Comments on: Pet food recall: Changes coming, and you can help

By: Georgeann Heckman

Georgeann Heckman — Sun, 06 May 2007 14:24:29 +0000

Well now it’s back to bite us. I hope we all learned a vaulable lesson here. Manufactures and Companies send our production jobs over to China and take away from our people here in the U.S. because its cheaper for them. They make more of a profit. This should be outlawed and not allowed by OUR GOVERNMENT. BUT OUR GOVERNMENT IS SOLELY TO BLAME. THEY ARE DISTROYING OUR U.S. FROM WITHIN. You see whats happening here. Everything is being produced by China. A COMMUNIST COUNTRY. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE UNITED STATES. UNITED WE STAND HA HA HA HOW CAN WE BE UNITED ANYMORE WHEN GOVERNMENT ONLY WANTS TO GREASE THEIR POCKETS ALL THE TIME.

By: Tom Hubble

Tom Hubble — Sun, 06 May 2007 06:15:39 +0000

unfortuneatly,my Molly is no longer with us.12 years just wasnt enough.At the time when she became ill this was not known.Intstinal virus Chemotherapy,vitamin k,antibiotics.The stuff we had to give could not be handled without gloves and immediate scrubbing of hands.Our vet tried all she could called other doctors in to recheck her findings and diagnosis.Massive blood and lab work,doctors who were set up to see her even on the weekends.Money was no issue.We lost.So now Costco admits “MAYBE?” The govt.s buddies the chinese well noo,this is not our problem your animals are dying lying bas—-ds ENOUGH ITS TIME FOR US TO SAY NO,NO TO CHINA AND ANY OF THE CROOKED POLITICINS PROTECTING ALL THIER BUTTS.NO JUST SAY NO,NO MONEY NO VOTES.What is next our children.Check your baby food,maybe they dont need a war hell just poison us after all its in our govts best intrest to maintain good relations whith our asian trading partners,was that trading or TRAITORS? As admiral Nimitz said “the world wonders.” SO DO I. TOM HUBBLE

By: Karen Barr

Karen Barr — Tue, 01 May 2007 17:19:23 +0000

Poisoned pet food is just the tip of the iceberg – tainted food from China has seeped into the human supply through melamine-laced hog food. America has a weakened food safety bureaucracy and while we urgently need to make changes, today Americans cannot rely solely on the FDA to protect our pets or our families.

Poisoned pet food is just a peek into the ugly hidden world of America’s abundant, cheap, and easy food. Not counting farm use, processed food manufacturing and transportation gulps down one fifth of America’s oil. A massive Gulf of Mexico dead zone has grown from pesticide and fertilizer run off down the Mississippi River. The image of a sunny red barn has been replaced by acres of soulless buildings full stinking cages to produce our veal, eggs, and ham. Feed lots discovered beef fattened faster on corn feed mixed with dried animal parts and antibiotics. And, according to a 2006 study by the United Nations, factory farm animal confinement and unnatural feeds today create more greenhouse gases than all our cars combined.

Over the past fifty years we, and our pets, became a Corporate Feed Lot: digesting unintended chemicals, addicted to petroleum, growing obese, and polluting our water.

OK – so we may not like the idea of food production that is not sustainable, makes our pets and our families sick, damages the environment, or mistreats farm animals, but we still need to eat.

There is a simple, grass roots alternative to this artificial food Matrix - vote with your purchase. Whenever possible, buy natural or organic produce and meat. Every time we spend outside the current food construct, it’s a vote for personal and environmental preventative medicine.

The term “organic” has traveled a long way from Hippie brown rice. It’s now blessed by the FDA as food grown without hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, radiation or bioengineering. I have not found recalled organic pet food on the FDA web site - I’d be interested to hear if anyone has found an organic pet food recall.

Local farms may offer fresh, natural food, but not be USDA organic certified - it can be a complicated and expensive process. I search for the foods remembered from my rural childhood in the 50s: fruits and vegetables grown without pesticides in naturally enriched soils, and milk, meat and eggs raised on natural feed by ranchers who care about the treatment of their animals.

Shopping for fresh, natural food for our pets and our families is not always easy – Many of us live around cities where we spend long hours at work, or in the car, or with commitments outside our jobs. I no longer have space for a big vegetable garden, organic groceries cost more, and pet food takes time to cook. Fortunately grocery stores are paying attention and so are restaurant chefs – organic, natural food is the fastest growing American food sector.

Along with specialty grocers Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Wild Oats, other stores such as Wal-Mart and Safeway are beginning to sell organic products. Also check out your community farmers market - a smaller petrochemical cost for transporting locally grown foods. Ask where and how produce and meat is grown. Visit http://www.usda.gov/farmersmarkets or http://www.localharvest.org to find farmers markets in your area.

All of us who love our pets and our families can force a change by what we buy.

