be confused with the “management” of FDA and the lack of a proper system - regulatory, notification or otherwise.
Compound that with the fact that this is the first time many people have confronted these issues. Sadly many of them are not new. There certainly are a lot of things to think about.
For instance more regulation and testing of raw products. No amount of testing would have found either aminopterin or melamine. How many tests do you want the FDA and pet food companies to run? Testing costs money and time. And I’m not talking about greed here, this is just real life stuff. If you decided to make sure your car was running tip top all the time and took it in for a checkup once a month, do you expect that to be free? Life is not without risk. There just is no way to make it risk free and food 100% safe. It’s just not reality. Can we do better? Yes, absolutely. But let’s not lose perspective. And let’s keep in mind all those people missing their pets and try to do them justice.
Comment by Cathy — April 2, 2007 @ 7:07 pm
#
Hello, if anyone is looking for a new dog food I can help you try and find the best dog food in your budget. I’ve been researching dog food nutrition for well over a year I’d say two years or more and I have a very good idea on dog food. If you want some advice on pet food nutrition or anything I’d be more than happy to help. You can email me at abratnamednoel@aol.com
Oh I also forgot, I won’t suggest just one brand, I’ll suggest many that fit what you are looking for and I know every dog is different so I’ll do my best to give you choices to choose what is best for your dog.
Comment by Eskie Lover — April 3, 2007 @ 1:52 am
After losing four pets, I will never feed any of my dogs or cats store bought pet food again. I am just too scared that my other pets will become ill from tainted food. Instead, I am baking them treats, and preparing meals at home. The main ingredient in the doggie treats is yeast, so the are not only tasty, but the treats help their coats shine. I also make rice with chicken broth and raw vegetables, which they enjoy VERY much. I try to cook the healthiest and best meals I can, so I will not lose another pet to this recall.
Comment by Jacky — April 3, 2007 @ 9:36 am
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), April 2, asking pointed questions about the pet food recall that has now affected 60 million cans of food and at least four pet food manufacturers.
See article and read his letter at this link:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/....._0402.html
Comment by Marcia — April 4, 2007 @ 1:56 am