pet connection

Via the ever-alert Therese Kopiwoda at PetSitUSA.com, an FDA notice that Feline’s Pride has expanded their earlier recall:

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.

When consumed by humans, Salmonella can cause an infection, salmonellosis. The symptoms of salmonellosis include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, minimal diarrhea, fever, and headache. Certain vulnerable populations, such as children, the elderly, and individuals with compromised immune systems, are particularly susceptible to acquiring salmonellosis from such pet food products and may experience more severe symptoms.

Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

The product is packaged in 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 expansion of the recall affects those orders placed and shipped from June 21 through June 26, 2010 (produced on 6/21/10).

You can read the full release here on the FDA website, because it’s still not on the Feline Pride site. Fail.

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As we’ve often written here, recalls themselves aren’t a bad thing.  Food is a perishable item, after all. And even in the best of companies with top protocols, things can sometimes go wrong. A prompt recall widely disseminated with honesty and concern is good corporate behavior, and a sign that the food-safety system is working as it should be.

That’s not, however, what I’m writing about this morning.

Two companies — Merrick, which is well known, and UPG, known pretty much only for an earlier recall (and poor corporate behavior that time, too) — did the Friday night dump-and-run recall news shame one better — they dumped and ran on a Friday night before a major three-day holiday.

I’d already gone to bed, but sharp-eyed Therese Kopiwoda of PetSitUSA and ThePetfoodList.com apparently never sleeps.

Here’s Merrick, via ThePetFoodList.com:

Yesterday the FDA sent a letter to Garth Merrick, owner of Tejas Industries about the recall of Merrick Beef Filet Squares Dog Treats back in January. The FDA wants to know why Merrick didn’t let customers know they’d recalled the dog treats due to salmonella contamination. Instead, they said it was from improper processing.

Just now I found a new notice for a recall for Merrick Beef Filet Squares Dog Treats, dated today, for the very same dog treats but with a different lot number. The treats recalled in January had the lot number of 9323. The ones recalled today have the lot number of 10084TL7. This is a new recall.

Here’s UPG.

Let me say this: I would never, ever buy anything ever again from a company that did this.

I would rather buy from P&G/Iams, which has always been outstanding in its recalls, going so far as to not only issue a release well-coordinated with the FDA during business hours, but also to contact news media and bloggers directly, as well as send their social media team onto Twitter and Facebook to spread the word. Not to mention, it was Iams who triggered the 2007 pet food recall, by telling Menu Foods that they were going to act now or get the hell out of the way because Iams would let pet-owners know.

And I would rather buy from Nature’s Variety, a company that made the recall notice the entire front page of its website, with a letter from the president of the company explaining what happened, and what steps were being taken to ensure it would never happen again.

As for Merrick, their behavior is simply not acceptable.  I suggest you find them on Twitter and let them know, especially since there’s nothing on their Website homepage or their Twitter stream about the recall.

Major hat tip to Therese, who apparently never sleeps.

Now go spread the word.

We now resume our holiday blogging vacation … shoulda known someone would try to slip something by us.

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The FDA’s take on the history of the 2007 pet food recall is on  their YouTube channel (no, really, they have one) now:

Their description:

In 2007, pet food that was contaminated with melamine and related  compounds made many pets sick. At first, no one knew what caused the  problem. An intense and sophisticated search for the cause was begun. In  many ways, the work done by scientists in government and the pet food  industry was groundbreaking. In this video, Dr. Renate Reimschuessel of  the Food and Drug Administration explains what it took to uncover and  confirm the presence of the adulterants in pet food.

Check it out, and see how it matches with how you lived it…

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Proctor & Gamble announced a recall of all varieties of Iams ProActive Health canned Cat and Kitten Food in 3 oz and 5.5 oz cans, dated 09/2011 to 06/2012 on the bottom of the can:

Diagnostic testing indicated that the product may contain insufficient levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1), which is essential for cats.  Cats that were fed these canned products as their only food are at greater risk for developing signs of thiamine deficiency.

[....]

Early signs of thiamine deficiency may include loss of appetite, salivation, vomiting and weight loss.  In advanced cases, signs may include ventroflexion (downward curving) of the neck, wobbly gait, falling, circling and seizures.  Contact your veterinarian immediately if your cat is displaying any of these signs.  If treated promptly, thiamine deficiency is typically reversible.

Consumers who have purchased canned cat food with these codes should discard it.  For further information or a product refund call P&G toll-free at 877-340-8826 (Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM EST).

Interesting that last fall, Diamond cat foods were recalled for problems with thiamine levels. Unlike that recall, however, P&G actually used the word “recall” and linked to the announcement from the front page of their website.

And worth noting, P&G was the company who had good enough product tracking systems in place to identify the problem with Menu Foods in 2007, and enough care for their brand to tell Menu to announce a recall or they’d do it without them.

And they didn’t announce the recall on Friday at midnight after it had been rumored around the Interwebz for a week, either.

Still gotta wonder, are they using the same vitamin mix source as the earlier Diamond recall? If so, how did this happen again? And if not, what’s going on with the vitamin mixes?

Many questions, to which we’ll hopefully get some answers now that this has happened again.

Gina update: I was at the local Target when Iams contacted us. Buying cat litter, in fact. I walked down the aisle took a picture of the product on the shelves. And yes, I told them it was recalled. I wonder if I can get the same picture tomorrow?

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Breaking news: Government report says our food safety system is broken.

Okay, this is only “breaking” if you’re, I don’t know, a mole in the deep dark tunnels of Washington, DC, or something. It seems to be the exact same conclusion reached by every thoughtful observer since 2007, including us lowly pet bloggers here on Pet Connection.

But anyway, it’s official now. From a U.S. News and World Report story on a Congressional report issued yesterday by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) isn’t equipped to handle problems with the food supply and is in need of a major revamping….  Among other things, the report recommends giving the FDA authority to issue mandatory recall of food products and to delegate responsibility for inspections to states, which already handle about 60 percent of this task.

“The agency’s approach now is too reactive and lacks a systematic focus on prevention,” Dr. Robert Wallace, chairman of the committee that prepared the report and professor of epidemiology and internal medicine at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, said at a Tuesday news conference. “The time has come to modernize the FDA’s food safety program focusing on the development of an integrated, risk-based system.”

A leading consumer group applauded the report.

“A distinguished panel of experts has concluded that FDA has neither the resources nor the powers it needs to keep our food safe,” Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union, said in a prepared statement. “The report recommends that Congress act to give FDA the power to order recalls of tainted food, which amazingly, it still lacks. The report further urges that Congress require all food processors to register with the FDA, to act proactively to prevent foodborne illness, and tell the FDA when they discover adulterated products. FDA needs all these powers as well as a mandate to inspect high-risk processors at least annually. While the House passed a bill last July that would give FDA much of what it needs, the reform legislation remains stalled in the Senate. The time is now for Congress to act.”

The time was three years ago for Congress to act. I’m just saying.

Another change recommended in the report: a single agency overseeing food safety, instead of the weird, dysfunctional, patchwork USDA-FDA buddy system that is, hello, not working. (Okay, that’s a paraphrase.)

I’m glad to see the report. I’m glad to see the FDA issued a statement agreeing with it and its conclusions. I’m glad the House, if not the Senate, has passed a food safety bill, and I’m glad that this report might push the Senate to act soon.

But I’m tired tired tired that we’re still needing reports to fix a problem that anyone with a brain and a cat identified years ago.

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