Feline Pride pulls food for Salmonella concerns
By Gina Spadafori
July 1, 2010
Feline’s Pride is announcing a voluntary recall of Feline’s Pride Raw food with ground bone for cats and kittens, Natural Chicken Formula, Net Wt. 2.5 lbs. (1.13 kg., 40 oz.) produced on 6/10/10, because it may be contaminated with Salmonella.
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The product is packaged in uncoded plastic containers and sold frozen to private consumers nationwide. Once thawed, the pet food has a shelf life of about 1 week. The firm manufactures the pet food by an as-ordered basis. This recall affects only those orders placed and shipped from June 10 through June 17, 2010.
The firm and FDA are investigating this matter to determine the source of this problem, and will take any additional steps necessary to protect the public health.
To date, both the firm and the FDA have received no reports of Salmonella infection relating to this product.
The company hasn’t bothered to put the recall on its website or issue a news release on its own (at least not one that’s popping up using Teh Googles), but it does have the most annoying, make-me-want-to-gouge-my-ears-out flash intro I have EVER experienced on ANY site. I’ve listened to it loop a few times while writing this, and I can guarantee the song will be in my nightmares tonight.
In any case, if you use this product, it needs to go back.
By the way, I think it’s a tad disingenuous that the FDA makes a special point of noting that handling raw pet food puts one at risk of salmonella, considering how many salmonella recalls there have been that involved processed foods.
It’s not the raw that’s the problem. It’s the system, which is still not all that effective at protecting consumers from tainted food.
Related, from Food Safety News:
Tejas Industries Inc., the Hereford, TX-based pet treat manufacturer was “ineffective” last January when it recalled its Merrick Beef Filet Squares, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In a June 1 warning letter to the Texas pet food manufacturer, FDA said it obtained a sample of the Merrick Beef Filet Squares made at the Tejas plant in Plainview, TX and then repackaged in Hereford. Analysis of the dog chew came up positive for Salmonella meleagridis.
Isn’t this the second time Feline Pride had to recall for salmonella?
Comment by mikken — July 1, 2010 @ 11:57 am
Not in my memory, and nothing popped in a very quick Google search. If you find a reference, please post the link for others.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 1, 2010 @ 12:17 pm
Oh, and just to show how tastes differ … while I was looking in the Google history for an earlier recall, I saw post from someone who said she LOVED the song on the intro Flash loop to the company’s website.
Let me just say, I would NOT want to switch iPods with that person.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 1, 2010 @ 12:19 pm
No, you’re right Gina - it was Wild Kitty, not Feline’s Pride that I was thinking of.
My mistake.
Comment by mikken — July 1, 2010 @ 1:07 pm
I just tried switching my cats to Health Wise cat food, and 6 of my 8 were soooo sick. Both ends, with blood. It was a horrible few days. I am never going to use that food again.
Comment by ericka — July 1, 2010 @ 2:54 pm
That’s a pretty extreme reaction. If you haven’t reported it to the company and the FDA, I hope you do.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 1, 2010 @ 3:38 pm
So, why don’t they put this out on the news instead of sticking on their website alone????
Comment by Neo — July 1, 2010 @ 4:21 pm
Still nothing on the Feline Pride website this morning…That is very troublesome..Another example of a company downplaying (my opinion) a potentially dangerous situation…Gee..could it be that they don’t want any attention to this bad news ….Maybe they should spend the time and money that they did on that irritating intro (thank goodness for the skip intro link) to let people know about this salmonella dilemma..
Comment by Carol V — July 2, 2010 @ 3:38 am
Carol, if there’s no mention on the website, they’re not downplaying the situation, they’re ignoring it completely. As of yet, they don’t appear to understand that bad news will get attention whether they want it to or not. Dear corporate citizens: ignoring bad news doesn’t make it go away.
Comment by David S. Greene — July 2, 2010 @ 5:37 am
Re: “Music.”
I have taken an ice pick and hammer to BOTH my ears and IT STILL WON’T STOP.