By: Ediltrudis Romero

Ediltrudis Romero — Tue, 01 May 2007 17:12:21 +0000

My first job was as a food inspector,now Iam retired but I understand that many of the controls that we had have been given to the private industry.The problem is not only what can happen to our loved pets ,but what can happen to our children,and everyone else.
This sound like some type of testing on how much damage can be done to people in general,in other words this is a form of terrorism.
Who is behind all this , just guess, but I undrestand that the enemy is more closer than we think,
We are fighting a war outside but we must start to br more vigilant in our own backyards

By: Bobbie Butler

Bobbie Butler — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:23:29 +0000

Animals are part of our family and should be treated as such. There is a lack of adequate information about this whole saga until animals have died. Why is the FDA not taking more of a proactive approach to investigating and stop the imports if they can’t abide by the standards for animal food. If one of their own pets were affected or died from the results would have been different. Stop the imports from other countries until the solution and new standards are in place Thank you for letting me expressing my feelings

By: J.CRANE

J.CRANE — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 07:07:50 +0000

I just do not understand why they are importing the grains? Why can’t they grow their own , right here in the U.S.A? Wouldn’t the shipping of the grains[gluton] cost more to ship overseas than growing here? Not only is it killing our animals, it’s killing our country, by putting a lot of people out of work, and how do we know , for sure, it’s not being put in human food too? Maybe the amounts of these things killing the animals just slowly killing us ,too? I am scared for everybody. All living things. they really do need to list every single ingredient , and all nutritional amounts per serving. thank you for letting me sound off. God Bless us everyone.. J.Crane

By: Dianna

Dianna — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:16:17 +0000

My Jack Russell died as a result of Menu’s mistakes. I have a few questions/thoughts on any food not just pet foods.
1st being WHY would we import foods from countrys that dont have the same controlls we do? Isnt the idea of keeping our fertlizers and such safe part of the reasion we have banned the bad ones? Yet we go buy them? Somehow this dosent make sence to me.
2nd is we trusted Menu to provide safe foods.After loosing Keeper I started doing my homework and learned that all these fancy words like by product and gluten are nothing more then the garbage thats left over boiled to a pulp. Sawdust soaked with blood? Ok feathers and hooves I can see but sawdust? It makes you wonder what else is hidden behind names we dont understand just to save a buck.
I also feel that Menu knowingly killed my dog simply by delaying their anouncment if nothing else. If they had let us know when they knew how many other pets would still be alive? All for the sake of a buck…what a shame

By: Stacia & Bill McCauley

Stacia & Bill McCauley — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:30:45 +0000

Our two 12 year old Shih Tzus, the loves of our lives, have become ill from eating the Iams pouches cuts in gravy. We just noticed a little more drinking and some vomiting with one of our little guys,”Sammy”,and decided to get a blood test for both(Sammy & Billy). We were shocked to find their kidney ensyme levels were high. In November “06, they both had a complete physical and kidney anyalis and all other functions were normal. They were fed only the Iams December, Jan, Feb, & March up to the recall. I understand that the Menu Foods knew that the Pet Food was poisen back in December, but didn’t tell anyone, and sold their stock just before the recall. That is horrible!! My little guys have never ever been sick, we’ve taken such good care of them and would lay down our lives for them, now, how do you think we feel that we’ve been feedin them poisen. Sammy eats twice as much as Billy, so he has more problems. They were admitted to the hospital and had to have IV’s in their tiny little bodys to flush out their kidneys. At the end of the first round, Billy’s levels came down, but Sammy’s did not..he had to go for another round of IV fluids. The Vet also ran some x-rays on Sammy and found an unbielable amount of “stones” in his bladder and kidneys..now he has to have surgery. The vet says she’s never seen so may stones. Sammy is very brave, but now he’s crying and spasming in pain. These ceo’s at menu fooods should be forced to sit for hours and hours, as we have been doing and watch their beloved children suffer because of their greed. I just wanted to tell you all, so that our babies illness is also being reported. thanx for listening. good luck to all you.

By: shelly

shelly — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:28:59 +0000

We can get our foods tested at

Dairy One - http://www.dairyone.com

Litchfield Labs - http://www.litchlab.com/

They do a lot of forage testing and you’ll see a lot of verbiage about that, but they’ll test just about anything. I use Dairy One a lot, I even test my water. You’ll be hard pressed to find something you CAN’T test. If you have any questions just email them. Excellent customer service. Not expensive at all. We don’t have to feed our animals blindly. If you still have food that you suspect killed your fur kid, you can send it there, too for testing. Hope this helps.

By: Cheryl Hansen

Cheryl Hansen — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 05:41:06 +0000

If these two companies have tainted products, then why does the USA allow them to continue to export their other products to us? Check out what else is coming into our country from them:

http://www.21food.com/showroom.....,Ltd..html

and, while we’re looking at exports from China, let’s look at the PET FOOD that they are making. I can only wonder which companies are using it, and just putting their own label on these:

http://www.21food.com/product/.....Foods.html

It’s time to get really noisy to your legislature and senators!