Teh voices, dey tell me to DO tings …
Comment by H. Houlahan — July 2, 2010 @ 9:51 am
Interesting, at least as of yesterday at their website is a sort of ticker and one part of it said: “New Jersey Feed Labs, Trenton, N.J… test Felines Pride…results: astounding !! 100%… salmonella free !!… natural chicken formula…well…so much for the raw food myth !!!” They were apparently trying to advertise their food as being 100% salmonella free.
Then I went to New Jersey Feed Lab website and found this:
http://www.njfl.com/estimating_guarantees.htm
Apparently they suggest to their customers to set the ingredient guarantees to 20% on the safe side of their analyses.
“….And yet you can’t go setting ridiculous guarantees, say 1.0% minimum protein or 90% maximum fiber, because shoppers are going to hold up your bag against a competitor’s to see which is more nutritious. So you really need to set guarantee levels that you can always achieve but that are attractive to the consumer.”
“Now let’s relate all this to the actual analyses we produce for you. You’ve sent us what you think is a highly representative sample of your product (keeping those ingredient and cooking variables in mind), and you’ve gotten the results. How do you use them to establish your guarantees? My suggestion is that you set your guarantees 20% on the “safe side” of your actual analyses. For instance, if we reported a protein level of 12.5%, then 20% of 12.% is 2.5%, so set your protein guarantee at 10% (don’t forget: protein is a minimum guarantee, so it’s 12.5% minus 2.5% = 10.0%). If our actual fiber finding were 5.0%, then since 20% of 5.0% is 1.0%, you’d set your guarantee at 6.0% (5.0% plus 1.0%).”
Comment by Sandi K — July 2, 2010 @ 10:17 am
I can’t say that I am surprised that raw meat harbors potentially pathogenic bacteria. In fact, I would be surprised if it didn’t. I am pretty sure that all the chicken I buy for my own consumption is contaminated with salmonella.
That’s why I wash surfaces that were in contact with raw meat, and don’t eat my dogs’ feces. Truly, though, I think my best defense against food poisoning is a good immune system.
I think this is a non-story. Many pet dogs and cats harbor salmonella, without ever being sick.
Comment by HH — July 3, 2010 @ 3:32 pm
Gina - I think you are absolutely right to say that it is not the raw that is the problem. I feed raw and it is no more dangerous than any other food. It is absolutely the system. I don’t think the FDA does much right.
Comment by Joani Schofield — July 3, 2010 @ 5:51 pm
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm219200.htm
Recall expanded as of today.
Comment by Carol V — July 15, 2010 @ 1:37 pm
meant to include this from FDA link..slaps head..
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 15, 2010 - Buffalo, NY – Feline’s Pride is expanding its July 1, 2010 voluntary recall of Feline’s Pride Raw food with ground bone for cats and kittens, Natural Chicken Formula, Net Wt. 2.5 lbs. (1.13 kg., 40 oz.) produced on 6/10/10 to include the product produced on 6/21/10, because it may be contaminated with Salmonella. People handling raw pet food can become infected with Salmonella, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the raw pet food or any surfaces exposed to the product.”
Comment by Carol V — July 15, 2010 @ 1:39 pm
I dont see anything at the company website about this expanded recall let alone the original one. We expect other PFC’s to put something at their website. This one should too. I dont know if the company has tweeted or Facebook’d it….
Comment by Sandi K — July 15, 2010 @ 1:42 pm
I’m going to take your word on their website. It took me DAYS to get that song out of my head after the first recall. Salmonella is nothing compared to the vomiting listening to that song again would induce.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 15, 2010 @ 2:02 pm
With my fingers in ears (but did hear..stroke my chin…)I watched the website as long as I could stand it..and saw nothing..went to FAQ’s and saw nothing..and news not updated since 12/30/06…
“I purrrrrrr….I purrrrr….”…..
Comment by Carol V — July 15, 2010 @ 2:12 pm